The First SWMTF Gig of 2005   

The Date: Friday 13th May 2005 
The Venue: Esquires, Upstairs 
Attendance : about 200

A quick review by the webmeister:

Having been away from Bedford for the past year, I missed the last couple of SWMTF gigs and was looking forward to seeing if there was still the same feelgood factor that I remember from the first gig at the Lizard (RIP). I'm glad to say I was not disappointed.

I rolled in at about 7 p.m. to see Rob dashing around with his usual efficiency and John & Max finishing off their sound-check. I hadn't been upstairs at Esquires for well over a year and was pleasantly surprised to see that they'd got rid of the pews at the side of the room and put in some long beirkeller type tables in front of the mixing desk. The room soon started to fill with persons of considerably younger age than myself, which could only mean one thing.....

	Scratch Plate – " young and upcoming band featuring local sex-symbol, Rob Miller", these lads got things underway shortly after 7:30 p.m. with an energetic set. I don't know how much experience they've had, but if they were nervous they certainly didn't show it. Their set was a mix of current rock standards, a few self-written numbers, and a few covers they must surely have found in their parents' record collections ("Black Betty" by Ram Jam)!!
	Rob was an excellent front man, urging the less energetic of us to get up and make some noise, and getting the hands-in-the-air/clap-to-the-beat ritual going at regular intervals. He has a natural rapport with the audience (a large proportion of which seemed to be teenage and female!) and has a pretty good voice and guitar technique as well.
	Worthy of mention also is this chap on the left, whose name I'm afraid passed me by - no doubt one of you will enlighten me. Being a fair-to-almost-middling guitarist myself, I was extremely impressed.  A guitar hero in the making! All in all, a very impressive set from a talented group, who could do well, and deserve to, although I expect more mundane things like GCSE's are probably going to take priority in the near future. Well done lads!

Max Milligan and John Verity – A short blues set by two old faves. 

	These guys know what they're doing, and they do it extremely well. The highlight for me was a beautiful slowed-down acoustic version of the Zombies' "She's Not There", but there was plenty more to appreciate. Lots of impressive fret-work from two of the best local guitarists.
	Lots of frantic activity between sets to get everyone's gear on and off stage in about 10 minutes flat, with Rob doing the MC honours - well done to Rob and everyone else who put in their time to make this evening really special for everyone!

next up...   
The Vibe – Local band with a BIG sound that has been trying to break into the Sid Trib scene for many years! 

	I'd seen the Vibe before, down the Corner House, so I pretty much knew what to expect. They're a pure covers band, doing mostly 80's and 90's commercial stuff, which is no bad thing when it includes Van Halen, U2, etc.  They have a lot of energy and sounded really tight. Visually they're a bit of a mixed bag, but hey it worked for Cheap Trick so what do I know! They went down a storm with the crowd and they looked like they were having a really good time.
	Apparently they've been around for a while, and it showed, with a polished performance and good dynamics between the lead singer and the guitarist. Top notch stuff from a really good pub band.

Philippa Fleming – Acoustic singer songwriter and guitarist.   

Philippa came on and did two numbers, "My Happy Ending" by Avril Lavigne and a cover of Skunk Anansie's "Weak". You can't really tell much from just two numbers, but she has a great voice and I hope we get to see some more stuff in the near future. Well done Pip!

Headlining - The John Verity Band

	And so to the main event! For those of you like me who miss those Sunday nights of yesteryear when we used to go down the Angel to watch the Hamsters, this band run them pretty close! This is your classic three-man, heads down no nonsense crunching guitar-driven blues rock. By now the lager was starting to kick in for me, so I can't give you a detailed run-down of their set, but I do remember some virtuoso guitar work from Mr. Verity, including a version of Hendrix's "Star Spangled Banner", plus several blues standards.
	I was pleased to see that most of the younger members of the audience had hung around after Scratch Plate's set to see the rest of the gig - in this era of manufactured Pop Idol bands and 30 year old songs about Amarillo, it's very satisfying for an old 'un like me to see the next generation doing exactly what I did 25 years ago,  getting off on really good honest hard workin' rock!

Congratulations and a big slap on the back to everyone at the SWMTF for putting together an excellent gig, running a really efficient organisation, and giving us all a really good evening.

Mike MacKechnie