world beard day
Reviewed by: Anthony Vawser
Published: 11 November 2010
live gig: world beard day
As my companion and I approached the hallowed venue for what I expected to be a one-of-a-kind gig, just before walking through the front door, we were given the clearest and cutest possible reminder of what we (and the rest of the audience) were in for: a fully-bearded evening of facially-hairy fun! This reminder came in the form of two or three of the longest and most impressive beards I had ever seen (outside of news reports about the Gypsy Jokers et al.)
Upon entry to the Gov, I was greeted by the sight of a (shock!) bearded figure on the stage, making the sound of a combination beat-box-and-human-didgeridoo! The name of this intriguing figure turned out to be Adam Page, a multi-tracked, loop-pedal-equipped one-man-band, and the undoubted peak of his performance for me was a version of the heart-tugging classic 'You Are So Beautiful' - sung whilst gazing into a mirror!
Though disappointed to realise that I had missed the opening act (my apologies to The Bearded Gypsy Band), the name of the next group of performers on the bill was enough to get me intrigued, and when A French Butler Called Smith took to the stage, I counted three real beards among the members, plus two fake ones, and impressive dreads on the trumpeter! They showed themselves to be a more-than-good-enough groove band, mostly doing without lyrics but getting the house jumping with their lively stage presence, not to mention their fluidly cooking music with its ebbing-and-flowing and skilful tempo changes keeping us all on our toes! The highlight of their set: 'You Can Leave Your Beard On' (natch!)
As for the headline act, the beardiest ones of all, they did not let me down, and by the sounds of things, the rest of the crowd felt the same way! The Beards’ set list for this evening turned out to be split roughly evenly between material that I was unfamiliar with, and a selection of the wonderful songs that I reviewed earlier this year from their Beards, Beards, Beards release. The band, looking like they might have stepped straight out of the '70s era when ZZ Top and Creedence were American heroes (though with a front-man who shrewdly seemed to cultivate a slight Jack-Black-style vibe which helped to keep things feeling contemporary), began with three of these tunes that were new to me, the audience-participatory 'A Wizard Needs A Beard' being the catchiest and best; other titles throughout the night included 'It Only Takes A Fortnight to Grow A Decent Beard' and 'Why Having A Beard is Better Than Having A Woman' (!).
'No Beard, No Good' was a brilliant choice for the band to begin dipping in to their recent work, and it was gratifying indeed to be able to experience these songs in a live setting, not just for the all-around enthusiasm that a roaring crowd can generate, but for the extra dimension of the band’s stagecraft (which even included a bit of sensual beard-stroking, of both the solo and mutual variety!)
The unexpected extra-sweet icing on the cake of this particular gig was the inclusion of 'A Brief History of the Band', a projected audio-visual presentation screened just prior to the encore. This was full of jokes both silly and clever, as well as references (mostly irreverent ones) to history and historical figures – all in relation to beards, of course! The projector was also used to great effect during the performance of 'Beard Revolution', which featured accompanying footage of famous bearded folk such as those from The Lord of the Rings and 300, not to mention the one-and-only Chuck Norris! In the end, there was probably nothing that summed up the spirit and humour of this marvellous celebration of World Beard Day at the Gov quite as well as this declaration from a Beard to his audience: “Thank you for rocking up and supporting this ridiculous band!”
