The Quireboys - Saltash Review

After having not been down to Livewire in Saltash for a number of years, I found myself visiting the youth club-come-venue twice within the space of a week! Bad Touch had brought their Shake a Leg tour to the venue last week, and this past Thursday saw true rock royalty in the shape of The Quireboys visiting Saltash for the first time in their thirty year-plus career! Regular readers of this blog will know just how much I have come to love The Quireboys over the past few years, so getting an opportunity to see the band in my home town, and playing on a stage which I played on a few times many years ago! I believe the genesis of this concert was the cancelled Looe Festival this September past, when Livewire reached out to the band to see if they wanted to play a replacement show at the venue. They did not play a replacement show that weekend, but when a run of November shows was announced shortly later, a Saltash show was included in the list of dates! It was safe to say that I was extremely excited, and bought tickets immediately. Saltash is not exactly a rock haven, so I had slight worries regarding the turnout, but these fears were not founded as clearly the word had got around! I imagine the novelty factor helped to shift some of the tickets, but when I got down to the venue at around 7pm, the place was already filling up nicely. It was clear that the show was going to be close to a sellout, so the atmosphere was already building up in the venue. Despite this being my third Quireboys show of the year, and the first only a couple of months on from an excellent show in London in September celebrating the tenth anniversary of the Homewreckers & Heartbreakers album, I was getting really excited. The Quireboys are one of the most dependable bands on the touring circuit at the moment, with hundreds and hundreds of gigs under their belt. I had loved each of the times that I had seen the band previously, and I was certain that this time would be no different.

Before The Quireboys took to the stage however, the growing crowd were treated to a couple of support acts. Stranger were up first and the local act put on a competent if not exactly exciting set of music. The band are clearly a work in progress, with many of their songs not even having names, but there is certainly some potential there. The band's riff were pretty solid, and the singer had a pretty strong voice, but the band really lack an image and any sort of stage presence. This is definitely something that should come over time, but it certainly meant that their set was lacking in a certain spark. A couple of fairly average covers did not really help the set to sparkle, and the band received a fairly muted reception throughout their set. As I said though, there is certainly some potential thought and I hope the band are able to hone their craft as they move forward.

Fresh from their support slot with Bad Touch last week, Newton Abbot's Ethyrfield were back and this time with a longer slot. The grunge/metal crossover act are certainly making a bit of a name for themselves locally, so it was good to get another opportunity to see the band. Their set was largely the same as the one from last week, but I feel that the sound mix was a little clearer this time, which allowed the Alice in Chains-esque vocal harmonies to shine through. There were a couple of different tunes showcased too, including a murky slower one which I do not remember hearing previously. As with last time though, the thing that stood out the most was the guitar work - which was varied and powerful. There were plenty of shredded solos for the crowd to enjoy, and I would imagine that many in attendance were impressed - even if the band were on the heavier side of what many in attendance would probably usually listen to.

By the time the stage was cleared for The Quireboys, the venue was full and everyone was ready for what was to come. At just after 9:30pm, the band were introduced and took to the stage to launch into I Love This Dirty Time, a sleazy piece of blues that got the set off to a great start. The band really seemed up for playing a new venue, and managed to really whip up a storm during their 90 minutes on stage. Having rehearsed the Homewreckers & Heartbreakers material for the anniversary show, some of that material was retained in the set along with some classics. The first couple of numbers got people excited, but it was There She Goes Again that saw the first big sing along of the evening with frontman Spike often holding the microphone out for the crowd. Speaking of Spike, he was on good form as usual, telling his stories in his usual cheeky way. Sadly though he seemed to be having trouble with his microphone at times, meaning that he was quite low in the mix at times. It was also causing feedback issues with his monitors, which was clearly annoying the band at times, but they soldiered on through and delivered a powerful set for the Saltash crowd. It was great to hear the blues shuffle of Blackwater again, with Spike delivering some harmonica bursts, and the gorgeous Mona Lisa Smiled was a highlight as always with Paul Guerin's (guitar/vocals) melodic solo. While there were many Quireboys fans in attendance, it was also clear that there were a few who had taken a chance on the evening for the novelty value. It was great to see these people slowly being won around as the evening went on, especially with some of the deeper cuts played. Hello encouraged the crowd to sing, as did the intro to Whippin' Boy which was led by drummer Dave McCluskey's powerful beat and Keith Weir's (keyboards/vocals) ringing piano chords. The last of the deeper cuts played was Spike's drinking song One for the Road, before the home straight of the set got underway. This was packed full of classics, starting off with Guy Griffin's (guitar/vocals) big slide riff intro to Tramps and Thieves before the band's big hit Hey You had everyone singing along. Griffin looked really happy when he launched into his slide solo, and it was clear at this point that the evening had been a big success. The country-esque Sweet Mary Ann went down a storm, with some more gorgeous piano, before the main set came to an end with a barnstorming version of 7 O'Clock. No sooner had the band left the stage, the crowd were already baying for more and they were brought back out after a couple of minutes to play a couple more. The big power ballad I Don't Love You Anymore was another highlight, with both of the band's guitarists getting a chance to solo, before a loose rendition of the sleazy Sex Party brought the evening to a rocking close. The setlist was:

I Love This Dirty Town
Misled
There She Goes Again
Blackwater
Leaving Trunk [Taj Mahal cover]
Mona Lisa Smiled
This is Rock 'n' Roll
Hello
Whippin' Boy
Take a Look at Yourself
One for the Road
Tramps and Thieves
Hey You
Sweet Mary Ann
7 O'Clock
-
I Don't Love You Anymore
Sex Party

Despite a few sound issues which did not ruin my enjoyment of the night, The Quireboys' show in Saltash was a real success. The venue was almost sold out, and the band seemed to have a great time playing somewhere new. It is very rare that bands come down this far south, so these opportunities should always be taken. It would be great to see more bands on the Livewire stage at some point in the future!