The Quireboys - London Review

With the exception of Mostly Autumn, there is no band that I have seen live more than The Quireboys. After avoiding them for years thinking that they were something that they were not, I finally became a fan in 2013 after seeing them open for Saxon. I was pretty much hooked from that night in Nottingham's Rock City - and I attended my 20th Quireboys show back in January, when I saw the band in Birmingham celebrating the belated 30th anniversary of their debut album A Bit of What You Fancy. The Birmingham show was my first post-pandemic Quireboys live experience, and it was great to get back in the saddle. I have seen the band put on a better show, but their trademark sense of fun certainly permeated the venue - and it was a night that the whole crowd got into despite a rather muddy sound mix. I knew that I would be seeing the band live again later in the year, too, which certainly made things feel like they were returning to normal. This is because I had a ticket for a show dubbed The Orchestral Quireboys, which I had had since September 2019, which would see the band returning to the O2 Forum in Kentish Town. The O2 Forum has become a regular haunt of the band's in recent years, and it is now their go-to venue for special shows. I saw the band there in 2018 celebrating the 10th anniversary of 2008's Homewreckers & Heartbreakers, and I returned to the venue in 2019 for another celebration of A Bit of What You Fancy. Both of these shows were extremely memorable and The Orchestral Quireboys, where the band would play a collection of their songs with an orchestra, also promised to be so. Of course, though, since purchasing my ticket nearly three years ago the band have undergone a rather drastic change. Those in the know will know that the band recently fired Spike, their legendary frontman and only remaining true original member. I am not sure if we will ever know the truth behind this firing, and there has been a lot of accusations flying back and forth between the two sides, but I think that it is fair to say that the split was a big shock. Spiked seemed like one of those musicians that could never be fired given his position in The Quireboys - so there was unsurprisingly quite a lot of negativity surrounding this decision. Spike has vowed to continue recording and touring under the Quireboys name, and has announced his first gig with his new band's line-up (which contains many classic Quireboys members from the late 1980s and early 1990s) as I write this, whilst the rest of the current Quireboys line-up has continued on with guitarist Guy Griffin taking over vocally. This will all likely end in tears, as such dual-band situations generally do (see Wishbone Ash for a rather messy example), but it looks as if we are in for a time with two Quireboys. Griffin, who is the only other person besides Spike to have appeared on all of the Quireboys' albums (although not all of their recorded work), has been assertive of his right to the band's name, something which I am sure will be decided legally in time, and he has pushed forward with all of the band's booked dates - which included the many-times-postponed orchestral show which finally took place this past Saturday.

Before The Quireboys took to the stage, however, the crowd was treated to sets from two support acts. Up first was the London-based blues rock act Trident Waters - who started their set strongly but it soon became apparent that the band are somewhat one-dimensional. I often find blues rock power-trios to not really be to my taste, but in fairness Trident Waters were one of the better ones that I had seen in a while. I enjoyed the band's first few songs, largely due to the strong vocals and guitar playing of frontman Andrew Knightley. Lots of Knightley's riffs were pretty hooky, and his vocal melodies had just enough rasp to them to ensure that there was still some blues heft to the band's set - as the riffing generally leaned in more in the harder rock direction. It became clear after a few songs, though, that the band only really do one thing. They do it well, but there is little diversity to their sound - which is generally why I find blues power trios to be a bit bland. After a few songs I felt that I had heard it all, but the band's set was still powerful - and there were certainly a few around me down at the front that seemed to be getting into what Trident Waters were doing. Towards the end of their set they seemed to have some technical issues, though, and this seemed to really get to Knightley. He made a few cutting remarks in the direction of a stage technician as a result, who seemed to be with the band rather than someone working the whole show, which really rubbed me up the wrong way. I can understand that technical issues are frustrating, but they are often not the fault of the crew - and I thought that Trident Waters, as an opening act, were lucky to even have someone on hand. Knightley may have been joking, but it did not really seem like it and it soured my opinion on the band - who's set came to an end a couple of songs later.

Up next were the Manchester-based five-piece Gorilla Riot, who in my opinion were much better than Trident Waters - and I found myself really getting into their set. The band, built around Arjun Bhishma (vocals/guitar), also play blues rock - but I felt that there was a strong southern rock vibe to a lot of their material, with some good vocal harmonies and lots of guitar interplay thanks to the band having three guitarists. I would not call Gorilla Riot a southern rock band, but they clearly enjoy that sort of music. A few riffs certainly had a Lynyrd Skynyrd vibe, and there was one slightly more rootsy track that reminded me a bit of the rockier end of The Allman Brothers Band's work. Apart from the riffing, which was great throughout, the real draw for me was Bhishma's voice. He sang with a lot of soul, and his gravelly, yet tuneful, approach really brought the best out of the band's muscular, yet warm, sound. Gorilla Riot are definitely a band that I want to listen to in more detail, as many of their songs really impressed. I did not really catch the names of many of them, but there are a few hooks that I can still remember clearly from the show - with the overall standout track being Bad Son. This is one of the tracks that had a strong Lynyrd Skynyrd vibe, with the main riff reminding me a little of The Needle and the Spoon once it got going, and the chorus is one that has been running around in my head ever since the gig. There were other songs up to this standard, too, but that is the one that stood out in particular. There was also lots of great guitar playing from Bhishma, Liam Henry, and Charly T., too, all of whom soloed throughout the set. There was a lot to enjoy about Gorilla Riot's set, then, and I am planning to pick up one of their releases soon - as on this showing in London they deserve to be given  more of an airing.

Following the two support acts, The Quireboys hit the stage at around 9:30pm. The string quartet that joined the band for much of the evening actually took to the stage first, and played a rousing motif for the rest of the musicians to walk out to - which morphed into a muscular rendition of Gracie B. I am not sure that having a string quartet constitutes as having an orchestra behind you, but there were some songs throughout the set that did benefit from the string embellishments - and the band were also joined throughout by two backing singers, and periodically by a horn section and a pedal steel player. Sadly none of these musicians were name-checked or even significantly introduced throughout the night, so I cannot reference them here - but they all played their parts well. For me, it was the backing singers that actually added the most to the band's sound. Griffin is a fine singer, but the harmonies certainly helped him out - and many of the band's early albums actually featured a lot of similar vocal arrangements. Before I get into the show itself properly, though, I need to address the band situation more generally. I have already said that Griffin is a good singer, which is true - but he is not Spike. Spike's voice defined the band's sound, so without that there is definitely something lacking. Griffin did a good job on some of the songs, but others felt a bit flat without Spike's rasp. Spike was also a frontman that was easy to latch onto - but it was clear after a few songs that Griffin is not really comfortable in that role. This was my first time seeing the Griffin-led Quireboys, and this special show might not be the best place to judge them, but Griffin looked quite awkward throughout the night - and his in-between song banter was almost non-existent. He never really connected with the crowd, which was still on the larger side despite the venue feeling significantly less busy than their previous two trips to Kentish Town (going from booking two 'definitely sold out, promise!' shows to cancelling one on the quiet and then not even filling the place is perhaps telling of how people feel about The Quireboys as it stands), and as such the atmosphere never really reached any sort of height. Even the weakest Quireboys shows of the past have always had great atmospheres due to Spike really getting the crowd going, but this show felt pretty flat - which some technical issues with both Griffin and Paul Guerin's (guitar/vocals) guitars did not help with. This led to a couple of pauses where everyone just stood around for a while looking at each other, which was a shame. There was little wrong with the night musically, but this lack of a real atmosphere did hurt the show overall - and I see this being generally an issue for The Quireboys going forward if Griffin does not step things up in this regard.

Moving to the set itself, though, it got off to a powerful start with the aforementioned Gracie B, a song which I had not heard the band do live for a few years, before they stepped back into more familiar territory with the delicate Roses & Rings and the upbeat single There She Goes Again - both from the band's debut album. The former in particular sounded great with the string backing, and it allowed it sound more like it did on the original album - and Griffin sung the ballad in a convincing way. There She Goes Again did not really benefit from the strings, but the horn section added some heft - and it's chorus ended up being one of the evening's few sing-a-longs. Another regular in Mona Lisa Smiled was then played, but the track is always a winner when played live. Again, Griffin sang it well - but the highlight was Guerin's excellent guitar solo, which has always been the centrepiece of the song for me. Griffin then said how the band were going to play a lot of different songs at the show, and that they were about to play a rare track - but they then preceded to play Hello, a song which I have seen the band play many times before. Looking at the band's recent setlists, this show was not that significantly different setlist-wise, and they only played one song live that I had not heard them do before. This was a disappointment, as this show was the perfect opportunity to pull out some deep cuts. I would have loved to have heard King of New York with the strings or White Trash Blues with the horn section - but instead we got half of Homewreckers & Heartbreakers (which the band played in full in 2018 and retained many of its songs for the late 2018 tour) and many songs which are essentially ever-present in the band's set.

It was good to hear Blackwater again live, though, even though this was one of the songs played that really needed to be sung by Spike. Griffin just does not have the grit to make the song shine, but the horn section and the backing singers gave it a boost. A genuine deep cut in The Promise was then wheeled out for what I assume was its live debut. The delicate ballad came across well, and was made to sound much bigger thanks to the strings, before it was followed up by Stubborn Kinda Heart - which I had not heard the band play live for quite a few years. These two songs were the only genuine surprises of the night really, though, and the set soon got back onto more familiar ground with I Don't Love You Anymore and I Love This Dirty Town. After the former, though, the string section left the stage, never to be seen again, which was very strange. The rest of the set was more rocking as a result but it all seemed rather abrupt and not that well planned. I Love This Dirty Town rocked, though, and is was great to hear Original Black Eyed Son with a real horn section. The bluesy hard rock of This is Rock 'n' Roll and the ever-present 7 O'Clock rounded out the main set with the aforementioned Original Black Eyed Son - with 7 O'Clock being one of the other main sing-a-long moments of the set. There was time for one more, though, and the band came back out for a lengthy version of Sex Party, with some added horns and plenty of soloing from Griffin and Guerin. Once the song was over, though, the band just walked off without really saying anything. There was no bow or bringing out the other musicians to give them a proper thank you, and this contributed to the show's overall flat feeling. The crowd seemed a bit confused, but the lights soon came up - so the show was indeed over. The setlist was:

Gracie B

Roses & Rings

There She Goes Again

Mona Lisa Smiled

Hello

Blackwater

The Promise

Stubborn Kinda Heart

Late Nite Saturday Call

I Don't Love You Anymore

I Love This Dirty Town

Louder

This is Rock 'n' Roll

Original Black Eyed Son

7 O'Clock

-

Sex Party

Overall, I am not really sure what to make of my Saturday night in Kentish Town with The Quireboys. The band sounded good, and Griffin sang many of the songs well, but I do not feel like the band rose to the occasion. Griffin really needs to improve his crowd interaction and general presence if he wants to make it as a frontman, and in my opinion the setlist was a disappointment. I was expecting to hear a lot more deeper cuts given the occasion, and I do not consider the lesser-played songs from Homewreckers & Heartbeakers to really be deep cuts considering the band played many of them regularly throughout 2018 - and many have been fixtures of the band's acoustic shows, too. As such, I am yet to make up my mind on the Griffin-led Quireboys. For me, they seem to lack a key element of what makes The Quireboys such. I like to be open-minded about these things, though, and I went to the show hoping to be impressed. I certainly was not totally turned off, but equally I was not convinced either. How the band's future pans out remains to be seen, but for now I may need to contend myself with the band's excellent run of albums unless an easy opportunity to catch the band live again presents itself.