Review: Ros Madigan
Beardyman has been delighting UK & Ireland audiences for the past number of years with his unique brand of DJ beat-boxing. The venue was set for Tripod with a late stage time of 11pm announced. This was due to Tripod’s club night ‘Banquet’ falling on this day. Banquet is one of Irelands leading club nights and happens every Saturday, 11.00pm – 3.00am.
I have seen Beardyman on a number of occasions; from festival outings to the more intimidate surroundings of a headline gig. With my past experience considered, I was more than looking forward to another master class in beat-box mixing.
Not long after the 11 o’clock mark, after the house DJ’s had buttered up the crowd, Beardyman took to the stage. Clad in a black hoodie, the mischievous looking Darren Foreman took to his array of Korg Kaoss pads and mixing units. For anyone not lucky enough to catch this man live, his process is rather straightforward. He will begin with a simple beat, record and loop that back, then continue to do that any multiple of times in order to sculpt all these loops into one cohesive track.
His opening track would ease the audience into his musical dealings with some aplomb. It’s not long before the jammed dance floor is seen raving away. It doesn’t take long to forget the intricacies and complex nature of the process Beardyman is undertaking, song by song, second by second. His mixing and beat boxing is so flawless and accurate, you almost feel like your listening to a pre-produced track.
This is all forgotten of course as the unofficial national Irish anthem, ‘My Lovely Horse’, starts to be blasted out. The crowd naturally goes wild and reacts to his dance/dubstep version of this comedic classic.
After this, his set would go from entertaining to club standard DJ music. I have always been encapsulated by a Beardyman performance as he uses his comical genius to interact with the crowd. His interactions with the crowd on this night would be sparse at the best of times. He usually would treat us to mixing in music classics from the past. The only discernable cover on the night was ‘My Lovely Horse’ and a number of middle of the road dance tracks.
His set would briefly pick back up as he announces the dubstep section to round off his performance. There would be a large building up to the inevitable huge drop that would send the club into hysterics. Before anyone realizes, Beardyman leaves the stage rather quickly and with no real goodbye. Very soon after the house DJ’s come back on to finish up the night with Banquet’s regular playlist of indie classics.
While the gig as a whole was enjoyable, it will stand as the poorest Beardyman show I have seen to date. I missed his crowd interaction and his usual toying with classic melodies and beats. The crowds reaction was lukewarm, I would put this down to most attendee’s being Banquet regulars rather than Beardyman fans. Regardless of anything, his talents always shine through, as he is a virtuoso in his area of beat box mixing. Hopefully it wont be too long before I catch this man again. Next time most certainly, it will be a headline show.