Rick Witter and the Dukes, Exist, Ryen, Sniper.

Esquires Bedford Lev 2 26th April 2006.

The heady swirl of nostalgia fills the venue tonight as the majority of the crowd present are thrilled to see the return of one of the true legends of the Brit-Pop era of a decade or so ago. Although Shed 7 have all gone their separate ways, vocalist and lyricist Rick Witter is still flying their flag. Although I was never a great fan of the band their superior singles always made good radio fodder and their charismatic frontman was a great role model for the boys and a cheeky huggable heart-throb for the girls.

But that's enough of the past, what of tonight and the future of RICK WITTER AND THE DUKES, who are Rob Wilson (guitar), Stu Fletcher (bass, and ex-member of The Seahorses) and Matt Lunn (drums). If the band are hoping to throw off the past, opening with the Shed 7 track 'Getting Better' is probably not the ideal choice and to be honest the old favourites outshine the inferior new material all night and it is these tunes that get the crowd most animated. At the end of 'He Was the Boy' and after a quick slurp from his mug of whatever, it was time for Mr Witter to slip into his 'cheeky chappie' routine. In fact, his between song patter was rather humorous, but at times it did get a little near the mark as he discussed with the front rows drug dealing in Bedford town centre flats and the appearance of the male genitalia! The rapport that he generated with the audience made The Dukes such an entertaining live act and although musically a lot of it passes me by, the classics 'On Standby' and 'Going for Gold' are notable exceptions and it is brilliant to see Rick attempting to shake hands with every single member of the audience at the end of the set. Superb! I'm also sure I wasn't the only person humming 'Chasing Rainbows' (which ended their encore) on the way home.

Supporting this hairgel evening were returning favourites SNIPER AND RYAN who both put together entertaining and thought provoking sets. It was also good to see the lads from Sniper pile down the very front when The Dukes headlined.

However, it was the main support 'EXIST' who blew me and most of the crowd into upper orbit! They bridge the gap between early nineties 'baggy' and the Britpop era to provide a Kasabian-like combination. Opening with 'Paper Monkey' with its verse of 'Crawl Out of Your Papertree and Set Me Free', the rest of their set is a mixture of blissed out tunes and heady sounds. Exist finish their set off with their new single 'The Fear' which was a culmination of a brilliant 25 minutes. Hopefully the hairgel boys can bring them back at some later date.