One man, one guitar, a plethora of screens and keyboards. And a beard.
On the way in the audience are asked to write down potential song titles which could make their way on to the album that's to be created in the show. After a few weak jokes Beardyman launches himself into the music making, picking random suggestions from a hat, reading them out and choosing those that give him an idea he can use. And then developing a unique song or tune deriving from the words provided, in a different genre each time.
Tonight we got techno, jazz, heavy metal, soul, Cuban, a Xmas song and a bit of song and dance. Given the equipment being employed, and short creative timescales (!) there is a certain amount of repetitiveness to this process, but he managed to give every number it's own character. His mastery of the technology is incredible, accompanied by great speed of thought as he comes up with ideas on the fly. But there are times when it's obvious that he also has a fair degree of real musical talent, such as the jazz keyboard solo, and, better still, an excellent singing voice. There's a danger that talent goes unnoticed amongst the general cleverness of the act, but his vocals are not only note perfect, but demonstrate a huge variation in tone and range. I could have sworn there was a bit of Aretha Franklin on the soul number. Best of all, for me, was his beatboxing rendition of Fred Astaire's tap dancing - a laugh out loud moment.
More impressive than genuinely entertaining.
This was Beardyman's final performance at Fringe 2015.
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