New Groove Formation, The Scallywags, Fruition, Ed & Iain Bowfinger.

Lev 2 Esquires Bedford. 18th July 2009.

This evening Esquires celebrates 'Cookfest', well that's the official title. Put simply, it's a night to celebrate the birthday of lovely smiley faced local music impresario Suzy Cook, who has handpicked the musical fare on offer tonight.

To start the party, what better way then to welcome ED BOWFINGER to strut his stuff. However, the Luton lad is feeling a tad fragile. He reveals to me pre-gig that he rather overindulged himself at the Madness gig in London last night. Thankfully, and needless to say, once Ed gets the smell of level 2 inhaled in his nostrils, he is up bouncing and ready to play. After starting with "Disagree", he is joined by fellow 'Bowfingerian' Iain. They then launch into "Lucky Jim" and he stays for the whole set. "We're gonna slaughter some Bowfinger songs!" Iain jokingly tells us. The gags naturally fly thick and fast between songs. They even reveal that they have played "Everything is Easy" at every single Bowfinger show for the past ten years. With an appearance as backing vocalist by the birthday girl, the boys naturally bow out to loud cheers.

FRUITION's acoustic trio match Iain's throwaway statement by revealing that they are going to "decapitate" some of the Fruition back catalogue! They have had a warm up last Wednesday in a pub garden in anticipation of tonight and despite the disturbing vibrating sounds from Chaos Calling, which unfortunately emanates from down in the bar, they managed to get things spot on.

Fun trio THE SCALLYWAGS from Hitchin really got the crowd 'movin' and groovin'. Their powerful and amusing frontman says that he "feels proud at playing at such a famous venue" and in respect of this that they would perform a "totally weird" collection of covers. This ranged from Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone" to the Inspiral Carpets through to The Killers. Well known tunes at a party equals plenty of dancing. These charismatic chaps couldn't fail.

What really makes the night special is the much awaited return of Ampthill's finest eight piece collective NEW GROOVE FORMATION. It's clear to see that the amount of festival gigs that NGF have been playing recently seems to be paying off handsomely, judging by tonights show. Having witnessed them at the Ampthill festival a couple of weeks ago where they enjoyed a large stage, fresh air and sun, Esquires on a Saturday night could not be more different. Vocalist Iain and MC Nick are swearing by the bucketload almost instantly as they project the urgent messages this band have to say. Tonight is also the Esquires debut of new bassist Darrell.

The band mix some interesting new material with their popular old favourites, such as the opening "Human race". With everyone fully tanked up on copious amounts of falling down water, everyones ready to dance! Unfamiliar strains of "6000 miles away" already looks sure to be a long term winner. Iain's assessment of this is simple and to the point, "Bedford Esquires, it's been a long time since we've been here, so you've not heard this". It also applies to "You've got to believe in yourself" as well as the song "dedicated to the ladies", called "Senorita". It all seems to be falling into place, a typical NGF night when it's all about the "Music". Tim the didgeridoo man makes his customary intro to "Didge". "Bedford street" is when the trumpet and trombone girls come to the fore and looks to be the final curtain. However, on this special occasion there has to be an encore. Ironically it's called "Who Made all the Rules?". Well tonight it had to be Suzy! Happy Birthday!