Sponsored by ‘Planet Clothing’ – The Arcade Bedford.
Bedford Esquires Thirst Club Saturday 10 Jan 2004.
HELLABOVE
The first band was a band I had never seen before, (perhaps it was there first gig?) but sadly I was slightly late and missed the beginning of their set but when I walked in I heard an extremely heavy sound that was rather professional, and as an addition the guitarist had a mask on which added mysteriousness to it, very metal \. /! The lead singer provided a powerful sound taunting the crowd. The guitarists and the drummer worked well together, which resulted in a very metal sound suiting the genre, and setting the evening off with a bang.
SMOTHERLOVE
Smotherlove was one of the only bands I have ever seen with a female singer. The lady had an extremely good voice, which had a vast range to it and her energy didn’t dip at all during the 25 minutes and she proved to be fascinating to watch. The other members of the band also showed to be well experienced and showed esquires that they weren’t afraid of being different to the other bands on the bill (similarly to The Pretties last year) the audience responded well and there were a few groups of people dancing and being merry, in my opinion this was a band that deserved to go to the next round.
DELICATE CHILDREN
Delicate Children were a band that I was looking forward to because I have come across them in the past and m quite good friends with a few members. To begin with they came on and appeared to be slightly shy of the crowd and it took a few songs for them to start ‘feeling it’. But once they did, they really did. A highlight of the set was when the singer decided it would be a good idea to drench the guitarist and his guitar with a full bottle of water. To respond the guitarist spat directly in to the singer’s face making it a bit grubby, I think they called a truce after that. The bass player and the drummer kept a lower profile, the bass player was at one point sporting his bandanna again (a fond memory from the last time that saw them) and the drummer was trapped behind a vast drum kit. The whole band worked together intensely and after a few songs they were really into it, and performed to an extreme high standard.
SPHERE
Sphere is a band I am familiar with and I feel that they played very well with their new drummer, but I felt that when the time came the sound in the venue wasn’t as good as it should have been and couldn’t air the band in the way it should have. The band opened with a powerful rendition of Led Zeppelin’s ‘immigrant song’ which was impressive; after that, they played songs such as ‘5 years gone’, a re worked ‘man of honour’ and ‘chronic’, they also played a version of Soundgarden’s ‘spoonman’ which was rather comedy. The band seemed to be on and off in a very quick time, and made 25 minutes seem like 5.
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Review by Fred Burnet www.bedfordmetal.tk
Delicate Children came first and Sphere came second and go through to the second round.