@The Cluny, November 15 2015

On the final night of one of the most horrific weekends in recent history, Beans On Toast arrived with a defiant message for an eclectic Cluny crowd.

Standing before a packed venue, Beans On Toast said he had spent the last two days asking himself ‘Should I play this show? I try to make people have a laugh. I don’t take things too seriously, so should I be going on stage and having a good time with the crowd at a time like this? Yes, I fucking should!’

As the crowd united and cheered, Beans On Toast picked up his ragged axe and broke into A Whole Lot Of Loving, with the opening lyric ‘Don’t blame the immigrants, the poor or the unemployed…’ seeming particularly fitting, following his opening speech.

With a new album coming out in a few weeks, the Essex joker has had an eventful year that has seen him take in South African festivals and record in Kansas with bluegrass duo Truckstop Honeymoon, who joined him onstage to showcase their new material. With the addition of a double bass and a second guitarist, the sound suddenly filled the room. But with a lack of rehearsal since the songs were written, there was a definite presence of rust between the acts.

Over the years Beans On Toast has built a reputation as a lovable troubadour with a love of class As, so anyone who was expecting a planned, rust free performance, should probably have gone downstairs to see Dan Andriano!

As Truckstop Honeymoon left the stage, the real action started, and the crowd was treated to the songs they wanted to hear. First, came the ever-reliable M.D.M.Amazing, then War On War and an slightly aggressive version of Things before he hopped off stage, got everyone to sit down and joined the audience on the floor to sing in campfire style.

With a happy crowd, the evening came to an end with the newly crowned crowd pleaser The Chicken Song and his standard closing number The Price Of Rice.

The night brought everything you’d expect from a Beans On Toast show and there is no venue more perfectly suited to his sounds than the laid back nature of The Cluny, where he has already said he will be back next year as ‘it’s the best venue in Newcastle!’