THE TENDONS 25th ANNIVERSARY SHOW
with Citizen Keyne, Rich Taylor, Liam Burke.

Bedford Esquires Lev 1 Danny's Bar 27th October 2012.

Tonight in Esquires it is time to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Bedford's longest running band. Yes, I'm talking about THE TENDONS, a name to strike utter fear into the heart of nearly every self respecting muso, curently playing or watching music locally. Loved by their relatively small, but extremely loyal followers and hated by the many "Trendy wankers" that make up such a huge percentage of this predominantly chavvy town. Although The Tendons line up has wildly fluctuated during their stormy quarter century, the line up tonight (and for the past few years) is Jon B (vocals and dancing!), Floyd (guitar), Alan (drums) and Jon A (bass). Through the years they must have played hundreds of gigs, including many controversial ones such as the notorious pig's head show. They have also played numerous birthday parties, wedding shows and even a funeral wake for dear old Keith Lawson when the lyrics for "I Love Famine" were tastefully altered to "I Like Farming"!
As befitting their true stature and total respect in the Bedfordshire punk scene, the bar is heaving, all ages, male and female. With most people naturally fuelled up by "Lager" or any other beverage that they can get their hands on, it makes for an extremely edgy and raucous atmosphere. As the angelic looking Mr Bately truthfully shouts out during "Life's Shit", "lets get pissed", everyone does. A song to release us all from the drudgery of the working class nine to five routine. A healthy dose of old skool punk courtesy of The Tendons works wonders, because at the heart of it "This is f**king rock 'n' roll". Lyrically the band remain tied to basics, their songs are about people that they know. "Johnny Don't Care" is about a rogue who probably 'borrowed' twenty pounds (or more) from everyone here and probably never paid it back. But hey, "he don't care, ol' Johnny". Amorous adventures are encapsulated by "Dettol Dick" - antiseptic comes to the rescue! For the local ladies in attendance it has to be "Bedford Girls". The set list is as regular as bran and we love them for it. The lyrics are not rocket science, poetic or profound, but these four 'erberts continue to put the pun into punk. Here's to the next quarter century of chaos!

Perfect main support (and Floyd Tendon also plays in the band) arrives from Milton Keynes with fellow punks CITIZEN KEYNE. Very much in the same mould, this band are also keeping the flickering punk flame alight. Chavvy idiots or 'scenesters' are given the typical verbal response of "We don't want to be like you", "Mental, mental, let's go mental". Fake punks and skinheads are also put firmly in the firing line with "Punk not fashion". "Friends" is sarcastically dedicated to an ex-drummer who, as frontman Jon informs us, "left them in the shit". "Oi For England" is a prospective entry for the next football world cup. However, it is with the almost anthemic shout along "Ungreat Britain" that this social commentary band score highly. "Unity" is also a true bonding song as the lyrics ring around the room "We'll fight together, we'll stand together". A highly improbable cover of "Breaking The Law" is an excellent parting shot.

As ever, The Tendons are always quick to give youth a chance, so they lent some short slots to a couple of this town's finest acoustic acts. Firstly RICH TAYLOR, this Dilenquent strummed a number of Tendons covers such as "I like beating heads" as well as the anthem of the night, namely "I Like Famine". Rich is followed by LIAM BURKE who includes "Down to Danny's", which featured on Tom Robinson's 6 Music radio show a few weeks ago.