UPDATE: For those watching the ABC2 broadcast, the audio problem in the first half was caused by the delayed ABC transmission. The second half is being broadcast live and there’ll be no problems. Linzy x

This is starting off as a reminder for you lucky Australians. Tim will be on your televisions tomorrow night at 8:30pm, with the Sydney Symphony, performing his latest show live from the Sydney Opera House! Mind you, he will only be on your television if you’re tuned into ABC2 so make sure that you are! And in case you missed it, we did a post about this, with a few more details in, here.

And as if you Aussies weren’t lucky enough, afterwards, ABC2 will be showing Rhian Skirving’s doco, Rock n Roll Nerd, about Tim’s rise from obscurity. Should be interesting to compare and contrast the two!

Oh, and Tim would really appreciate it if you could refrain from uploading clips from the live broadcast to YouTube etc as it goes against the spirit of watching this unique event, and also, you may have seen Tim recently tweet, “comedy = surprise,” so clips up whilst he is still touring the show can ruin that factor for those yet to see it.

Besides which, the double CD that was recorded in Manchester, with all the songs from the show on it, will be unleashed in a few days, both here and on iTunes. Oh, and there should be a DVD due by the end of the year too.

If you’re planning to rock your socks* off in a field this summer then you may fancy joining Tim at Reading or Leeds Festivals, where he’ll be performing on the Alternative Stage. Both festivals take place 26th-28th August 2011.

The official line-up announcements began this evening, with tickets on-sale now from a variety of ticket agencies, all accessible via these links:
Reading 2011 tickets
Leeds 2011 tickets

So pick your festival, grab your tickets and just think, whilst you are excitedly packing your festival essentials this August: wellies, sun-hat, *spare socks, loo roll, torch… Tim will be packing his: eyeliner, Van der Graaf Generator, thongs**, flauntingly skinny jeans and a piano.

Go forth and fest!

** Aussie for flop-flops. What?

EDIT: We can now confirm that Tim will be at Leeds on the Saturday and Reading on the Sunday.

New Yorkers! If you missed out on tickets for one of the Gramercy Theatre shows, or you just can’t get an elegant sufficiency of Tim goodness with only one or two shows, then you’ll be delighted to discover that another date’s been added for you.

Tim will be performing at the Music Hall of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York on Monday 2nd May 2011.
Doors open 8pm with Showtime at 9pm.

Tickets go on sale on Friday, 18th March, at 12 Noon EDT, are priced at US $29.10 including Fees and will be available from Ticketmaster.

There’s also a presale on Wednesday, 16th March, at 12 Noon EDT for American Express card holders.

These US shows will be an exciting blend of brand new songs with a few well loved classics. Tim will be joined on stage by his grand piano, iconic dance moves, wildly teased hair, gently calmed eyebrows, infeasibly skinny jeans, natural aplomb and his enormous…sense of occasion.

UPDATE: For those watching the ABC2 broadcast, the audio problem in the first half was caused by the delayed ABC transmission. The second half is being broadcast live and there’ll be no problems. Linzy x

Tickets are well and truly sold out for Tim’s remaining orchestra gigs in Australia but if you haven’t been fortunate enough to get yourself a ticket to one of the shows then it’s not going to be the end of the world, especially if you’ve got a large television!

On the 27th March, Tim’s final concert of this tour, with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and from none other than the Sydney Opera House, will be broadcast live to the nation on ABC2 from 8:30pm!

It’s not the first time ABC2 have done live broadcasts, with previous ones including Shakespeare plays, operas and musicals but this one looks set to be something else entirely, as people who’ve already seen the show will know!

There’s a short trailer for it on the ABC website here, though if you’ve got tickets for a show, it contains loads of spoilers! You have been warned! Also, there’s a bit more information on the show here.

And, of course, a little something from Tim about it all:
“It is an incredible honour to be playing with the Sydney Symphony and such a huge thrill to perform in the Opera House. That people will be able to watch the show live from their lounge rooms fills me with dread and excitement, and will fill the switchboards of right-wing radio djs with calls from the outraged. I can’t wait.”

You’ll all be inviting your elderly relatives over to watch this won’t you? There’s nothing like a live show for spreading the joy of Tim!

About two months ago, Tim appeared on the UK TV channel Dave, on Robert Llewelyn’s Carpool. There were two minor issues with this:

1. Not everyone could watch it, whether it was because they lived abroad or simply didn’t have Freeview in the UK.
2. It was only ten or so minutes long due to their being two guests on the half hour episode (the other being David Baddiel).

The good news is, both of these problems have now been rectified with this – the release of Tim’s interview uncut on Robert Llewelyn’s Carpool podcast!

So, if you’ve ever wanted to see how sexy Tim looks in a pair of three-quarter length trousers or hear an interview that’s a bit different to the rest then you’re going to love this!

The YouTube video is embedded below, but here are links to iTunes and LlewTube, where you can download yourself a copy to watch whenever you want.

My friend Rich Hardcastle took some really great photos of my head a couple of years ago, that look like this:

If you are a fan of beautiful images of weird animals, you can purchase a print on his website here.
tx

A few days ago, we told you that you could buy Shaun Tan’s ‘The Lost Thing’, which is narrated by Tim, on iTunes for a measly £1.49.

Australians, you also have the option of buying it on DVD, which includes a cute 48 page hardback book, exclusive to the DVD release (non-Aussies, you can import it; it’s region-free)!

Have you been waiting for a reason to purchase this lovely animation, before shelling out your hard-earned money? Well try this one out for size!

‘The Lost Thing’ has won the Oscar for Best Animated Short!

The film was an outsider for the award and beat off competition from the favourite, Pixar’s ‘Day & Night’, as well as the other nominees, ‘The Gruffalo’, ‘Let’s Pollute’ and ‘Madagascar, Carnet de Voyage’.

In his acceptance speech, Tan pointed out the irony of the film being noticed, given its subject of things that don’t get noticed and also said that the award should really go to the cast and crew behind the film, including Tim!

Tim had this to say about it all:
“As many of you will know, Shaun Tan’s “The Lost Thing” won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film. Excuse me while I gush: I’m incredibly excited for Shaun. He’s an amazing, lovely, wondrous and wonderful man. His dedication to his work is an inspiration, and the fact that I was offered the chance to play my tiny role in this film is a profound honour. I love his work and can’t wait to see what he does next.”

Here’s the trailer again, so you can see exactly what all the fuss is about!

On the 30th March 2011 Tim will be hosting the snappily titled 25th Melbourne International Comedy Festival Opening Night Comedy All Stars Supershow… *pants* – no the other definition:
v. pants:To breathe rapidly in short gasps, as after exertion or attempting to announce an overly long show title.

This is the Comedy Festival’s 25th birthday bash, with some of the world’s best comedians taking to the stage. Tim’ll be performing and they put him in charge!

You can still get tickets here for this – we know, madness!

Remember how he opened the Gala in 2007?

The Gala will be shown on channel Ten, as in previous years, so we’ll announce the date it will air as soon as we know.

Last month Shaun Tan’s 15 minute animation, The Lost Thing, based on the children’s book of the same name, was Oscar nominated in the Animated Short Film category! Tim plays the part of the narrator and you can view some videos about the making of it here, including footage of Tim during a voice record session.

Maybe you’d like a chance to see it before the winners are announced at the awards ceremony, on the 27th February in Los Angeles. If so you have a couple of options:

If you live in or near London, the Curzon Cinema in Soho is screening the 2011 Oscar Nominated Shorts this weekend. The Animation Nominees are scheduled for midday on Saturday 26th February.  Visit the Curzon website for details for online booking.
or
You can purchase the film to play on your Laptop or iPad or iPod or iPhone on iTunes, iDeal if you feel so iNclined…hmm (Priced at just at £1.49)

Talking of iTunes, ‘Ready For This? Live at the Queen Elizabeth Hall’ is now available from iTunes in Australia here.

Aussies! You can still request ‘The Fence’ on Triple J” in the following ways:

online: www.abc.net.au/triplej/requests/makearequest/
twitter: @triplejsr
call: 1300 0555 36
txt: 1975 7 555 (25¢)

Have you been sat around, waiting for Tim to release a recording of his new, fancy, orchestra show? You’ll like this then!

At the end of March, Tim will be releasing a recording of the show he did with The Heritage Orchestra at Manchester Arena on both CD and iTunes! (Don’t worry, we’ll remind you of this closer to the time).

Lucky Australians who are seeing him live in the next couple of months will be able to pick up a copy before anyone else at the merch stand!

I’m sure some of you are thinking, “I’ve already got a copy of the o2 one; why’s he releasing it again?”. Well here’s why: the o2 recording was a limited run, so congratulations if you managed to get yourself a copy!

It’s also worth pointing out that this release will feature only the songs and not the talky bits, making it perfect for your mp3 player!

You’ll be getting a copy once it’s released, won’t you? Don’t make me use the puppy-dog eyes…