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Vol. 79

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Live Reviews

Beans On Toast

Colchester Arts Centre

Thursday 27th March 2025

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BEANS ON TOAST – COLCHESTER – LIVE REVIEW

📸 Denis Gorbatov

It’s a day with a Y in it, so you better believe that Beans On Toast is touring! Tonight, as the sun sets on what’s been a glorious spring day, Colchester’s local music lovers congregate in the beautiful surroundings of the city’s Arts Centre for an opportunity to revel in his tales and song.

EVY FREARSON

Colchester Arts Centre is one of the best independent venues in our beautiful country (with possibly the best toilets – seriously check them out) and it’s only right that tonight we have a local opening act to get the evening rolling.

Evy Frearson is an Essex born singer-songwriter who this evening showcases a haunting alt-folk sound which is rather fitting for this deconsecrated church! Whilst her time on stage is short, she is able to mesmerise those in attendance and undoubtedly leave them wanting more.

Frearson finishes her set with her fantastic new single, ‘Kiss Me In The Winter’ and serves as Exhibit A for the case of always getting down to venues early to support the support act!

WILLIAM CRIGHTON

Exhibit B for that case soon arrives onstage as a longtime friend of our headliner, William Crighton, takes things in a grittier direction with his brand of storytelling folk-rock.

Crighton has welcomed Beans On Toast over to his homeland for a number of shows and tours and now he is clearly enjoying his trek around the UK with Beans. His Aussie charm helps to bring his songs to life and the crowd eat up every word of the likes of ‘2000 Clicks’ and set closer ‘Priest’.

It has to be said that whenever Beans On Toast tours, he always manages to pick interesting and engaging support acts and Colchester has been blessed with two of them.

BEANS ON TOAST

Soon enough, it’s time for that man himself to hit the stage and on both legs of his tour supporting latest album, ‘Wild Goose Chasers’, he has been accompanied on piano by Matt Millership (known to fans as Tensheds or King Killership).

The man known as Beans On Toast, Jay McAllister releases a new album on his birthday each December and in recent years he has mixed up his recording process each year. This latest release was written in collaboration with Millership and it’s great to see the pair bring these songs to the stage together.

Whenever Millership takes on the musical lead tonight, it allows Beans the freedom to roam the stage and deliver his ever-thought-provoking lyrics with even more verve. The likes ‘Faith in the Moon’ and ‘Why?’ segue perfectly amongst fan favourites ‘A Beautiful Place’ and ‘Watching the World Go By’.

Mid-set Beans picks up his trusty guitar and delivers a run of songs solo including some fan requests and local-based tracks given his status as an Essex lad himself. Later Millership returns and we even see a Millership, Crighton and Beans team-up for Randy Travis cover ‘Send My Body’.

We also get a glimpse of where Beans is going with his new material this year with three new tracks making their way into the setlist including the return of his scathing political commentary on tentatively titled ‘Counter Culture’ and ‘Taylor Swift II’!

Beans has long established himself as an underground national treasure and fans that head out into the now considerably cooler March night do so glad that they left the house and supported live music.

Look at the upcoming shows section of his website and it would be fair to wager that it will never be blank. For that, we should all be grateful for the work ethic installed in Beans On Toast because any night spent in the company of ol’ Beano is always going to be glorious time.

So, the moral of this review is simply to do yourself a favour and next time Beans comes to town, do the right thing and pop along!

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Vol. 62

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Album Reviews

Beans On Toast

Wild Goose Chasers

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BEANS ON TOAST – WILD GOOSE CHASERS – ALBUM REVIEW

It can’t be easy keeping things interesting when you make a pledge to release a new album every year, either for your fans or yourself. Still, Beans On Toast always manages it, helped of course by his in the moment lyrics but also of late by his increasing musical exploration.

His latest album, ‘Wild Goose Chasers’ finds Beans applying his wordsmithery over the fantastical piano wizardry of Matt Millership (aka Tensheds, aka King Killership) to beautiful effect.

Described enigmatically by the man himself as “a collection of newfangled pagan hymns to coincide with the end of truth”, these songs again find this cherished musician mixing personal experiences with his signature social commentary. Big thinking mixes with delicate thoughts and comes out as another vital set of engaging songs.

WATCH THE VIDEO FOR ‘VARIETY’
Beans On Toast – ‘Variety’

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The gentler melodies and softer vocals present on this record showcase a different side of a songwriter of cult-like status. Familiar yet different, ‘Wild Goose Chasers’ is certain to register as amongst Beans best ever work.

As much as you can follow his growth as a person across his extensive back catalogue, recent releases have really demonstrated exponential development of Beans On Toast the artist.

Naturally these are intertwined enormously but to return to our opening point, it is truly incredible that seventeen albums down the line Beans On Toast is still standing on a chair as a master of his art!

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Vol. 54

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Vol. 53

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Vol. 47

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Vol. 13

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The latest issue of the Full Pelt Magazine is here, and you can download your copy for free below!

Volume 13 features cover stars Holding Absence as they hit the road in support of ‘The Noble Art of Self Destruction’. We also catch Skinny Lister as they take ‘Shanty Punk’ to the stage. Plus we review the latest album from Beans On Toast!

We have our News Report rounding up new releases from Bruce Dickinson, CJ Wildheart, Alkaline Trio, Trash Boat, P.O.D., Atreyu, Normandie, Oakman, Chelsea Wolfe and LØLØ.

Plus new live announcements from Lytham Festival, Slam Dunk, Wild Fields Festival, The Killers, As December Falls, Pet Needs, Indoor Pets, Nickelback, IDLES, Avril Lavigne, You Me At Six, Taking Back Sunday, Don’t Panic and Thomas Nicholas Band!

Finally, we round up the latest additions to our ‘Discover’ New Music Playlist with Where Oceans BurnBreak Fifty and fakeyourdeath!

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Album Reviews

Beans On Toast

The Toothpaste and the Tube

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BEANS ON TOAST – THE TOOTHPASTE AND THE TUBE – ALBUM REVIEW

Every year on his birthday, December 1st, folk hero Beans On Toast releases a new snapshot of world events. With last year seeing the release of a kids boxset, ‘The Toothpaste and the Tube’ represents the first traditional collection in two years which feels like a lifetime after a run of fourteen albums in thirteen years from 2009 to 2021.

Sadly the world has only continued to spiral into chaos and despair over the intervening period, so there are the expected takes on some of the most serious events such as on ‘The Three Stooges’, ‘Work to Do’ and ‘Against The War’.

WATCH ‘AI’ ON YOUTUBE
Beans On Toast – ‘AI’

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As per the title, this album however acknowledges that whilst you can’t undo those issues, you can try to address them in a better future! This therefore could be the most well-rounded Beans On Toast album thus far as he tackles everything from sewage, the green sheen and AI to mythical creatures, storied pubs and connecting with lost ones through birds!

Musically the album is another exploration of collaboration with Ferris & Sylvester working with Beans to create another unique presentation for those powerful lyrics. ‘The Toothpaste and the Tube’ ultimately is another fine compilation of tracks from Beans On Toast and one that feels quite fresh after a longer gap.

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Watch Episode 43 of The Full Pelt Music Podcast with guest Beans On Toast

The Full Pelt Music Podcast – Episode 43 – Beans On Toast

Read our review of Beans On Toast live in Norwich