The Beards are a comedy folk rock band from Adelaide Australia who formed back in 2005 and have made a career out of singing songs about beards and since their formation the band have gone on to release 4 studio albums called ‘The Beards’, ‘Beards, Beards, Beards’, ‘Having A Beard Is The New Not Having A Beard’, ‘The Beards Album’ and also the most recent greatest hits ‘Ten Long Years, One Long Beard’ and when they haven’t been releasing new material they have been busy on the road touring all across Australia, Europe, the UK and pretty much anywhere else that wants to hear bearded songs.
Back at the start of the year the band announced that they were calling it a day but luckily for their fans they announced that they were going to embark on a final tour around the world as a heartfelt thank you to everyone who has supported them over the years, the band have been playing in Australia for the majority of the year and have also just completed the European leg of the tour and tonight they started their final UK tour with a show at The Marble Factory in Bristol.
Now The Beards being like no other band around at the minute decided to do things their way on their final tour and that meant not having any support band and instead playing two sets which consisted of an acoustic set and a full on energetic electronic set and it was truly epic.
The crowd tonight as you can imagine was full of beards and even the women and also the men who decided not to grow beards in attendance tonight were getting involved with stick on and knit on beards and ten minutes before the band were due to take to the stage the crowd went into a frenzy chanting “beards, beards, beards” over and over again until the lights dimmed and the band took to the stage.
The Beards took to the stage suited and booted with their beards fully on display and treated their fans to a 45minute acoustic set which started with ‘Born With A Beard’ which was then followed up with ‘Damn That’s A Nice Beard’ and then an epic cover of ZZ Top’s ‘Sharp Dressed Man’ which was introduced in a comical way by frontman Johann Beardraven who spent a couple of minutes joking about how The Beards don’t play cover songs, have never played cover songs but when they do they play ZZ Top.
The acoustic set progressed with the hilarious ‘Stroking My Beard’ which had the band and the crowd stroking their beards and chanting-a-long, this was followed up by ‘The Beard Accessory Store’, ‘The Beard’ and acoustic set closer ‘No Beard, No Good’ and in between songs Nathaniel Beard and John Beardman Jr took time to shake each other’s hands, whilst John Beardman also took a lot of time out between songs to comb his beard to perfection.
After a short 20 minute break The Beards were back for a full length rocking set and this time looking more beardy dressed in jeans and check shirts. Now the acoustic set was pretty awesome but the second set was something else as the Beards came out rocking and full of energy and put on one hell of an entertaining performance.
As soon as the second set started Nathaniel Beard jumped off the stage and made his way towards the crowd letting the front row cop a feel of his Beard and this was the routine for him for the majority of the night but when he wasn’t letting the crowd touch his beard he was laying down some tasty basslines on stage whilst gracing the stage with such showman style.
Johann Beardraven was on top form throughout cracking bearded jokes in between songs and encouraging the crowd to sing-along during songs, the set consisted of ‘Im In The Mood… For Beards’, ‘A Wizard Needs A Beard’, ‘This Beard Stays’, ‘All The Bearded Ladies’, ‘My Baby Left Me For A Man Without A Beard’. ‘Shaved Off His Beard’, ‘Got Me A Beard’ and the bearded anthem ‘There’s Nothing Better Than A Beard’ which had the whole venue including the security guards singing “Woooooah Nothing better than a beard” over and over again.
The night came to a close with the band thanking everyone for investing there time in the band and helping them spread the word on beards over the years before they went on to play a two song encore which consisted of “I Like Beards’ and fan favourite ‘If Your Dad Doesn’t Have A Beard You Have Two Mums’ which saw the venue erupt into a massive party atmosphere.
Overall The Beards may well be a comical band who have had a solid 10 year career of singing about Beards but the best thing is each and every member of the band is an excellent musician, take frontman Johann Beardraven for example he has such a wide vocal range which he nailed to perfection all night, he also showed off his Saxophone and Keytar skills which were also just as impressive.
It’s a shame that The Beards are calling it a day but they are doing it right and going out on a high and the band deserve respect for taking time to tour the world one final time before hanging their instruments and beards up, ok they will never hang their beards up but there touring days are quickly coming to an end and I am glad that I got to witness one of their final shows and also them at the top of their game.
The Beards you will be missed.
5/5
Review By Trigger |
