Obscure, The Bitter Suite, The Radiating Eyes.

Lev 2 Esquires Bedford. 15th August 2009.

Tonight, No More Heroes Promotions continue in their pursuit of trying to turn Esquires into a tribute venue. After doppelgangers pretending to be Depeche Mode and New Order in months gone by, THE OBSCURE is naturally a celebration of all thing connected to The Cure. Admittedly, the gentleman acting the part of Robert Smith made an excellent job of his make-up. The facade was, I admit, very similar. The set is naturally made up of all the usual hits, plus a few not heard too often. Just for purely personal reasons, it was nice to hear the band's interpretation of "In Between Days", a hit for the goth rock band in 1985.

Thankfully the next two bands both concentrated on their own material. Opening, and replacing the pre-advertised Milk Plus, were THE BITTER SUITE. From Milton Keynes, they comprise Chris Garton (vocals, bass) and Chi-Chung Yau (guitar). The duo perform with the addition of a drum machine which, although unsettling to watch, does seem to work on the performance tonight. Smartly attired, their set grows on me. The vocals are quite doom laden at times, but fits in well with the guitar variation that they employ. Lyrically it is good, especially on the atmospheric and eerie "Saving Grace". After the programmed intro, Chris invitingly croons "Lets take a ride into the night". A smooth bass line curses through the whole of the song. On the excellent "Bitter Suite Pills", some savage buzzsaw guitar sounds are to be had. Contrasting it all are some dreamy spaced-out overtures which float around the outskirts of this composition. Other tunes of note are the slow and slightly heart rending strains of "Rid of You", plus "2.00am" which has the cries of "Just call my name" echoing around the room.

Maintaining their reputation for causing mayhem on stage are young punks THE RADIATING EYES. Quite how they got on to this evenings line up is beyond me, but I'm glad they were here. For this gig, except for their front row of loyal teenage fans, most of the assembled throng is rather of the goth orientation. Invariably this leads to a spot of unsavoury heckling at The Radiating Eyes. Thankfully, frontman Ben gives as good as he gets. Instead of unsettling the band it seems to fire them up even more. Mixing punk of the hardcore and old skool variety, they put on probably their best show to date on level 2. With quite a few gigs recently in London, the confidence and stage presence of this, still very young, band is to be admired. Guitarist Dazz is mesmerising, while vocalist Ben does not stop as he energetically runs along the stage and mosh pit area. The whole evening (at least for this reviewer) needed a shot of exuberance, and with this quartet we got it in abundance. With a set that includes all their favourites, plus a cover from The Lords Of The New Church, it's exhilarating from beginning to end!