The Zico Chain, The Dilinquents, Slideshow, The Black Reverence.

Bedford Esquires Lev 2. 11th May. 2007.

Making a welcome return to Esquires are The ZICO CHAIN. A band that fuse the grunge leanings of Nirvana with the power rock of Motorhead. This three-piece produce an awesome concoction of wall to wall noise.

In the sixteen months since they last played here, THE ZICO CHAIN have been winning plenty of fans. Unfortunately they are not in attendance here tonight, and it is a disappointing turnout for a band preparing to play the Download Festival in a few short weeks.
Their set however, gets off to an inauspicious start due to their over-fussy sound engineer who pulls plugs out of one socket and repositions them in another, and as far as I'm concerned still ends up with the same sound as when we started! He was also very abusive to our popular sound guy Faz. Nearly half an hour was wasted by this over the top charade. Thankfully the paying customers hung around. I wonder if that guy had a last train or bus to catch!-no, I think not!!
Once the trio finally got going, the songs hit us like rapid fire. They focus on the older material 'Rohypnol', the trash punk-metal sound of 'Social Suicide' plus the newer songs which are to be featured on The Zico Chain's new album which the boys are releasing during the summer. They announce that 'Where Would You Rather Be" is due to be the new single. 'Food' (the title track of the album) just epitomises the co-ordination between bass, vocals, and once again the zany drummer Ollie. 'About a Boy' is a brand new song that apparently their record company do not take kindly to them playing. But as they explain it, it just makes them want to play it even more! Their rebellious streak on and off stage shines through.
The Zico Chain prove yet again that they are an amazing live band, but seem frustrated and perplexed that, once again, the Bedford public has passed them by. Perhaps third time lucky, but by then they may be a tad too big for this place.

Local band THE DILINQUENTS have always been particular favourites of mine, and interestingly tonight for the first time in they two-year career they front up as a four-piece. Mainstays Jason and Rich are joined by Robbie (killer!) and Fergus on drums. The sound of party poppers on stage and off greet the arrival, and the set proceeds to be in Robbie's words "A bloody good sing-song!". Guitarist Jason almost rivals the late Sid Vicious for the amount of blood shed on stage. However, Jay's was not self-inflicted, merely a nose bleed!

Also appearing were death-metallers The BLACK REVERENCE whose growling shouty efforts triggered my boredom factor after about five minutes while Slideshow proved a welcome relief, even if did seem to have somewhat of a Velvet Revolver fixation!