The Godfathers, The Silver Brazilians.

Lev 2 Esquires Bedford. 15th May 2010.

Visiting Esquires as part of their 25th anniversary tour are THE GODFATHERS. With, I feel, only moderate success the first time around, money and the nostalgia trip has, I suppose, brought it all back together again. Judging by a somewhat poor turnout, it seems that The Godfathers are not remembered especially well in Bedford. For the fans that are here, they make a big party of it as they recall the band from their creative heyday. Of the original line up, only the Coyne brothers, Peter (vocals) and Chris (bass) are here, although guitarist Del Bartle is an old friend and compatriot from The Sid Presley Experience. They were a forerunner of The Godfathers.

Although never really a fan of this band, I felt that tonight they certainly gave excellent value for money to the paying public. A long set plus encore in complemented by a high octane performance. Indeed, the fitness level of Peter Coyne is to be admired. Suited, with a tie to match, he barely breaks a sweat under the warm stage lights. His slick coiffed hair is hardly out of place at the end of the show. His 'gor-blimey' between song banter is at all times direct and to the point. A stern facial expression never changes. It's rather akin to a stressed maths teacher about to give the class and ear-bending rollacking! Although The Godfathers concentrate on their eighties and nineties material, they inform us that a trio of new EPs are coming out later in the year. "Back to the Future" and "I Can't Sleep Tonight" are showcased.

All immaculately attired, the sound of The Godfathers is very old skool pub-rock r'n'b with a lot of classic punk riffs embedded in most of their songs. It's fun to try and pick these out as the evening wears on! "I Want it Now" features the front man attacking his tambourine as though he was playing with a fluffy kitten! "If I Only had Time" and the mouthful that is "Just Because you're not Paranoid it Doesn't Mean they're Going to Get You" are both greeted with loud cheers from their adoring fanbase. The age group is firmly over 35's, no young people are in here tonight to be converted to The Godfathers sound. Their first album "Hit by Hit" (from 1986) is well represented as "Can't Leave Her Alone", "I Want You" and "This Damn Nation" echo around the room. These, together with "Lonely Man" (their first recorded song) bring the memories back for an audience who are ready to dance to "How Low is Low?" and "Walking Talking Johnny Cash Blues". Songs from "Birth, School, Work, Death" dominate, but they do contribute a couple of covers. Firstly, "How Does it Feel to Feel?" (a classic from the psychedelic sixties band The Creation), and featured in the encore is Lennon's "Cold Turkey". My underlying memory of their set tonight is, I suppose, the sinister "mental instrumental" "Public Enemy Number 1". For this, Peter Coyne adds percussion with some maracas, although as a friend pointedly observes, 'not in a nice way like Bez'!

As a perfect support for The Godfathers, Milton Keynes quartet THE SILVER BRAZILIANS ("a surfabilly Clash" as the NME affectionately described them) are in fine fettle. Frontman Adrian Stranik is razor sharp in his delivery and dead-pan witty to match. I especially liked his intro to "Do you Remember the Future Baby?". "If Philip K Dick had wrote a rock 'n' roll song it would have sounded something like this"! (For the record, I'm led to believe from a literary colleague that Mr Dick wrote "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?", better known to us as "Bladerunner") With high spirited favourites "Kate Winslet" and "Iraqdonalds" contrasting well with the slow bluesy wash of "I'm gonna kill yer (If you leave me)", Adrian is on a roll and sneeringly sings "I'm going to put it all on YouTube baby". What adds welcome originality is the sumptuous blues-harp, courtesy of the suave trilby-hatted Anthony De La Haye. The two of them 'duelling' on stage is also worthy of mention. So many of TSB's songs begin with a faintly familiar and catchy riff that eventually seems to drift off in so many different tangents. Smart and snappy as ever.