Bedford Alternative Music Present: The Acoustic Showcase
The Summer Academy with Adiescar & Guests, Charles Mellor, Hadleigh Spicer and Seasons.

Lev 1 Esquires Bedford. Thursday 21st March 2013.

A is for ADIESCAR, the undoubted highlight of tonight's BAM acoustic showcase. It follows on from the similar and successful evenings of last year. The concept is to take members of bands and place them in the sometimes awkward position of performing solo and acoustically. Taking it to the highest possible level is Adiescar. She is joined by Joel on kickbox and Tom on guitar. This is the third side of Adiescar that I have witnessed here at Esquires. She can rock out as the lead singer (and occasional violinist) with her band Near Moments and a solo show saw her deftly demonstrate her keyboard skills. Now she is showing her acoustic singer songwriter guise. The trio are seated and the charming Adiescar introduces each of the compositions succinctly. "River Girl" opens with it's somewhat eerie and haunting feel and it is delightful. She apologises profusely for lots of retuning between songs. "It's due to the resonance of the guitar" she technically informs us. She reminisces of a walk down to the South Bank in London visiting the Christmas festival. She saw a large poster and hey, "Life isn't about dancing in the rain"! The class act of the evening continues with the awesome "Scare". All throughout Joel is rhythmically tapping away on his percussion instrument. I bet his hands will be sore in the morning. Tom is studious in concentration as he tenderly plucks and picks his strings. Adiescar is very self-analytical when introducing "Daydreamer". She reflects that so much of her time is spent locked away in solitude composing songs. A suitable case in point is "The Right Path". It is the newest and was only completed last week. I failed to catch the title of Adiescar's last song due to some loud, and at times raucous, chattering which sadly marred large parts of the trio's set. It was written in the British Library.

Of the four other acts performing for us tonight, covers dominated most of the relevant sets. Opening up are SEASONS who feature Stephen Hinds and Liam (Envy Four) Circuit. Stephen is confident and greets us warmly with a "You alright lads and lasses?". They perform a fine version of Turner's "Ballad of me and my friends". However, the flow is disrupted due to constant switches of personnel (Liam leaves and Hadleigh Spicer joins in for one song). Stephen has a view of their set when he says that it is "more of a comedy show than acoustic"! Thankfully Mr Circuit reappears later to (as Stephen calls it) "save the show". With spontaneous handclapping breaking out around the room, I think this quietly spoken young man certainly did!

The always smiling and effervescent HADLEIGH SPICER returned for his own spot. "Feel free to help me out on the vocals" he shouts out. The crowd need no such encouragement and join in throughout. They are just putty in Hadleigh's gifted hands. The girls in attendance just seem to melt at this gentleman's evident charisma. Why they even persuade him to perform "Wheels" (an in joke for the evening).

CHARLES MELLOR from the MK band Time Well Spent has a few teething problems at the start of his set. Matt, the evening's sound engineer, has a quote worth mentioning. He describes the slight problem we're having as an "atmospherical drone"! Charles is nervous but gradually works his way into the relative comfort zone. Each of his songs are individually dedicated to his travelling friends. Although he is seated his legs twitch incessantly as if he wants to leap around, especially when performing his owns songs such as "Chosen One" and "Valentine's Day". Keith of BAM is genuinely proud to present THE SUMMER ACADEMY. They are James Robins and Dan Willis, better known for their exploits with Luton's Escaping Juliet. Although today is supposedly the first day of spring (ha ha), the weather tonight is grim and ghastly and full credit should be given to anyone who has travelled up from 'Hat-town'. Dan sits down quietly strumming but a real larger than life James appears, possibly after a couple of glasses of 'falling down water'. They both look slightly ill at ease but emotionally charged up. He is ready for the challenge of performing this strange and stripped down routine. Often and confidentially, he announces that "We're going to absolutely wing it"! What a phrase! It sure makes a welcome change from the other well worn comment we get here in Bedford. You know the one - big up, yawn. I much prefer James' statement and adds to this lively and refreshing set and a fine end to a fine evening.

Seasons 1 Vid

Seasons 2 Vid

Seasons 3 Vid

Hadleigh Spicer 1 Vid

Hadleigh Spicer 2 Vid

Charles Mellor Vid

Adiescar & Guests Vid

The Summer Academy Vid

The Summer Academy Vid