The Beard Guy lives on.
Indeed, Mike Taylor lives on in the hearts - and on the t-shirts - of nearly 3,000 fans who packed the Rath Eastlink Community Centre on Saturday, to watch a stunning performance by his surviving Walk Off The Earth band members.
"Honestly, I think it's just an epic loss for the band, they were so close together," said fan Sam Rooney from Halifax. "I'm just glad that I have a t-shirt to memorialize someone who is so important."
She felt that Taylor's loss last year deeply affected a group whose members are close together, but said that the Burlington band would nonetheless "take over," noting their existing success.
Rooney added that she admired WOTE's originality the most, noting that they started their careers playing guitar in their Ontario hometown when they first formed in 2006.
At their Truro gig, the band used not only guitars but also looping samples, percussion instruments, theremins and ukuleles at various points during their set.
Their concert at the RECC featured surviving members Gianni 'Luminati' Nicassio, Ryan Marshall, Joel Cassady and Sarah Blackwood, whipping the crowd up into a frenzy by playing both their own songs and covers of pop hits including Gotye's 'Somebody That I Used to Know' and 'Teenage Dirtbag' by Wheatus.
Taylor would no doubt have been proud to see his Maritime fans cheering on his friends, as stage technicians released a literal blizzard of confetti over their audience, including not just teenagers but parents with young children hitching piggybacks.
Meantime, Blackwood sported - appropriately - an Iron Maiden t-shirt as she belted out the lyrics to 'Teenage Dirtbag' referencing the world-famous metal band.
"They made a career out of something that they loved and they're all so ridiculously talented," said Rooney.
For local fan Andrew Rehberg, who was at the gig with his family, his favourite WOTE song was ‘Taekwondo’, with its catchy lyrics of, ‘If people mess with you/I’ll kick ‘em with my toe’.
“It’s great family music, something that we can all sing when we are on long car rides,” said Rehberg. “We can all sing and belt out the lyrics.”
Up front near the stage, fan Chrissy Luker drove to Truro from Cape Breton with her family and friends to see WOTE at their only Atlantic stop during their 2019 North American tour.
When asked what she liked best about WOTE, she replied, "their originality and their creativity and their music."
Luker's fellow Cape Bretoners had a simpler message.
"Walk Off The Earth!" they cried as they leaped into the air, minutes before their heroes walked onto the stage.
Opening for WOTE at Truro was indie folk-pop singer Gabrielle Shonk and her band.
