Beans On Toast (Jay) is on the road again, touring on the back of his 17th album, once again released on his birthday, 1st December, entitled 'Wild Goose Chasers'. We caught up with him in Bristol at the Beacon, in the Lantern Hall.
First up, was William Crighton an Australian singer-songwriter, who has toured with Beans in his native homeland.
Will had a fantastic voice, deep, powerful with an ability to soften and bring the crowd to a hush. His stories were engaging and the attachment to his homeland and native culture was clear.
The 12 string acoustic guitar filled the room with a beautiful tone to accompany Will's voice and the switch to piano really did demonstrate his versatility and talents. The crowd were captivated as they took part in the audience participation sing along, or just listening to his stories.
He finished his set with a song about the abuse in the Catholic church in Australia, sung acapella, to a silent hall, hanging on every word. It was an incredibly powerful moment and an amazing way to end the set.
Matt Millership took to the stage ahead of Beans, and played 'Away with Word' the instrumental first track of the new album, drenched in blue light, before being joined by Beans and kicking off with the beautiful 'Faith in the moon'.
As Beans explained, the new album is a little departure from the usual 'Jay singing and playing guitar' setup and while the counter culture, earthy, family centric undertones are all still there, the piano backing gives a fresh take and feel.
With no guitar, and as usual no shoes, Beans was free to move around the stage and engage with the audience and the new songs, as Matt's fantastic piano work came alive.
The venue hall really did add to the sound and resonance of the output from the stage, with Jay's voice as good as it has ever been and beautifully supported by the piano.
And the stories flowed. Wonderful stories, about the teacher trying to pass off famous songs as his own to impress Beans and his 6 year old classmates or the youth of Bedford, fair to say not Beans' favourite location, misinterpreting Jay's music as glamourising drug use. The 'song sandwich' explaining the latter lasted about 15 minutes!
'Send Me a Bird' stood out in particular as a beautiful upgrade in the new arrangement, the piano really adding to the feeling of the song, and really striking a chord with the crowd. It was clear many were visibly moved by this lovely song and the message it contained.
With guitar in hand, and Matt having a rest, Jay whistled through a number of his classics as well as 3 or 4 brand new songs (with subjects as diverse as Taylor Swift for president and Tequila). Some song requests were also taken from the crowd, although a couple were dismissed, or started and abandoned as they couldn't be remembered! We even had a live gymnastics routine on stage, although my camera was packed away at that point.
As a wonderful night drew to a close, we all got to reflect on a life affirming evening of songs and stories from someone at the top of their game. Beans' voice is better than ever and his optimistic take on politics, the materialistic world, the futility of war and MDMA (!) meant the large audience left smiling with a little more joy in their hearts. The world is a scary place, now more than ever, but after 90 minutes of Beans on Toast, at least we can have a smile on our faces as we battle our way through it.
Words and Pictures by Glenn Morrison
