Live Review: Beans on Toast - Invisible Wind Factory, Liverpool 11/05/2018
Beans On Toast comes to Liverpool's Invisible Wind Factory with an all seated audience for a night of drunk folk stories and his back catalogue of songs mixed throughout the show.
Support coming from Boss Caine, who was a great support for Beans On Toast and this tour. With his great folk songs and his dry comedy he set the tone for the evening very well as he was very funny from the get go by telling stories about his songs as well as singing them to an attentive crowd. My favourite song & story was ‘Dead Mans Suit’ which is a song about his friend having a job interview but having no suit or money, however he managed to scavenge £7 together with the help from his friends and went down to his local Oxfam to buy a suit. When he got home he found a £20 note in pocket, with the angel on his shoulder they knew the should have probably handed it in but decided with the devil on the other shoulder it was a much better idea to have a night out with it instead. If comedy folk songs are your thing Boss Caine are a must listen, you’ll be adding their songs to your playlists in no time.
After Boss Caine had warmed the stage, it was time for the main act Jay McAllister AKA Beans On Toast to take centre stage to an eager crowd. The folk singer from Braintree, Essex was touring to promote the release of his first book “Drunk Folk Stories” and also celebrate the 1̶0̶ ̶y̶e̶a̶r̶, I mean 9 year anniversary, of his first debut album ‘Standing On A Chair’ by touring the UK with a unique all seated tour aptly titled 'Sitting On A Chair Tour' . To celebrate such an accolade the gigantic fifty song album has also been re-released on a double vinyl for the first time.
Upon hearing the announcement from Jay about an all seated tour I was a little sceptical as to weather this would be a success as I’m usually dancing and moving around the floor whenever I’m at one of his gigs, so to be sat down for an entire gig got me a little intrigued to say the least. With that said I quickly released how much a seated gig for a Beans on Toast tour was a genius idea from Jay. The Invisible Wind Factory in Liverpool was the perfect quirky venue for such a crazy idea to work and this intimate venue only added to this special night. Throughout the gig it felt as though we were at a theatre seeing a play, this was confirmed even more so when Jay announced he’ll be having a mid show interval for people to go to the toilet and grab a drink. Jay started playing songs and telling stories (some of which feature in his book) to an excited loud crowd. Sat on stage himself I can’t imagine how difficult it must have been for Jay to gauge the atmosphere of the crowd with a seated audience, however I along with the rest of the crowd didn’t stop laughing and singing throughout the set and the atmosphere was electric. This was already one of the best Beans On Toast gigs I have been to within the first five minutes. The stories, laughter, drinks and songs continued throughout the night, my favourite coming from a story, and excuse my language here, but a story called “get your dick out”. A story about his inappropriate behaviour on stage at a festival of which this story can be read in the book he has released, which can be purchased from his website and on tour. To Beans On Toasts credit I think this tour has been his best yet and I believe he has pulled something off that many other acts couldn’t achieve, due to his great personality and stage carisma only adding to the value of the overall performance of the night. I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one wanting more of these kind of gigs again from Jay which other comedy folk singers can only learn from what was achieved on this tour. I felt the evening was that good it was like having a night out at my local pub with friends, laughter, drinks and folk songs playing on the jukebox in the background which was an unusual but refreshing experience to be apart of.
Words by Joe Mellor, and Photography by Jessie Jones