Beardyman

Beardyman plays Exeter Phoenix on Saturday 7 November, part of his We Wanna Be tour. If you've come across the name but aren't sure what that actually means in a live setting, the short version is that he makes dance music on the fly using nothing but his voice and a custom-built production system he calls the BEARDYTRON_5000. He loops, layers and tweaks in real time, so what you're hearing is being built from scratch in front of you rather than played back from a record.

Behind the stage name is Darren Foreman, a two-time UK beatbox champion who started beatboxing at three and had written a symphony for his school orchestra by nine. He became an internet phenomenon on YouTube, racking up more than 50 million social media views, and has since worked with a wide range of names: Groove Armada, Herbie Hancock, Tim Minchin, Peter Serafinowicz, Shaun Keavney, Daniel Sloss, Reggie Watts, Jack Black, Tom Scott and DJ JFB. He also co-wrote the No. 1 EDM track 'Eat, Sleep, Rave, Repeat' with Norman Cook and Calvin Harris.

That's just the music side of things. He's performed at the BBC Proms, headlined the Edinburgh Comedy Festival, scored adverts and shows, voiced cartoon characters, and contributes to Radio 4's The Now Show. He's also given a TED talk about his live-looping software and judged the SBX Grand Beatbox Battle. The whole thing sits somewhere between a gig and a performance, and the We Wanna Be tour brings it to the Auditorium at the Phoenix.

It starts at 7.30pm, with standing tickets at £26, subject to a £1.50 ticketing system charge.