The Quireboys/FM - Sheffield Review

I do not usually venture up as far north as Sheffield, but sometimes - in the service of live music - needs must! Being based in Devon, most of my trips are usually to places to Bristol, London, or Birmingham - but occasionally one must make a bit more effort and travel further afield. Both The Quireboys and FM are celebrating their 35th anniversaries this year, and decided to team up for a run of UK co-headline shows to celebrate this feat. It was a fairly northern-centric tour, with the only real 'southern' show taking place in Cardiff - midweek - meaning that making it was not easy for me. If I was to make this tour, which was an opportunity I was not going to pass up lightly, then I had to think somewhat more creatively. Regular readers of this blog will know how much I love both The Quireboys and FM. The former are my second most-seen band of all time, and FM are not too far behind! I had seen both recently - especially FM who I saw in Reading last month - but that did not deter me at all. The Quireboys and FM are bands that I will always make the effort to go and see because they always put on great shows. In the end, I opted for the Sheffield show and managed to tie it into a long weekend of concerts - something which always makes the travelling worth while. I had been in London to see UFO the night before, so caught a train from King's Cross and arrived in Sheffield just before 2pm. As I already said, Sheffield is not a regular haunt of mine. I enjoyed having a wander around the town, as it was November 2017 that I was last there, and turned up to the Corporation not too long before the early 6pm doors. Joining The Quireboys and FM for this tour were the Norfolk-based hard rockers Bad Touch and the AOR act Vega - both of which I was already fans of. I had seen both of these bands recently too as I caught Bad Touch headlining in Saltash's Livewire Youth Music last November, and Vega were part of an epic bill under Skid Row in London back in January. It might seem strange to some that I would see all four of these bands again so quickly after seeing them all playing at other various shows, but I was more than up to see all four again on the same bill. Bills like this are becoming more common, and I am all for these kind of tours as they really give the punters value for money. It seemed that I was not the only one to think so as, despite the early door time, there were quite a few who turned up early to catch the first band - and overall the turnout was strong.

The first band on was Vega, who had around half an hour to play with and set about impressing the gathering crowd with their brand of AOR. 'Impressing' is probably not the right word, as it seemed that many in attendance were already fans of the band and - despite the short - Vega treated the show as if it was their own. The set was a condensed version of what was played in London in January, with Let's Have Fun Tonight opening the show once again. Frontman Nick Workman was clearly up for the show from the off, and fed off the energy from those of us down at the front who were singing along to every song. The sound mix was much better than it was in London too, with James Martin's keyboards very present in the mix, and the backing vocals from the whole band really boosting the choruses. An early highlight for me was the excellent Kiss of Life, which has one of the best Vega choruses in my opinion, before the more modern-sounding Every Little Monster packed a little more a punch - and allowed Marcus Thurston (guitar/vocals) a chance to light up his fretboard with a shredding solo. I enjoyed every minute of the band's set, but it did make me wonder why the band are still so low down the bill on tours such as this. The band are now five albums in to their career, and never seem to pick up any upward momentum despite having a decent fanbase. I have only ever seen the band as a support act, as I have sadly never been able to make any of their seemingly-rare headline shows. I hope his changes soon, and the band feel more able to commit to their own tours. I will certainly make more effort to go next time! The way the crowd joined in with the closing number Savin' Grace makes me think a Vega headline show would be something special, and I hope I can make one soon! The setlist was:

Let's Have Fun Tonight
Explode
Kiss of Life
Every Little Monster
Worth Dying For
White Flag
Savin' Grace

After a fairly quick changeover, Bad Touch took to the stage and delivered a strong half an hour set packed full of their trademark brand of bluesy hard rock. I have been aware of Bad Touch since 2013, but have only really started listening to them properly in recent months. As mentioned earlier I went to the band's headline show in Saltash last November, but this was primarily to see Aaron Buchanan and the Cult Classics who I am a big fan of. I left the evening a Bad Touch fan too however, and have since purchased their three studio albums - all of which are strong. Bad Touch also played seven songs, and much of their set was culled from last year's excellent Shake a Leg. Lift Your Head Up and Movin' On Up got the show off to a groovy, strutting start; while faster tracks like Too Many Times added some energy later on. The thing that stands out for me the most about Bad Touch's music is the amount of groove packed into every song. Daniel Seekings (guitar/vocals) is a real riff master, constantly churning out bluesy power, while fellow guitarist Rob Glendinning uses this base for his soulful solos. The pair are a classic rock guitar duo for the modern day, and are the basis of what makes the band so enjoyable. Frontman Stevie Westwood is an electric presence too. He may not be the most active and 'out there' of frontmen, but he oozes cool and has the perfect character and voice to croon atop the bluesy struts. This was actually my fifth time seeing the band, but the first time where I actually knew the songs that were being played. While I am not sure that Bad Touch received as strong a reception from the large crowd as Vega had done, there were still plenty of us really enjoying what the band were doing - and it was great to have sometime with some real soul after the full-on fun of Vega's AOR. The set came to a close with the powerful duo of Dressesd to Kill and the catchy older single 99%, the latter of which certainly saw some singing from the crowd. I am glad that I have finally got on the Bad Touch train properly, and I am already looking forward to their next tour. The setlist was:

Lift Your Head Up
Movin' On Up
Show Me What it Means
Too Many Times
Hammer Falls
Dressed to Kill
99%

After two excellent support acts who really complimented the two headline acts perfectly, the first of the co-headlining duo - FM - took to the stage to their usual intro. I was fully expecting the band to open the set with a new song, as they have been doing so recently, but surprised me by launching into Breathe Fire, from 1992's Aphrodisiac, a song I had never seen them play live before. It was a great intro piece however, with Jim Kirkpatrick (guitar/vocals) nailing the heavy, driving riff and the whole band rallying around Steve Overland (vocals/guitar) for the melodic chorus. The song is somewhat weightier than much of the band's classic material, and is in fact more akin to their newer sound, so it started the show off nicely - before the band moved through both Bad Luck and That Girl, bringing the show back to more familiar territory. From here the set was very similar to the one that was played in Reading a month or so ago, but slightly condensed to fit into the true co-headlining arrangement. As a result there were numerous highlights, with the keyboard-heavy early single Let Love be the Leader being an early one. Jem Davis (keyboards/vocals) always uses the song to break out one of his old synthesisers for the intro, and the song continues in this vein throughout. He also broke out the keytar for Other Side of Midnight - usually the band's set-closer - and prowled the stage with the guitarists which the crowd seemed to enjoy. Another highlight was the b-side Dangerous which has been brought back into the set this year. I actually feel that the song is stronger than a couple of tracks that ended up on the band's debut album, so I am glad that the band have been showcasing it live again this year. It has a great chorus, which those of us in the know sung along to. The rest of the set was mostly made up of regulars, although Face to Face got a somewhat rare outing which certainly also pleased the die-hard fans. It is hard to judge who out of The Quireboys and FM had the biggest following in Sheffield, as the crowd reaction to both was much the same, which was great to see. The two bands are quite different sound wise, so it was good to see that the pairing worked well. Another song that has found itself a home in the band's setlist again over the past couple of years is the slightly funky Over You - with Kirkpatrick's guitar instrumental Metropolis as an intro - which always seems to get the crowd going. It has never been a favourite of mine, but it has grown on me over the years. It has a very singable chorus however, and the Sheffield faithful certainly helped Overland and the band out with it. Two classics and a newer number rounded out the band's set, with Tough it Out in particularly getting a strong reaction. Again, the chorus got everyone going - but it was left to Killed by Love to round out the evening. The newer song has become a real FM classic now, and it ensured the show ended on a high. The band took their bows to huge cheers, and it was clear they had impressed everyone in attendance. The setlist was:

Breathe Fire
Bad Luck
That Girl
Life is a Highway
Let Love be the Leader
Other Side of Midnight
Dangerous
Someday
Face to Face
Story of My Life
Metropolis
Over You
I Belong to the Night
Tough it Out
Killed by Love

Closing out a fairly long, but excellent, evening of music was The Quireboys. I saw the band five times last year, but was already looking forward to seeing them again. Unsurprisingly the setlist chosen was very similar to that of last year's winter tour, but there were a couple of new numbers added from the band's newly-released album Amazing Disgrace - which I have not had the chance to hear yet as the physical copies will not be posted out until later in the month. Despite the sound being great for the whole night up until this point, The Quireboys seemed to really suffer with technical issues. There was a lot of feedback happening throughout, and Keith Weir's keyboards seemed to not be working properly despite being set up and sat there throughout the whole evening. He ended up moving to use Davis' keyboard set that was still set up on the other side of the stage, after a few choice words and looks directed at the sound man who could not seem to fix any of the issues. Frontman Spike's vocals were also very low in the mix for the first couple of numbers, but by the time they hit There She Goes Again things seemed to have levelled out. The crowd really helped Spike out with the vocals on this song anyway, and he broke into one of his big cheeky smiles as they did. It was great to hear a couple of the new songs too, with Seven Deadly Sins impressing early on with it's bluesy strut, before the Homewreckers & Heartbreakers album was plundered for a couple of numbers including the ever-present and excellent Mona Lisa Smiled. It has been great hearing so many of the Homewreckers & Heartbreakers songs played live over the past year, and I Love This Dirty Town seems to have re-established itself as the band's opening number again. One of the highlights of the set for me was a really barnstorming version of This is Rock 'n' Roll - dedicated to the late Bernie Tormé - which Spike owned vocally. It is also always great to see guitarists Guy Griffin and Paul Guerin teaming up to play the slide guitar-filled intro, and the song contains one of my favourite Guerin guitar solos that just explodes after a quieter moment. After their hit Hey You got the whole crowd going, the second new number Original Black Eyed Son was played. I had enjoyed Seven Deadly Sins, but this second new track was on the next level. It was filled with lots of excellent keyboard work from Weir, and the chorus was instantly memorable after only one listen - which is always the mark of a great song to me. I cannot wait to get hold of my copy of Amazing Disgrace and hear it again! Classics from the band's debut album followed from this point on until the end of the night, with the ballad I Don't Love You Anymore containing a snippet of The Rolling Stones' Fool to Cry which was dedicated to the ill Mick Jagger, and Griffin took the opportunity to take a lengthy solo as the song faded out. The crowd interaction numbers Sweet Mary Ann and 7 O'Clock brought the set to a powerful and energy-filled close, and I assumed that this would be the end as FM had not taken an encore. I was wrong however, and The Quireboys took to the stage following the cheers for one more quick number - Sex Party. This saw the whole crowd in party mode, and it brought what had been a peerless evening of British rock and AOR to a close with a bang. The setlist was:

I Love This Dirty Town
Misled
There She Goes Again
Seven Deadly Sins
Mona Lisa Smiled
Hello
Whippin' Boy
This is Rock 'n' Roll
Hey You
Original Black Eyed Son
I Don't Love You Anymore/Fool to Cry [The Rolling Stones cover]
Sweet Mary Ann
7 O'Clock
-
Sex Party

Big touring packages are becoming more popular, and when the quality is this good I will continue to support them. All four bands went down really well, and I would imagine that the smaller acts made some new fans as a result of their performances. I had taken my copies of Bad Touch's Shake a Leg and Vega's Only Human to hopefully get the signed, and both bands were hanging around near the merchandise after the show so I managed to get a full set of signatures on both which was a great added bonus. I will be seeing The Quireboys again in September, and I am already looking forward to it.