The Friday Nights, The Fabulous Weapon, The Wutars, David Lloyd.

Lev 2 Esquires Bedford. 26th February 2010.

He may be wearing a cool, old style military jacket, but Dunstable's acoustic troubadour DAVID LLOYD has a major headache ahead of his Esquires return. His trusty guitar has broken, so he literally has to beg, steal or borrow a replacement. Thankfully it's the latter and for a couple of minutes we leave David to get acquainted with his new found musical partner! His opening song is "Stand and Deliver". Us older 'musical soaks' reel back in horror , is it to be an Ants cover perhaps! Of course not, as David's rustic summery strum whets the appetite for this gifted young man perfectly. A song unfamiliar to me is "Dirty Little Story". David grins as he introduces the song. It's the tale of a lad who used to hang around with David and his mates and openly boasted of his female conquests! All lies apparently, as the said gentleman was really gay! The introductory stories are a feature of Mr Lloyd's set. "The Last Fall" is, for this singer songwriter, an unforgettable song. He tells of the last time that he introduced it at a gig and a lady hysterically screamed at him! Thankfully she's not here tonight. With the excellent "Seaside Town" and tales of friends through facebook in "The Terms", the set of David Lloyd is once again a pleasure to watch and listen.

We were hoping to welcome THE WUTARS to level 2 for the first time tonight. Unfortunately we only get to see one of the trio. He's called Alex and explains that the other two Wutars are absent due to illness. However, this long haired bearded gentleman says it a touch more explicitly!! A friend very amusingly quips "Wutar clan denied!". At very short notice, Alex takes us on a musical journey through life's various trials and tribulations. His somewhat twisted observations are seen through a pair of 'trippy hippy friendly eyes'! The chirpy banter raises a smile. Prior to one of his songs, Alex tells us that he wrote it about a place that was "a greasy spoon by day" and "a strip joint by night". He does assure us that he was not on stage himself. "I haven't got the cleavage" he adds. As the song unfolds, the lyrics are loudly and clearly spoken out, "Oh how could it be?". Also of note are "Crazy Jane and Jack the Jellyman", while "Gavistan" is a band tribute to a place in Sweden. This song borrows heavily from a Presley's "His latest flame". With amusing anecdotes about "larger ladies who shop at Evans", I look forward to eventually seeing The Wutars as a band.

THE FABULOUS WEAPON hail from Luton. Their detractors may accuse them of being slightly old-fashioned, even outdated. These comments are overtly harsh because this band are armed with tunes that are dirty tasting, riff arresting and thoroughly amp bashing! The quintet ooze soul power as they thrash out some good time sleazy rock 'n' roll. Their vocalist, who projects himself so well, wears an ultra tight, retro patterned seventies shirt. He shouts out passionately to the crowd "I'm a singer not a percussionist"! They know he is a dab hand at the tambourine and they are soon to witness it.

The gig this evening is principally a launch for The FRIDAY NIGHTS' new single. The trio know this and mix their set accordingly. They interweave some new material with their tried and tested older stuff. A sharp dressed man, the blond haired vocalist complete with pointy boots, openly encourages plenty of "TFN, TFN, TFN" shoutbacks from the crowd. He confidently announces to them when "A Certain Ratio" (the new single) is performed that this is "the reason why you are all here! Are you ready?". On first hearing, the drumbeat is the immediate 'pick out'. Its sublime indie pop is married to their 'cutesy' knowing mannerisms, especially on "Playground", which seems to garner the most interest from everyone. A quintessentally English image is sparked by the bands sometimes vaguely unhinged sound. "How Long?" is a new one, boosted by tons of guitar. The Friday Nights can even offer some angry working class rock to nestle with their mob handed melodies. These fresh faced purveyors of the jumpy strum hit the button with more than a few top drawer tunes, beguiling everyone in the process.