Bedford Alternative Music Present: The Acoustic Showcase
Alexander Early, George Smith, Chris Williams, George Rowell.
Holy Molys Lev 1 Esquires Bedford. Friday 17th October 2014.
The first time I saw ALEXANDER EARLY was last year at the 3 Cups in town entertaining the crowd at a beer festival being hosted there. I made a mental note to get him involved in one of the BAM acoustic nights and here he was, with such a wealth of material under his belt to choose from, here mostly playing his own compositions. He has good playing ability and a good singing voice to match. Understandably nervous before his set Alex soon got in to his stride and played a consummate set with quite gentle vocals and easy on the ear from his widely accessible sound. Some of his songs he would admit sound darkly morose while others Gee it up a bit with bouncier rhythms. You can catch Alex at the Standard Saturday afternoons from 4pm where he is on house acoustic. It’s evident he likes playing live and here made a pleasurable set.
Although GEORGE SMITH was the only person on the line up I haven’t seen before I certainly wasn’t surprised at just how good he was. I kind of guessed he would be just as talented as he demonstrated and I am quite used to seeing and putting on young talented players. George played a most entertaining set with a few covers including Oasis Wonderwall and an extremely well played George Ezra Budapest cover. I know he has played quite a few gigs by now already and certainly looked confident on stage introducing his songs before play, it was quite amazing how he just gets on and does it, a natural entertainer. With his well played guitar playing and really good to listen to vocals. I realised I could quite happily listen to his stuff for most of the time. Hopefully he can bring more people next time as he proved that he is defiantly worth seeing. I certainly hope to catch his set again soon.
After a planned comedic introduction, cheeky chappy CHRIS WILLIAMS bounded to the stage with cheery grin and cheerful outlook, interacting with the crowd well and introducing his songs as well as his opinions of the tunes with such interested and enthusiasm, infectiously making you warm to his views and appreciating his renditions along with him. He seems to have a built in stage presence that comes natural despite his nerves that he mentioned to me but certainly didn’t show. Even with his previous full on metal band there was a certain magic to his delivery which I remember always drew the crowd in. His vocals sound amazing and so professional, a proper singer and not just a case of trying to have a go. Chris chooses great material and totally plays the songs well. I think he only played one song from his previous acoustic night, the rest being fresh. What a great set and an amazing singing voice!
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I wasn’t really sure how a large kick drum would fit on to an acoustic set, occasionally we have seen Cajun/bongo drums played by hand but have to admit it wasn’t intrusive, inducing some clapping in rhythm moments from the attentive audience, so fitted in rather well, perhaps it wouldn’t have with some of the previous softer toned artists but with GEORGE ROWELL you get a bigger sound of rumbustious hearty vocals as expected hailing from his flagging metal band Broken Conscience, sadly no support from his other members! Plenty of his friends came down though and joined along to his up tempo set. George was joined later on by Mr. Andrew Jehan adding to vocal duties in a marvellous way creating a duet of energy, passion and verve to the overall vocal sound. It seems George is soon to produce a CD of his acoustic material which I look forward to hearing.
As you can see from the group photo of the line up I wonder if in a few years time we will say I wonder where they are now or just look at where they have reached and how far they have gone. They all have potential, deserve to go far and who knows – you might look back some day and say you were there on the night when all for stars played together on the same bill!
Alexander Early Vid
George Smith Vid
Chris Williams Vid
George Rowell Vid
Review by keith. www.bedfordalternativemusic.co.uk