LIVE REVIEW: Beans On Toast @ Brudenell Social Club, Leeds
25/02/2022
Beans On Toast is on a UK Tour accompanied by Kitty Liv and Jack Flanagan and I got the privilege to attend their show at The Brudenell Social Club.
Upon entrance the venue swiftly filled up with a crowd, eagerly awaiting, listening to a mix of upbeat jazz and blues tunes. I found that the audience was made up of people of all backgrounds, ages and cliques of which if I hadn't have researched before-hand I would have had a hard time gauging what kind of gig this was, a diverse audience attending this gig was quite unifying.
To get the crowd warmed up Kitty Liv performed her solo project, a series of country-folk singles, stripped back on her clean electric guitar with strong, sassy and fruitful vocals.
Starting with ‘The River That Flows’ - a soothing track that would be most appreciated in a relaxed speakeasy, moving onto ‘This Lovely Summer Time' and then ‘Slave’ which introduced bounciness and attitude to the set.
Finally Kitty performed ‘Money’ this was the most impressive song; setting aside her guitar and relying purely on her vocals and suddenly belting out a little number on the harmonica!
I have never seen anyone play so good, or at least I haven’t seen a harmonica player in person that stirred up the crowd with such excitement! A perfect little number to end such a short and passionate set, although it wouldn’t be the last time we saw Kitty as she later rejoined to accompany Beans on Toast.
Beans On Toast bound onto the stage as everyone cheered. I believe Beans On Toast is quite a
fitting stage name; it is humble and infuses British culture alike his personality and music. I'll admit I cannot remember most of the songs in set due to most of the lyrics being quite thought provoking. However, I did find myself clapping along, I do remember the song
“M.D.M Amazing” and I thought it was quite comedic and catchy.
I particularly admired the simplicity of of the country styled finger picked acoustic guitar
and thuddy walking baselines and fills provided by Kitty, Beans On Toast’s gruff and smoky vocals and Jack Flanagan’s impressive solos were compelling.
Beans On Toast were rather hands on and down-to-earth when it comes to the relationship between himself and the audience, throwing himself in the crowd to sing along and dance with everyone. Throughout the set Beans On Toast delivered a message of kindness, love and positivity and it was always reflected back from the audience.
I also found the themes of politics and war are just as relevant today as when he previously wrote the songs years ago, with the current heartbreaking situation in Ukraine, Beans On Toast gave us all a glimmer of hope.
Overall, Beans On Toast is quite relatable and relevant in talking about difficult topics within his music and having an authentic and open relationship with his audience is both entertaining and admirable.
There is a song for everyone and is very entertaining seeing him in person on stage.
I recommend any music enthusiast to see Beans On Toast just for the sheer feeling of being welcome and understood and besides, the bouncy acoustic guitar will get you dancing sooner than you expect!
