The Quireboys - London Review

Despite seeing The Quireboys live many times over the past few years, going to one of their concerts is still an exciting prospect. After Mostly Autumn, they are now my second most-seen act and announcements of Quireboys tours are often followed by frantic investigations to see which show I can make! It is perhaps unsurprising then that, when the band announced a special one-off show at London's O2 Forum in Kentish Town to celebrate the ten year anniversary of the Homewreckers & Heartbreakers album, I almost-instantly bought a ticket. The promise of the whole of Homewreckers & Heartbreakers, which is one of the band's best albums, being played live in full was enough of a draw in itself, but add in the fact that the Swedish AOR act H.E.A.T and former Heaven's Basement frontman Aaron Buchanan were also part of the evening made the ticket a must-buy. The O2 Forum is larger than the venues The Quireboys tend to play these days, so filling it was always going to be a challenge, but in the end the show was sold out! While there were not an insignificant amount of tickets given away as part of competitions and as a package when buying the new re-issued Homewreckers & Heartbreakers on CD, a band like The Quireboys filling a venue of the O2 Forum's size is an achievement. The Quireboys are still a popular live act, but their draw these days is mostly on the club circuit. Over 2000 people can fit into the O2 Forum, so this must have taken frontman Spike and co. back to their early 1990s heyday when they regularly played and filled venues of this size. The was, in fact, a VHS tape sold in the past of The Quireboys playing at the same venue, when it was called the Town and Country Club, which was around the time of the release of their second album. Sometimes things come full circle, and the capacity crowd certainly seemed to enjoy seeing The Quireboys on a big stage once more. There was an option to buy VIP tickets that garnered early entry to the venue and an opportunity to meet the band, but I opted for standard tickets. Those of us who went for this option were let into the venue at 6pm, and I fully expected there to already be a lot of people down at the front. This was not the case however, with most of the VIPs electing to sit in the balcony, so I immediately headed down to the front - almost on the barrier - where the remained for the entire night. Often being so close the front can mean a sacrifice in sound quality, and that was somewhat the case here with all four bands sounding a little muddy at times. It was not the worst I have heard however, and did nothing to dampen the energy or power of anything that was going on on the stage.

As well as the three acts already mentioned, there was a fourth who opened the evening. Those Damn Crows, a rock band from Wales, had half an hour on stage and proceeded to entertain the crowd with their modern hard rock sound. While the band put on an energetic set, for me their material lacked the big melodies that this kind of music needs. There were a couple of strong choruses in their set, but none of their riffs really grabbed me and I never really felt that spark of excitement that you feel when you discover a great new band. The muddy sound did not help however, so I always feel uncomfortable judging a band fully when you feel that their sound could be somewhat being hampered. Despite my feelings, it seemed I was in the minority as there were quite a few people around me at the front that were sporting Those Damn Crows t-shirts and clearly knew all of the songs that the band were performing. As a result, the band certainly went down pretty well with the crowd, and certainly helped to warm everyone up for what was to come.

Aaron Buchanan and his Cult Classics were up next, and this was when the evening really got started for me. I had seen the band twice already this year, with the most recent outing being an extremely wet, curtailed set at the Steelhouse Festival a couple of months ago. Much dryer this time, Buchanan seemed really up for the show, and he and the band launched into a eight-song set that featured the best from their debut album The Man With Stars on his Knees as well as some choice cuts from Buchanan's time with Heaven's Basement. Left Me for Dead seems to be the perennial set-opener for the band, and the mid-paced heaviness seems to be a great way for Buchanan to warm up his voice, before Tom McCarthy (guitar/vocals) launches into the riff of Heaven's Basement's Fire, Fire and everything moves up another gear. The sound is still a little muddy, which occasionally buries the vocals, but this does little to constrain Buchanan who really seemed up for the gig. He ventured into the crowd in more than one occasion, once to crowd-surf and the other time to crowd-handstand, which certainly provided a visual spectacle. This would be worthless however if the band's material was not up to much, but that is certainly not the case, with future anthems like Dancin' Down Below and a barnstorming version of Heartbreaking Son of a Bitch, with some excellent guitar work from Buchanan's sister Laurie, really tearing the place up. The band ended their 40 minute set with Morals?, the closing number from their debut album, and with the news that the band are about to sign a record deal being announced on stage one can only hope that this means we will not have to wait too long to hear some new material. The setlist was:

Left Me for Dead
Fire, Fire [Heaven's Basement material]
The Devil That Needs You
Fire in the Fields of Mayhem
I Am Electric [Heaven's Basement material]
Dancin' Down Below
Heartbreaking Son of a Bitch [Heaven's Basement material]
Morals?

The excitement was not to end there however, as Sweden's H.E.A.T were out to steal show, and they almost did with a 50 minute set packed with melodic tracks from all five of their studio albums. I have been a fan of H.E.A.T for quite a few years, but had never had the opportunity to see them live. This set was long-overdue for me and, despite more muddy sound, I was impressed with what I saw. There are not many AOR bands that can put on a set packed with quite this much energy, and this was established early with the tough mid-paced rock of Bastard of Society and a trip back to their debut album with the bluesy strut of Late Night Lady. Despite Buchanan's earlier antics, frontman Erik Grönwall was probably the most active singer of the night, often getting down to the front to interact with the crowd and whip up excitement. The set was packed full of highlights, but one of the best moments for me was an extended version of Beg Beg Beg that saw Grönwall also crowd-surfing (maybe trying to out do Buchanan?), and plenty of soloing from Dave Dalone (guitar/vocals). Despite being a support band, there were still clearly lots of H.E.A.T fans in attendance, and that meant that the big sing-a-long erupted during the chorus of Tearing Down the Walls, which saw Grönwall - acoustic guitar in hand - leading the crowd through their paces. Everything that followed felt like a bit of a victory lap, with the riff-heavy Emergency really standing out. It has one of the best choruses in the band's catalogue for me, and despite sometimes getting buried in the mix Grönwall was able to rise above the band to belt out the sweet melodies. Sadly the band ran out of time, so were not able to play all of the songs they had planned to, but a great version of Living on the Run, with a great keyboard intro from Jona Tee, rounded out a triumphant set. I had wanted to see H.E.A.T for a while, and they did not disappoint. They have now been added to the ever-growing list of bands who I will make every effort to try and see each time they tour in the UK! The setlist was:

Bastard of Society
Late Night Lady
Mannequin Show
Redefined
Beg Beg Beg/Whole Lotta Rosie [AC/CD cover]/Piece of My Heart [Erma Franklin cover]
The Wreckoning
Tearing Down the Walls
Emergency
Inferno
Living on the Run

It is always the sign of a great show when you have had a lot of fun before the main band even steps on the stage, but with the full Quireboys set to come the evening was destined to get even better. Appearing on stage like the elder statesmen of rock, the band immediately got things underway with I Love This Dirty Town, and proceeded to play the whole of Homewreckers & Heartbreakers. I had wondered how the show would be structured, but playing the album in full first, and following it up with classics, worked really well. Each re-issue of Homewreckers & Heartbreakers has seen the tracklisting altered, so the order the songs were played was different than on my original CD, but the flow worked well - packing many of the album's best early on. While Homewreckers & Heartbreakers is a bit of a fan favourite, only a couple of songs are real setlist staples, so that meant this show was packed full of rarely-played tracks. Mona Lisa Smiled is one of the ever-present songs however, but it felt as powerful as ever, with Spike nailing the vocal and Paul Guerin (guitar/vocals) peeling off one of his many bluesy solos of the night. Sadly The Quireboys did not escape the muddy sound, with Spike's vocals sometimes becoming lost in the mix, but the capacity crowd often helped out and the atmosphere was electric throughout. Some of the real highlight for me were some of the lesser-played songs. The tough bluesy barrage of Blackwater was one, with Keith Weir's (keyboards/vocals) organ driving the song, and the somewhat-chanted chorus really grabbing hold. The murky ballad Fear Within the Lie was another personal highlight. It has been one of my favourite Quireboys songs for quite some time, so it was great to finally hear it live. Spike has always had a great voice for ballads, with his gravely tones really bringing out the emotional weight of the piece. Even some of the lesser tracks on the album, such as Take a Look at Yourself and the somewhat-throwaway closing piece Josephine really came across well in the live setting, meaning that the piece as a whole worked well together. Whole album sets can sometimes fall a bit flat, with some of the songs not really standing up well live, but this was not the case with Homewreckers & Heartbreakers as it is a fairly diverse set of songs that meant for an hour or so of music that really flew by. The half an hour or so that followed, including the encore, was packed with Quireboys classics, with all but one of the songs played coming from the band's 1990 debut album A Bit of What You Fancy. While for me it was the lesser-played songs earlier that stood out the most, it was great to hear songs like There She Goes Again and Hey You sung by a sold out O2 Forum crowd. Hey You in particular was a great moment, with Guy Griffin's (guitar/vocals) slide guitar really cutting through the mix to power the piece forward, and once Spike shouted his customary 'What's the time?' at the sold out crowd you knew just what was coming! Despite the curfew fast approaching there was time for a couple more with This is Rock 'n' Roll and an extended version of I Don't Love You Anymore rounding out a spectacular evening. Unsurprisingly the band seemed to relish the large cheers that erupted as they took their bows, and with the announcement of a new album due next year, there is plenty to look forward to in the world of The Quireboys. The setlist was:

I Love This Dirty Town
Louder
Mona Lisa Smiled
Hello
Blackwater
Fear Within the Lie
One for the Road
Late Nite Saturday Call
Hall of Shame
Take a Look at Yourself
Josephine
Misled
There She Goes Again
Hey You
Sweet Mary Ann
7 O'Clock
-
This is Rock 'n' Roll
I Don't Love You Anymore

Overall this will probably go down as one of the gigs of the year. The Quireboys put on a great show showcasing some lesser-played tracks, and two of the support bands really brought their A-game to ensure that a great evening was had by all. I already have plans to see The Quireboys twice more this year, so there are plenty of great times still to be had with the band in 2018.