THE 4 SKINS
with Discharger and Bakers Dozen.

Bedford Esquires Lev 2 Saturday 8th December 2012.

A couple of weeks ago, a paltry forty or so people attended a night of oi here at Esquires which was headlined by The Business. Tonight with much more high profile oi on offer, the venue looks so much different. It is packed and they are all here principally to see the legends of oi, namely THE 4 SKINS. This London band grace the main stage for the first time since December 2010. Judging by the foreign dialects and languages heard during the evening, a vast amount of this crowd have travelled many miles to be here. The Eurostar and Luton airport would have been very busy this weekend. With tickets priced at twenty pounds, it isn't a cheap night, but it does look to be virtually sold out. The bar does a roaring trade and space is at a severe premium. So far, so good you would assume? Well, as stated in the past, oi bands and their mainly right wing skin head followers do sometimes bring out a bad element of people. Cheap, nasty and highly offensive tattoos on the bodies (including the heads) of a large amount of attendees with boots and braces standard issue of course. Long hair is, in the main, a no no!
A bad atmosphere is noticed and detected early doors and as the evening wears on and the alcohol fuels all the hatred, events do eventually turn very ugly. Ninety nine percent of all gigs at Esquires pass off peacefully with no hint of malice or trouble. A 'skinhead' night usually involves a minor fracas, indeed it is sometimes the bands that instigate it! Tonight a fight breaks out. Because it happens so close to the sound and lighting equipment, it makes it one of the worst that we have had in years. It is a pity that these travelling idiots cannot pause and reflect on their stupid actions and realise what the consequences could have been had they not been prevented from getting any closer to the high voltage electrics. I repeat that, high voltage electrics!!!
What of the bands and their music? Well as someone who very vividly remembers this brand of punk when it first originated, I now yawn and ponder what it has sunk to. Most of this stuff is so slow and dreary that I can literally feel my skin ageing throughout the evening. It is tired and underwhelming. Their colloquial references are all of a common theme. They may like to think that they write lyrics for the common working class individual, I beg to differ. Younger people, in the main, would not latch onto this puerile rubbish. Who is the voice to change the scene? Why they listen to someone such as Ben Drew AKA Plan B. "Ill Manors" means more in the 21st century. These bands profess to write street musuc. Their followers may agree, but to the outsiders it has more in common with times past, a punk parody of the thirties music hall with all the appropriate 'singalongy', 'drinkalongy' malarkey. Not so much agit-punk, more agit-cabaret! I swear I heard the riff from "Hokey cokey" played during one of the 'songs' tonight.

First on are four piece BAKERS DOZEN who set the scene perfectly for tonight with a rousing "Ripe For Violence"! Next up are DISCHARGER who have travelled all the way from Holland. They are the most exciting and vibrant band of the evening. Not so much oi, but almost verging into pirate metal. Of course we get the inevitable "Let's Get Pissed Tonight", but they also cover (bizarrely) "Ace Of Spades"! A friend who saw Lemmy and the lads in concert a few weeks ago thought that Dischargers version possessed a lot more energy. It is the Dutch lads' first time in the UK and good impressions were made (at least with this reviewer). Their music was akin to 'Iron Maiden for skinheads' as they were a lot more metal (no flowing hair though) than punk or oi. Condemned 84 enter to a darkened stage and a themed intro to match. Cannot quite grasp that from a punk band. Very fist pumping in the air music. Macho tunes for grandads who like Millwall FC as "No One Likes us...We Don't Care" rings out.

When defunct punk bands from yesteryear make a comeback, it is invariably to make a massive cynical cash in. Anyway, with a message of unity and activism THE 4 SKINS appear on stage. Chaos rules as the male testosterone tribalism takes over. "Wonderful World" it is not!! Same ol, same ol, same ol, yawn!