The Quireboys - Bristol Review

I am starting to run out of superlatives to describe The Quireboys. Since first discovering them properly back in 2013 when I caught them supporting Saxon at Nottingham's Rock City, the British rock institutions have become one of my very favourite live bands. As luck would have it, they are also one of the hardest-working bands on the current touring circuit, regularly playing shows up and down the UK. Despite only seeing the band as recently as last December, when four of the band brought their excellent unplugged set to The Hub in Plymouth, I was excited to catch the full band in Bristol supporting their latest release White Trash Blues - an album of covers of some of their favourite blues classics. This latest UK tour is the first full run of electric shows since releasing the album, so the band's setlists promised to include a few of these blues cuts alongside many of the usual Quireboys favourites. The venue for their show in Bristol was the excellent Thekla, which is an old cargo ship moored in the Mud Dock area of the city. I had previously been to the venue twice, catching Tyketto and Eclipse there last year, and had been very impressed with the venue both times. Both of those shows attracted healthy crowds and rewarded those who attended with great sound, and this concert was no different. With the doors opening fairly early, at 6:30pm, the crowd was initially a little thin on the ground, but by the time The Quireboys hit the stage at 8:30pm the boat was pretty full.

Before The Quireboys' set however, the growing crowd was treated to half an hour of heavy rock from Australian band Black Aces. Hailing from Australia, it seemed inevitable that they would contain more than a little of an AC/DC influence - and this was indeed the case as their back-to-basics hard rock proved. Fronted by Tyler Kinder (vocals/guitar), the band raced through a handful of songs with barely a pause for breath. With Kinder handling the guitar solos, Jazz Morrice (guitar/vocals) was left to hold down the rhythms - which he did with ease as he smashed out those big open chord riffs to drive the band forward. While Black Aces' sound was not all that varied, or indeed all that original, they were full of energy and impressed throughout with many of their simple choruses staying the memory after they had left the stage. The Quireboys have not always had the best support bands at the gigs of theirs that I have attended, but Black Aces were certainly enjoyable and garnered a decent reaction from the crowd as they left the stage.

After half an hour or so's break, The Quireboys took the stage to little fanfare and immediately launched into the sleazy blues rock of Too Much of a Good Thing. While this has become a setlist staple for the band in recent years, this was the first time I had heard it used as a set opener. It worked really well in this position however, and proved to be the first big sing-a-long of the evening, with the ever-smiling frontman Spike often holding out the microphone to the crowd during the choruses. Speaking of Spike, the man was on top form despite wearing a medical boot along with his usual gypsy rock 'n' roll attire. He seemed in his usual good spirits despite this obvious setback, and joked with the band and crowd throughout as usual. Misled followed, with Keith Weir's (keyboards/vocals) big piano solo, before the old blues classic Going Down was wheeled out. This was the first of three blues standards of the night, all of which rocked and really allowed the band's two guitarists - Guy Griffin and Paul Guerin - to show off their skills with multiple solos. Despite the rest of the set consisting of many of the band's usual favourites, there were still a few surprises thrown in. It was good to see that the swampy romp Gracie B retain its place in the set. The song is quite different from the band's usual riff-driven feel, and the darker piece was an early highlight with lots of great organ playing from Weir. Mona Lisa Smiled, despite being omnipresent, was another real highlight. Spike sings the song with such passion and emotion that it is hard to not get drawn in to him. It provoked a big reaction from the crowd, as did the lesser-played number Hello that was wheeled out not too long after. I had only ever heard the band play this song during their acoustic shows before, so it was great to hear the full band version. The simple chorus was really latched onto by the crowd, and it became an unexpected hit in what was otherwise a fairly hard-rocking set. The other breather was the band's biggest ballad I Don't Love You Anymore, which has become one of my favourite power ballads ever, which definitely was one of the best-received songs of the night. The choruses saw Spike often being drowned out vocally, and again both guitarists had chances to solo as the song was dragged out for an extended instrumental outro. Another lesser played number The Finer Stuff got a welcome airing, before many real favourites, including the boogie hair metal of Tramps and Thieves and the band's biggest hit Hey You, seeing plenty of movement aboard the ship. Slim Harpo's I'm a King Bee gave the band a final chance to show their bluesy credentials, before Spike whipped his harmonica out of his pocket to play the main set out with a stomping version of the barroom classic 7 O'Clock. There were of course howls for more, and the band obliged by coming back out for a couple more. Both songs in the encore were from the band's much-hailed 1990 debut album. Spike's 'country honk' of Sweet Mary Ann was the last time for a real sing, before the down and dirty Sex Party gave everybody one last chance to rock, as the band crashed to a triumphant finish. The setlist was:

Too Much of a Good Thing
Misled
Going Down [Moloch cover]
There She Goes Again
Gracie B
Leaving Trunk [Taj Mahal cover]
Mona Lisa Smiled
This is Rock 'n' Roll
Hello
I Don't Love You Anymore
The Finer Stuff
Tramps and Thieves
Hey You
I'm a King Bee [Slim Harpo cover]
7 O'Clock
-
Sweet Mary Ann
Sex Party

This was my twelfth time seeing The Quireboys, and they were as good as ever. I do not think that the band are capable of putting on a bad show, and I am already looking forward to catching them again in the summer at Steelhouse Festival.