Eugene Francis Jnr, The Escape, Royston Jones, Amy and the Integrals.

Lev 2 Esquires Bedford. 20th June 2008.

Acoustic troubadours headlining are very much a rarity at Esquires in the past few years. This honour has fallen to, amongst others, Ricky Warwick, Iain Archer and who remembers Simple Kid? (we do - he was (and still is) excellent! - website editors)

Tonight EUGENE FRANCIS JUNIOR is visiting Esquires as part of his nationwide tour to promote current album "The Golden Beatle". Eugene tells us that he normally travels with his band, but tonight he is on his own and the Juniors are not to be seen. This twenty-something gentleman is tall and thin, but what is most striking is his apache indian head dress. Whether he is a descendant of the Sioux is not made clear, but the warm stage makes him take it off after the third song. A quiet reflective artist, he is in his own words "a little bit far from home" (Wales), but adds "that it is nice to be with this select band of people".

He performs "Poor Me", his single from last yearm while using three mics. Watching this peculiar movement is at the very least strange and very curious. It is a trait that he follows for the rest of his average set. Eugene does admit he has 28 songs to play but he feels thats some of them are a tad too boring! Watching the sample he has performed in front of us so far, thankfully he only uses a quarter of his repertoire. Even though the range of material steers clear of death and suicide, his style could be described as a 21st century Donovan. He utilises a harmonica for his final offering, which he informs us has all of seventeen verses. Despite calls for an encore from this small but attentive crowd, the apache warrior has now departed.

Support tonight is provided firstly by retro pop trio THE ESCAPE, who always put on a good show. Good tunes abound as they include new song "Unresolved", where the vocals are provided by their ever multi-tasking drummer. Royston Jones revisit Esquires with their full song book brimming with familiar tunes. "Waste of time" and especially "Stars" are the pick from yet another supreme show.

AMY LEE and her couple of INTEGRALS (including an escapee from The Escape) just continue to write and perform entertainingly catchy and good pop songs. Showcased this evening is a recently written new song "Smile Now" which Amy admits she might forget the words to (naturally she doesn't!). That then leads to the regular favourites "Master of Disguise", "20 and a Reject" and "Once upon a Journey". The bands' special cover is "Stuck in the Middle With You" which includes plenty of "Oohs". "The Tree", which is the tale of a 'night out experience', gains momentum as the crowd join in with some spontaneous handclapping. The band, and my personal, favourite "Chavs of 2023" closes another sparkling Integrals set.