A capacity crowd mostly adorned with lush beards filled Jive for Adelaide rock parody band The Beards’ main fundraiser before leaving to represent Australia for the first time in the 2009 Beard and Moustache Championships in Alaska!!

Chris Finnen started off the night with some bobby blues. The bearded support act; a distinct Colonel Sanders/Rolf Harris look alike, used every inch of his guitars to produce some mighty blues shredding. He spoke about his own love of beards as he; grew a beard for tonight. A stomp box produced some thumping bass beats that got the whole beardy crowd up and dancing. Finnen showed his age as he played trippy whale songs on guitar to take the crowd back to the 60s-get your acid ready. This was perhaps a strange choice for a support act for this crowd; however he had a lovely beard and beard fever took over some of his lyrics with many references.

Up next were the distinctly familiar looking Dairy Brothers. Dressed like a classier yet harder rocking version of the Wiggles in their bright coloured suits, this four piece of local bearded talent rocked Jive the hardest it’s rocked in a long time! In their hour-long set they played crowd favourites such as Girl from Perth, Locked Door, Rock!, Four is a Four Letter Word and Wanker Version of Yourself. Whenever One Hundred Dollars on lead vocals and keyboard battled J-Wah on lead guitar they both shred their instruments in a battle of the rock gods. Their hilarious lyrics and really solid rock makes for a tasty combination. Whether it is power ballads or rock anthems-The Dairy Brothers have everything! The bass keytar is welcomed back from the eighties in the hands of Tom Rockchild and Vibro smashes the drums. The highlight of the set was definitely when the leaf blower was brought out to blow the hair back on each member as they shredded their instruments-Gold!

After some BEARD! chanting the new Jive curtain unveiled The Beards in their rock poses stroking their lush and creative beards. The crowd went crazy and especially beardy men stormed through the crowd to show The Beards’ their own hairy faces. Johann Beardraven in his aviators on lead vocals, keyboards, the occasional saxophone solo and his own bearded mic, was the dominating force of the band. He had the crowd in the palm of his hand or maybe his beard right from when he said Adelaide is the bearded capital of Australia. Nathaniel Beard on bass with his unique sideburns encouraged the crowd to stroke his chops after every song. If anyone in the crowd didn’t have a beard at the start of the gig they were sure to start growing one immediately after as they spoke to our national Aussie spirit to support The Beards on their quest to Alaska, especially after their anthem It only takes a fortnight to grow a decent beard.

It was amazing how uplifting the whole atmosphere was with lighters in the air, swaying arms, the crowd singing every word and lots of male bonding. Facey McStublington on lead guitar was definitely my highlight as he ripped every note to shreads! Their almost 2 hour long set featured crowd favourites Growing a Beard, A Wizard Needs a Beard, No Beard, No Good and my personal favourite If your Dad doesn’t have a Beard, you’ve got two Mums. Drummer John Beardman wearing an unnecessary fake grey beard (when he has a perfect beard underneath), stole the spotlight with his turn on vocals, guitar and a particularly entertaining attempt at the saxophone in crowd favourite Who Told You To Shave Off Your Beard? in the second and final encore. Stay tuned for The Beards’ third album due out in June on their return to Adelaide. By the time this is published The Beards will be on their way to Alaska where they are sure to be the stars of the championship and will achieve their bearded world domination!