Pig With The Face Of A Boy, aka Donald Newholm (guitar and mandolin/geeky) and Dan Woods (accordion/demented), like to keep on-stage chat to a minimum – “because we’re serious musicians”, they told us. The duo instead relied on their lyrical talents to keep their Friday night audience engaged. And while that was no easy task – precisely 36% of the crowd were extremely “refreshed”, let’s say – they pulled it off.
After a jolly opener about health and safety, PWTFOAB didn’t take long to darken the tone of their set. I Am The Taxidermist, which correctly concluded “isn’t it grim?” was followed by a song half-heartedly talking down a suicidal David Cameron and a delightful exploration of auto-cannibalism.
A deliberately disastrous instrument swap and spot of audience participation (with two of the crowd joining in on screeching violin) broke things up nicely, while a quartet of songs about pie, gravy, mash and pi was a witty stylistic touch. But it was the duo’s more macabre offerings that were the most compelling – Newholm’s The Lonely Shepherd (you can guess where it goes) was deliciously reckless, while Woods’ paean to midwifery was hilarious, juxtaposing a whimsical verse about “lovely babies” with a barked chorus that began “I want to eat your placenta”.
It made their big finale – A Complete History Of The Soviet Union As Told By A Humble Worker, Arranged To The Melody Of Tetris (2.6 million YouTube views and counting) – something of an anomaly as it’s more clever than funny. Nonetheless, it rounded off an accomplished, deeply amusing set from the hugely likable duo.
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