Benin City, Jim Lockey & The Solemn Sun, Clayton Blizzard, Charlie Baxter @ Slak - Friday 5th March

The explosive atmosphere generated at The Cheltenham Undergound's last venture was bound to be a tough act to follow. The bar had been raised, and London based band Benin City, along with a stellar line up, were determined to leap high above it.

As the local music fans entered the venue that night, complete with party feet, high expectations were met instantly with superb opening act, Charlie Baxter. The one man party graced the Underground stage once again with his achingly slick fusion of electro beat wizardry and thrashy indie attitude, systematically opening everyones eyes and ears in the best way possible. He had done it again; a wave of optamisim swept the room and all involved were strapped in for one hell of a night.
Oddly, the mood in the room took an unexpected turn as Clayton Blizzard comenced his set. The soulful Bristol based singer - songwriter performed a fine set of heavily intimate rap tinged folk, that unfortunatly seemed miss timed and out of place amongst the growing atmosphere in the small room. However, after this brief spell of introspection, the fire in everyones hearts began to spark again as headliners Benin City moved their set forward.
From start to finish, Benin City had the room moving and bouncing in full party styley. The infectious rythms fuelled a hundred moods as the band appeared to be just as engrossed in the party spirit as the rest of the audience. However, the rich performance was some what tainted by the agonisingly long breaks between songs; most likley in place to liven up the repetoire, but failed. But, despite this set back, the band delivered and many a flame roared on.
Due to the unexpected set switch around, Jim Lockey And The Solemn Sun closed the night, again providing a soul quelling set which became the musical equivelent of a lazy sunday afternoon, signing off the night perfectly.
So off they went, the people of Cheltenham into the night, having been participants in their own private house party. The only noticable negative that could be drawn from the night overall was the galring error of placing Charlie Baxter as an opening act. This musical genius needs his own stage, and will hopefully soon hold the headline slot at another glorious Cheltenham Underground night.