Music / Reviews
Reviews: Beans on Toast, Bristol Beacon – ‘Political and tender’
Beans On Toast releases an album every December 1.
His latest piano-filled release Wild Goose Chasers means that this time – once again back in the city where he’s played virtually every venue going over the years – he’s brought his virtuoso piano maestro King Killership, adding beautiful boogie to the distinctive Beans sound.
He’s also brought tonight’s support William Crighton, a long-term friend of Beans (aka Jay) to start the night as it will continue, stripped back and acoustic.
is needed now More than ever
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As I walk into the Lantern Hall, I’m greeted by Crighton’s hugely rich vocal tones falling on silence as he grabs early arrivers’ attention instantly, his voice booming into each corner of the intimate space.
A huge voice with an intense presence, singing deep rasping folk songs from his Australian homeland, just one man and his guitar standing as far away from the mic as he likes.
He hits us with old and new material provoking some individual yelps throughout from a couple of fans in the know already. I’m getting Will Varley/ John Grant vibes and even a hint of Bon Jovi’s Wanted Dead or Alive (could be just me on that one).
William Crighton is an ARIA award-winning musician from Australia
Barefoot Beans has a twinkle in his eye and a smile on his face from the moment his toes hit the stage.
If this was your first Beans on Toast rodeo then you know what you’re getting straight away, with opening line of the set from Survival Of The Friendliest: “If you are good to the world it will be good to you / So naive it might even be true,” he oozes, smiling big picture friendliness.
Beans is an oracle of Realistic Hope, self-aware enough to realise that he doesn’t have all the answers; but what he does have is a voice that has got better and better with age and the ability to create a smiling community at a gig.
Beans has been a staple on the circuit for many years and is adept at working a crowd
Fans are left dewy-eyed on the barrier for the delicate love song I’m Home When I Hold You, with the crowd acting as a bed of choir-like backing vocals.
Two fans get the pleasure of requesting and performing a dance routine, Jay trying to watch over his shoulder as they hoist each other in the air to cheers all round – a moment to cherish for them.
It’s a set packed with highlights. It’s political and it’s tender. Jay makes the difficult topics seem simple, shedding light on our dubious leaders’ lies in a passionate and smile-provoking way.
Crighton is welcomed back for a cover of Randy Travis’ Send My Body Home on a Freight Train in a set of epic proportions of god-knows how many songs.
One song inspires an impromptu dance and acrobatics performance from two crowd members
Life is our set closer. Jay sings standing aloft, proud, bringing the show to a close gently and tenderly with a delightful King Killership piano solo for added beauty.
“Well, life is for singing / And life is for dancing / And life is for making love / Life is for learning and thinking and teaching.” The lyric that sums the whole evening up.
And that’s the end – as Beans says: “No need for encores – they are just a peekaboo for adults.”
All images: Matt Barnes
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