Esquires 20th Anniversay Day 3 featuring Pearl Handled Revolver, Reptilehaus, Amy and the Intergrals, The Dilinquents, The Nimblewits, The Escape, Mat Roberts and more....

Lev 1 + 2 Esquires Bedford. 30th May 2010.

A virtual seven hour 'binge' of live music sees the third and final part of the Bedford Esquires 20th anniversary celebrations. For the first part, Danny's Bar host the Sunday Sessions as usual. However, on this special occasion it is handled slightly differently. The normal, older blues covers bands feature with The A Band and a special collective of the regular Sunday afternoon 'musos', who today are known as THR3E.

Opening is a musician who needs no introduction (although he does receive one), it's Mat Roberts. The bar fills up very quickly and soon space is at a premium. Today is very much an all ages family atmosphere. Meeting and greeting is the order of the day. Young retro rockers THE ESCAPE get a warm reception as they crank up the volume. They also have a debut EP to showcase, which is called "Mad and Blind". Sadly, on this anniversary we only get to see half of our local Americana artists THE WHYBIRDS as Luke and Dave confidently apply some stripped down acoustic versions of the band's best known songs. Jaunty trio THE NIMBLEWITS apply a little celtic indie folk charm to lace their country based influences. At their close, everyone is encouraged to go upstairs for the evening's level 2 entertainment. Some of the more senior folks decide to give horror punk quartet The DILINQUENTS a wide berth! Unfortunately, due to the fact that Richard and Jason are based out of town, this is a band we rarely see here now. With Kyle on drums, Dazz is drafted in for guitar duties. The darker side of life is fully covered. Rich describes the lyrical content as "almost entirely about dead things"! The slight singalong feel to the instantly recognisable "Zombie Government" is a throwback to the bands early days and provides some excellent Sunday night fare.

The mood and tone are lightened for a brief period as AMY AND THE INTEGRALS take to the stage. Leighton Buzzard's REPTILEHAUS engage in a wild thirty minutes. It's very much as their vocalist describes it, "This is the madness calling!". An old Vibrators favourite "Disco in Moscow" is the highlight and most thankfully, with this polite and upstanding crowd, nobody ends up "Black and Blue"!

The honour and prestige of closing our anniversary celebrations fall on PEARL HANDLED REVOLVER. It's everyone's final chance to rock out, and as tomorrow is a bank holiday, there are certainly no excuses not to. With the room comfortably full and, needless to add, comfortably numb (!), the scene is set. As with all bands these past couple of days, PHR gain from the excellent sound quality. Emily, Amy and Richard must take great credit for this department. It certainly captures vocalist Lee Vernon, who seemingly gargles with shards of emery paper! His 'supporting cast' again push their accumulative sound in every imaginable direction. A new song "Twenty Five to One" is showcased, but tonight I was more struck by the awesome "Today was the Day". The build up and climactic finale is breathtaking. Their finest moment. Without any pretentious gimmicks, PHR proved their worth to headline. A weekend to remember.