beardym
Beardyman + Tucker was one of my must-see gigs. Livewire organ grinder Tucker blew the crowd away a couple of years ago in a solo set at Fuji Rock, and Beardyman has already played two acclaimed sets here, both of which I missed. Seeing the two together (how on Earth did that happen) may be a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
It turns out it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience, because if they play together again, I probably won’t bother going. It’s not that either of them was bad, but Beardyman is the human beatbox for whom the term human beatbox seems a little weak as a description. He turns out jazz, blues, breaks, techno and everything else with his vocal chords. Adding a real musician meant it wasn’t always possible to tell who was doing what (the best way to guess was that Beardyman’s mic was too low, so the loud stuff was probably Tucker). So without the “wow, he’s doing that with his voice?” factor, you have to judge the set purely on musical terms. And it was alright. Not something you’d go out of your way for. Bluesy in places, funky in places, and housey elsewhere, but none of it would stand as great examples of any genre.
NB. I was completely knackered when I caught the gig, with my legs about to buckle and my eyes half shut, so the show may well have been blinding. When all you wanna do is sleep, nothing’s gonna sound great.