Folk and Tumble catches up with our friends Beaux Gris Gris & the Apocalypse in Edinburgh on the first night of their Wild Woman U.K. Tour.
We’ve been fans of Beaux Gris Gris & the Apocalypse since their second album, ‘Good Times, End Times’, and we were fortunate to catch them on tour last October in the Dutch City of Leiden. Fast forward three months and we caught up with them again in Scotland’s capital city, Edinburgh.
Beaux Gris Gris & the Apocalypse are primarily made up of the husband and wife team of singer and composer Greta Valenti and guitarist Robin Davey. Together with a tight ensemble of touring and recording musicians they tour and record as a full band. The Edinburgh line up consists of the same line up of Greta and Robin alongside veterans of the last European tour, with bassist Charlie Kay, Keyboard player, Jack Herbert and latest addition for this leg of the tour, drummer Kev Hickman.
From the outset the band are on fire as they launch into ‘What’s My Name’ kicking off the evening with full audience participation. Covering all of the band’s four albums the set list features blistering versions of fan favourites such as ‘Fill me Up’, ‘Wild Woman’, ‘Don’t Let the Bastards Drag you Down’ and ‘Louisiana Good Ride’. Throughout the two hour set it’s amazing to watch the on stage chemistry between Valenti and Davey as they bounce off each other on and off stage. However, that’s not to say that the other musicians don’t get to shine. Bassist Charlie Key anchors the band with her five string base and keyboard player Jack Herbert’s hands are blindingly fast as they cover the whole of his instrument. As for drummer Kev Hickman, well, he almost steals the show with his fast and furious playing that would have made even Keith Moon proud.
A brief acoustic section mid-set set gives the audience time to catch their breath and we get to share a moment as Greta dedicates a cover of Sinead O’Connor’s ‘Nothing Compares 2 U’ to “Belfast”, acknowledging our presence at the show.
Watching a Beaux Gris Gris & the Apocalypse concert is the closest you will ever get to catching lightening in a bottle. Twice now we’ve seen them in concert and they are spontaneous and fun. As demonstrated during a thundering version of ‘Make It Wit Chu’, when Robin walks into the audience to meet Greta who promptly lassoes with him her microphone cable and drags him back onto the stage.
To put it simply, Beaux Gris Gris & The Apocalypse are one of the hardest working and tightest outfits on the live music scene today.
Go see them while you can.
