The Cazals, Shapes, Pirate Radio, Culture.

Lev 2 Esquires Bedford. 14th May 2008.

Tonights gig is yet another promotion by Strange Place Club. They are under the guise of two 21 year olds, Mark Kemp and Matt Jones, who a few weeks ago gained national recognition for their promotional skills in the NME. They were classed as one of the top 50 forward thinkers of the music industry in 2008. The duo were placed at number 42. Here at Bedford their shows have been very successful. However, this evening is to be one of their rare Esquires failures.

A moribund evening is only brightened by Luton's Shapes. The headliners are THE CAZALS who visit us on this, their last date of the current tour. The band say they are "up for a party", but to me they look drained and exhausted. Perhaps that's the problem with the performance. The Cazals' battery was flat and they had run out of gas! To their credit they are a band who have serious connections, namely Doherty and Bloc Party. They have also been taken under the wing of Daft Punk's producer who took the six-piece to record with noted Parisian producer Julien Delfaud. Pedigree musical people, but judging tonight there is nothing to suggest that The Cazals are anything more than solid festival fodder and a reliable suppoet band.

Fronted by a tall, rakishly thin gentleman named Phil, their entrance is either surreal or a shambles. Half of the band turn up to perform "Time of our Lives" and then the rest join in a couple of minutes later. After a stuttering start, the following "Life is Boring" is a rare highpoint, but just as I am beginning to warm to the band, there comes a fatal jolt to the system. A shocking cover of Spandau Ballet's "To Cut a Long Story Short"! When The Cazals follow this with the ironic "What of the Future" several thoughts spring to mind! Thankfully at this low point the band do proceed to redeem themselves a touch with a couple of richly entertaining songs. Their old single of a couple of years ago "Comfortable Silence" shows what they are capable of. This is followed by a stand out performance by the aforementioned frontman Phil on the current single "Somebody, Somewhere". The rest of the set rather falls flat after this and is played out in front of very few people at its conclusion.

Luton's premier export SHAPES are, for me, the saviours of the evening. They form part of the trilogy of Luton bands supporting The Cazals this evening (hence the poor local turnout). Bouncy, lively, enthusiastic and maturing steadily, they make a confident start with "Too many times". It has a hypnotic funky, almost robotic dancey, intro that hooks me immediately. This is backed up by the excellent "Machete Street", a song that everybody in the room seemed to latch on to. As per usual "Fistfights" ends the set.

PIRATE RADIO, the powerful trio full of swaggering confidence, played a mean set of which "Be a villain" stood out. Also here were THE CULTURE who were thankfully tonight were back to their norm, especially after their last embarrassing Esquires visit.