Beardyman - Waterfront
One of the most impressive, engaging acts that I’ve seen in a while.
It’s rare that Sunday night is the highlight of my weekend, but then again it’s not every Sunday that Beardyman plays your hometown and when he does, you better believe it’s worth the inevitable bleary eyed Monday morning. Turns out plenty of other people felt the same draw, as on this particular Sunday, the Waterfront was packed with party people.
So what’s so special about this bearded wonder that tempts people out on a school night? Well, Beardyman is one of the foremost beatboxers alive today. Beatboxing, for those not in the know, is a type of vocal percussion created by using the mouth to replicate… look, just Google it if you don’t know. Suffice to say he has an unnatural talent for making all manner of crazy sounds come out of his face. However, whilst his skills with a mouth/mic combo are impressive to say the least, to leave the compliment there seems a little back handed because his musical talent reaches much further than this, as I found out.
On stage, behind what I can only describe as an impressive yet homemade looking jamboree of laptops, tablets and mixing, err, thingies, stands the man himself. Grinning from ear to ear, he asks the audience if they want something good or something “wack”. The audience plays along appropriately, so wack it is. What follows next is layer upon layer of sinister children’s voices that form a lullaby from hell. Inevitably, however, we were being toyed with and just as this scary mess reaches a peak, with one talented hand, he folds this in on itself like balling a piece of paper, and throws it back out at the crowd as a lovely bit of jungle. If this description is a little bit on the metaphorical side, then tough. The truth is that’s the only way I can describe it because I’ve not got a fucking clue how he was doing it - all I know is it’s bloody clever. And good. Really good.
Jumping from one musical genre to another – including a brief interlude into heavy metal – Beardyman doesn’t just create sounds, he toys with them as if possessed of the ability to keep control of the music after it leaves the speakers, like some kind of auditory conjurer. Part electro genius, part showman, he creates a mood then crashes right through it; Interrupting a reggae tune with a story about his racist gran, or a tongue in cheek anti-drugs message.
No one was having more fun than the hirsute maestro of electronic sound-fuckery himself, and it was this overwhelming charm that stopped the whole thing going over the edge from artisan to smart-arse-isan. As much as it was clear that I was witnessing a genius at work, it was also clear that his true goal was simply just for the crowd to have fun as much fun as he was having. Well, he certainly managed this, as all around me people were loving one of the most impressive, engaging acts that I’ve seen in a while.
