MILKYS MUSIC MATTERS FOCUS ON UPCOMING BEDFORD GIGS 2020 was meant to be a colossal year at Esquires, what with a 30th anniversary to celebrate, venue improvements scheduled in with contractors and an absolutely amazing line-up locked into the diary…and then the world went and changed. Meeting regularly on zoom, the main promoters (Pad presents, Roar Club and Club Biscuit) would try and maintain some sense of sanity as they faced having to rearrange and juggle dates (several times over) and push events out as far as May next year. With the government releasing dates for the escape from lockdown, the idea of an all-day, multi-room festival was mooted and quickly agreed on. Saturday the 17th
of July was selected and a wish-list of acts quickly drawn-up, Esquires owner Gareth Barber explains; “Everyone has been so supportive of the venue over the last 12 months, so we wanted to put on an event that hopefully will be like a re-opening party and a delayed anniversary celebration rolled into one. The line-up is notable for featuring two female headliners and 75% of the acts performing having either all female line-ups or feature a female member. This wasn’t contrived or even deliberate as myself and the other promoters kept coming up with the same names and when we finalised the line-up we were all really pleased with how varied it was in terms of genre and gender”. Main stage headliner Billy NoMates performance at the venue will be a precursor to her sold-out October tour and follows rave reviews for her debut album ‘Emergency Telephone’ recorded with Geoff Barrow (Portishead). Big Joanie make their first appearance at Esquires to unleash their post-punk pop hybrid stylings ahead of supporting IDLES on tour early next year whilst the two-piece noise explosion of JOHN (times two) return after headlining the venue just
