Love Muscle, The Occasion, Nathan White Band, Redskope, Amy Lee.

Bedford Esquires Lev 2 8th April 2007.

Four successive nights of live music on Level 2 drew to a satisfying conclusion this evening. With five more performances bringing the final total to nineteen, the wide varying styles again were to be commended.

A young lady by the name of AMY LEE opened the evening with a calm and confident acoustic performance. Nothing too surprising there you may think, until you realise she is only 14 years of age. The only time she seems a little nervous is when she hesitantly announces "Thank you" at the end of each song. With an unusual cover versions of Fall Out Boy's 'This ain't a Scene' and The View's 'Same Jeans', the applause she gleaned at the end of her set was very much merited. REDSKOPE are the musical reincarnation of last years Antec Sonata and it is much the same. A band that can be described as musical kleptomaniacs, they produce a schizophrenic genre-smashing cyber-grunge set with cranking guitars and exploding drums, also combined with a backing track CD player that hopefully won't skip next time out.

The five-piece NATHAN WHITE BAND follow and write songs about insanity, cannibalism, freaks, and mainly about death (because they like to)! It's heavy, dark, and at times uncomfortable, but never boring. We get some lighter relief on 'Stoned' which has a slight baggy feel in its intro, while 'Mod' harks back to the sound of Dr. Feelgood with it's 'pub rock' sound. But it's the sinister 'Insane' with the constant refrain of "Doctor, Doctor, I'm insane" that will stick in my mind. I'm just glad they don't play here very often.

The mood of the evening is lifted by Luton's THE OCCASION. Their total love for pop's variety shines through, allied to their cool demeanour. Although much of it is an unabashed slice of retro, when it is delivered as good as this that's nothing to be ashamed of. With a raw power and passion, even the more gentle tunes are eagerly received. There's a hint of the Primals in 'Without me', while the current vogue of musical tastes in the charts echoes amongst 'Guardian' and their final song 'Suitcase'.

As headliners, LOVE MUSCLE gave their local fans just what they wanted, in fact I think Fergus dedicated a song to everyone in the room! The set was tight and their many songs offer great variation. The almost post-hardcore blues of 'Just B' to a little subliminal ska-reggae of 'The 'Irie Tale' through to grunge and even a latin touch. The set concludes with an encore cover of Pearl Jam's 'Alive'. A fitting finale.