In Remission, Rogue Radio, The Folk'n'Ska Souls, Betaboy, Two Chord Coward.

Lev 2 Esquires Bedford. 20th June 2009.

These days young people sometimes get a bad reputation in the media, often accused of being lazy and causing trouble at every opportunity. However, tonight at Esquires the warm and compassionate side of the younger generation shone through with total pride and dedication to the cause. The evening was billed as A Night For One Spent By All. The gig was aimed at a lad called Gary Townsend who is suffering from leukaemia. Inspired by his fight against the evil disease, friends led by Ryan Martin have rallied around with Gary's favourite bands on display. The name of the game this evening is all about raising money, with the hoped for profits going to the Teenage Cancer Trust Helping Teenagers Fight Cancer. Our part is going to a specialist unit planned at Addenbrookes Hospital in Cambridge. With the costs estimated at some two million pounds, every penny or pound donated is absolutely vital.

For once the level of performance paled into insignificance. Organiser Ryan, under the pseudonym of TWO CHORD COWARD, is joined by pal Arun Paul for what the boys describe as an "acoustic bongo mash up". That description fitted their set completely as Arun taps and bangs at his bongos, while Ryan sings some sweet songs.

BETABOY build on perfectly from their last performance here. The chatter has gone and the songs sit neatly in the mind. Although it's a new song, "Another day" sees the band simply oozing confidence. Mind you, the crowd help, enjoying the sounds as they dance, chill or, when necessary, just flood the bar and order another pint!

Not only do they possess one of the best band names around, THE FOLK AND SKA SOULS get everybody skankin. The six piece open with "Change". It doesn't take long for the crowd to work up a sweat as they dance along. The band admit that they are huge fans of The Specials and the party spirit is enhanced by a couple of covers, namely "Gangsters" and "Rat race". The punters know what they like and the familiar sounds give them a chance to leap around dementedly!

ROGUE RADIO naturally get a massive cheer as they arrive on stage. Once again it seems that most of Ampthill have travelled down to join them. Knowing the importance of the evening, Ryan leads the band through all the favourites. Sean and Richard lend a helping hand, and the joyous and tumultuous reception that greets the band as they finish off with "Come a little closer" is quite deafening.

Unfortunately, because the evening has been so popular, metal exponents IN REMISSION had to "speed it through a bit". Running late has its disadvantages, but the heaviest band of the evening don't let anybody down and give a good account of themselves. Their stage presentation was very visual. It brought to a close a very successful evening. Early estimations are that quite a sizeable amount of money has been raised. So a big thank you to all those people so heavily involved in its organisation. As Ryan said on stage during the evening "You know who you are". Well done.