Ceremony Festival
Bedford Esquires, Bedford
31st January 2026
Bedford Esquires is the location for another Ceremony Festival. Over ten hours of non-stop music provided by bands actively appearing at many of the other venues many of us enjoy visiting around the UK. Keith Goldhanger reports , with photos by Robyn Skinner.
One building, two stages and ten bands for this sold out event to get our ears around and enjoy. Ceremony 5.5 has been inserted into the start of this year to complement what has, up until now, just been an annual event held every June. Getting here and back from the Capital is not a problem for those of us on a cheap day return ticket (it’s probably not called that anymore). Therefore the only anxiety ahead of us as we head less than an hour north of Kings Cross is wondering how everyone will fit into the second room later on in the day in order to catch another Adult DVD show? We need not have worried. Irish outfit Cliffords have called in sick, therefore the proposed line up today has been jiggled around slightly, meaning the sensible decision has been made to ‘promote’ the Leeds band that tore apart Green Man Festival in the summer in front of a couple of thousand festival attendees to the main hall. Phew…lets get going….
The first two acts of the day are strutting their stuff inside the smaller of the two rooms inside Bedford’s Esquires. London’s hypnotic shoegazers Velvetine ease us in gently as the clock strikes three before Manchester band Vincent’s Last Summer confusingly attempt to transport us back to that golden age of 2008 by reminding us of Pete Doherty being released from prison, Alexandra Burke winning X Factor and Manchester United winning something. As most people in attendance feel like this was yesterday, and the music we hear from this outfit has more in common with today’s bands like Welly and My First Time, one is left wondering what they are playing at. Many of us were going crazy over MGMT or Vampire Weekend that year, but there’s no audible comparison to the music of these bands. Regardless of this we get a very entertaining show that certainly catches everyone’s attention, albeit with an idea that seems to be built around a red telephone they have on stage, and with one more idea than a lot of new bands that creep up on us can provide. One wonders if these boys will introduce a different ‘golden hour’ as a regular feature or if they do the same thing every night. It’s probably the latter, one suspects.
Spanish Horses impress the large crowd inside the main hall of this wonderful independent venue with some laid back refreshing alternative rock, Common Goldfish seem to have been to their local charity shop for some oversized suits and colourful ties to complement their carefree hypnotic rhythmic guitar compositions, whilst, back in the main hall, St Clair are equally impressive as they confidently go through some moody Radiohead-inspired tunes. Back inside the smaller of the two venues we get ready for another look at Punchbag, whose breathless performance at Bristol’s Ritual Union Festival last year we conclude wasn’t a one off. Punchbag provide invigorating pop music at it’s finest whilst maintaining the stamina to bounce around for the entirety of their allotted time, which of course leads to anyone within earshot to raise their feet off the ground too.
We’re more than half way through the day and the entertainment continues. Getting into each room isn’t an issue -that we realise that each act will be seen and there’s also time for a much needed breather outside for five minutes where each band seem to be hanging out during the day among the ticket holders.
Formal Sppeedwear (spelt like this) are providing their Devo/Talking Heads-influenced tunes that are compelling and a welcome change of pace. Bass-driven songs with chaotic guitar and David Byrne-type vocals maintain the interest of the onlooking crowd, and back downstairs we witness late additions Sounds Mint, who provide some agreeable Sleaford Mods similarities with some raw punk rock soundtracks from live drums, guitar and bass. Vocals are delivered with the kind of conviction essential nowadays for this music to get attention and Sounds Mint seem to in possession of some great songs that need investigating more. A welcome and fantastic bonus we were not expecting.
The end of the day belongs to Adult DVD and Man/Woman/Chainsaw back at the main stage of the venue. The popularity of the former continues to increase as the Leeds band tear into the hugely rousing Dogs In The Sun early on. We’re three songs in, and up until now the electronics that Adult DVD provide have yet to be the main attraction. The buzzing bleeps and beats are there but it’s once this song gets going that everyone is locked onto the dance floor with as much enthusiasm as we were when we’d be dancing our arses off to The Chemical Brothers once upon a time. At least one new tune is provided tonight (‘yeah, that’s a keeper’ smirks Harry after providing the vocals for this) and by the time Do Something and Bill Murray round off the show, there’s more activity going on in front of the stage that we’ve witnessed all day.
Man/Woman/Chainsaw are an incredible band to see inside a venue such as this, and indeed at an event such as this. The band’s performance is tight, visually chaotic with smiles all around, among not just the paying punters but the half a dozen band members in charge of the music. A screeching violin that fills in all the gaps and adds huge dynamics to the overall sound cannot be ignored, as songs ebb and flow with hypnotic and energetic time changing riffs that make you wonder how people ever manage to get songs such as these written and performed with (what appears) such ease. There’s a lot going on up on this stage and each member seems to be in full control of their weapon of choice. Quiet moments, thunderous crashes and multiple voices coming at us joyously all at once and individually maintain our interest. If it wasn’t for one of us predicting they could end the year with 2026’s Mercury Prize award, they’d probably be in with a shout. It’s believed that a debut album may surface sometime this year; some of us will join the queue for this and rest it alongside that debut Black Country New Road album for listening to in appropriate moments during our hectic lives.
Each band today have been worth seeing. Most will no doubt be seen again sometime. Bedford Esquires and the folk that arrange these Ceremony all day events (as well as the impressive list of forthcoming acts on the posters around the venue) know what we all want to witness and that’s where we come in (by recommending adding all these names for when they appear on a poster inside or outside any of the other important and hugely entertaining venues we have scattered across the UK). All of these bands will be releasing new material during the year and, no doubt, they’ll be as warmly received into our lives as the bands we already go to when looking for a sound track to complement our day to day activities.
There’s lorry loads of great bands lurking around the UK. Today we saw ten more – remember their names and give them all a listen, go out to see them play, buy their merchandise and then do it all again.
Ceremony 6 will take place at the same location in June. One imagines the line up will be equally mouthwatering, and at less than three quid a band it’s certainly good value.
Words by Keith Goldhanger. More writing by Keith on Louder Than War can be found at his author’s archive. You can also find Keith on Facebook, Instagram and Bluesky
Photos by Robyn Skinner
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