FROM Metallica to Chopin, via a Berlin cabaret torch song and a Coldplay hit performed in Turkish, there was barely time to draw breath when Bill Bailey took to the Piece Hall stage.
In a landmark show for the Halifax venue - the first headline comedy gig in the historic courtyard - the music maestro and much-loved comic delivered a cracking set.
Hailing it as the ‘St Mark’s Piazza of Cloth’, Bill was the latest act in the TK Maxx presents Live at The Piece Hall summer of entertainment.
And what a show it was! Blending music and comedy, in a way that only Bill Bailey can, he had us in stitches.
From reflecting on reports of his death on Twitter - "I got a crying face emoji from The One Show" - to the limitations of his native West Country accent and musings on nuclear fusion - prompting "the most polite heckle I've ever had" from one audience member - Bill drew us into his rather charming, surreal world. Along the way, he played a range of instruments and treated us to a range of musical styles, from hymns to metal to gospel to an Irish jig.
His songs are as sweet as they are funny - not least a touching ditty about finding love at a supermarket checkout and, sung in French, the intriguing ballad of a boy and a crow.
A highlight was My Life's Gone Sideways, a song about a crab called Salvador who reflects on life's woes, ("You won't get this at a Taylor Swift concert" chuckled Bill), and a lively sea shanty, performed with a trio of hapless AI backing singers.
There was some great interaction too, with Bill chucking out percussive balls to audience members, for a rendition of the Phil Collins' In The Air Tonight drum solo. It didn't exactly go to plan.
As well as being a hugely talented musician Bill is, of course, one of the nation's best-loved comics and practically every line he uttered was laugh-out-loud funny. Particularly amusing was a recollection of a past encounter with Gwyneth Paltrow and her baby - "She looked like a beautiful Renaissance painting. I was three sheets to the wind." It didn't end well.
Opening the show was rising stand-up comic Tom Toal, followed by the excellent Jennifer Ewan Band, fusing Louisiana blues, Cajun bluegrass and a Celtic twist.
The series continues tonight with Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds and Andrew Cushin, then Richard Ashcroft and Apollo Junction on Friday and The Stranglers and Buzzcocks on Saturday.
* For tickets go to ticketmaster.co.uk
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