Spike - London Review

For those of us who love live music, the past year or so has been quite a struggle. While the lack of concerts may seem quite trivial in the grand scheme of the COVD-19 pandemic, pilgrimages to music venues are something of a lifestyle for some - myself included. With the uncertainty of the pandemic, and the UK government's seeming want to ensure that the hospitality industry shoulders the heaviest burden when it comes to impact of the lockdowns, optimism for the return of live music has been pretty slim for much of the past 14 months. My last concert was Anathema at the London Palladium on 7th March 2020, and just over two weeks later the country was in lockdown. It is amazing in hindsight how much changed in the space of just a fortnight - but with lockdowns etc. now largely the norm, that Anathema show seems, sadly, like a distant memory. There does now, however, seem to be some light at the end of the tunnel. The UK's COVID-19 vaccine rollout has been very successful, and continues to be so, so much so that a number of the government-imposed restrictions on everyday life and businesses have been lifted. A number of crucial ones remain, which effectively still prohibit live concerts in the truest of senses, but live music can now, once again, take place. I have to say, however, that the prospect of sterile, officious, and reduced-capacity shows does little for me - but beggars cannot be choosers as they say, and after 14 enforced months of no live music it was time to get back on the wagon. The venue, a new one for me, was The Cavern Freehouse in the London suburb of Raynes Park; and the act was Spike, the frontman of The Quireboys - my second-most seen band of all time. Spike is certainly not new to me as a result, but this show, the first of 2021, was my first exposure to him as a solo artist. The Quireboys are usually an extremely busy live band, in both electric and acoustic formats, which means that Spike has very little time to branch out on his own. It seems however, to prepare what is hopefully to be a busy latter half of the year again with The Quireboys, Spike took the opportunity presented to him in the context of the ongoing restrictions to schedule a run of solo acoustic dates. A couple of live streams aside, this tour was to be Spike's first run of shows since before the lockdowns - and I think that it is fair to say that he was as excited to be back out there as his fans were. Such was the demand in London that Spike actually played two sets in one day at The Cavern Freehouse, one in the afternoon and one in the evening. I attended the evening show, after an excellent day record shopping in Brick Lane and a Raynes Park charity shop; with rocking up to a gig again feeling surprisingly normal after the lengthy break.

The pub re-opened after the afternoon soirée at 7pm, which gave the 50 or so punters that had sold the show out plenty of time to gather before Spike took to the stage at around 8:30pm. Considering the gig was likely the first for a long time for many, the atmosphere was jovial. The Cavern Freehouse is not the largest of pubs, so having 50 or so music lovers inside it did not feel sparse - but I imagine the place could get a lot cosier should it ever want to! Spike seemed up for the evening too, despite having done it all only a few hours previously, and was his usual affable self throughout the show. The evening was split into two parts; with the first half containing cover versions of some of Spike's favourite songs from his youth, and the second half containing, mostly, his own material. Joining Spike throughout was guitarist Christian Heilmann and percussionist Simon Hanson, who's embellishments helped Spike's own guitar and trademark gravelly voice bring the best out of the 15 songs played. Hanson, who is not a part of the touring ensemble, seemed to have just rocked up for the evening performance to see his old friend - and his addition gave the evening a somewhat off-the-cuff feel, which suited Spike's manner perfectly. With him and Hanson having been friends for years, the banter between the two all night encouraged much laughter. In fact, Spike's tales were just as much a part of the evening as the songs were - which suited the 'Evening With...' format nicely. Despite being made up of covers, the evening's first half was very enjoyable. A rousing rendition of Lindisfarne's Run for Home got things underway, before a somewhat strange mash-up of Just My Imagination (Running Away With Me) and You Can't Always Get What You Want providing probably the first of the evening's many chorus sing-alongs. The crowd generally were into what Spike and co. were doing, and often sung along - but unfortunately there were a few who decided that they would rather talk through much of the show. This really started to rear its head about half way through the first set, and sadly persisted to the end - despite Spike and some of the pub's staff asking people to stop numerous times. It was a shame that the enforced concert break has not made some people more appreciative of live music opportunities - especially as one of the culprits was a member of a semi-well known band (who I shall not name here) who would have probably not appreciated it happening at one of his shows. Nevertheless, the majority were enjoying what Spike was offering, with a few Frankie Miller tunes in particular standing out. Spike's version of Miller's version of Darlin' was a lot of fun, as was the folky Raining Whiskey which was also recently covered by Kid Rock. The evening's first half came to a close with a great version of the Cat Stevens-penned The First Cut is the Deepest - before the musicians left the stage for a 20 minute break.

As much as I enjoyed the first set, the second part of the evening was better in my opinion. The covers were fun, but I much prefer seeing Spike sing his own songs - and that is largely what made up the second part of the night. He kicked things off with a version of a Quireboys song that I had not heard live before, Ode to You (Baby Just Walk), a heavy blues piece that worked well in a stripped down manner - with Hanson's percussion giving it some extra weight. During this part of the night, Spike also told stories of The Quireboy's early days - particularly how he and Guy Bailey wrote many of the band's early songs in a flat overlooking The Oval cricket ground. He also recounted some stories relating to producer Bob Rock and the recording of 1993's Bitter Sweet & Twisted, which set the scene nicely for Ode to You (Baby Just Walk), and his friendship with Tyla from The Dogs D'Amour - which was a perfect set-up for his take on their single How Come it Never Rains. There were lots of fan favourites included in this part of the show, with The Quireboy's signature ballad I Don't Love You Anymore prompting possibly the largest cheer of the night - which also included Heilmann impressing with some subtle and tasteful acoustic guitar leads. A fan request led to a rendition of the excellent So Far So Good from Spike's 2005 solo album It's a Treat to be Alive, before There She Goes Again saw plenty of singing from the crowd. Acoustically, the song was much slower than the brash barroom rock of The Quireboys' version - but it worked well. Spike commented on how arrangement that he played was how the song was originally written, and the song worked well in this more stripped back and raw manner. It was left to one final Quireboys' number, Roses & Rings, to close things out. The song has a country vibe, which meant that it translated to an all-acoustic arrangement nicely. It was another fun addition to the evening, but the show seemed to come to a rather abrupt end following it. I am not sure if a curfew had been reached by this point, or whether Spike had finally got sick of all the talking - which had escalated quite a bit during Roses & Rings. I hung around for a little while to see if an encore would happen, but it was not long before the pub staff started to remove some of the gear from the stage - meaning that the night was over. The setlist was:

Run for Home [Lindisfarne cover]

Just My Imagination (Running Away With Me) [The Temptations cover]/You Can't Always Get What You Want [The Rolling Stones cover]

Darlin' [Stewart Blandamer cover]

Pearl's a Singer [Dino and Sembello cover]

Fortune [Frankie Miller cover]

Raining Whiskey [Frankie Miller cover]

Seven Spanish Angels [Ray Charles cover]

Little Ol' Wine Drinker Me [Charlie Walker cover]

The First Cut is the Deepest [P. P. Arnold cover]

-

Ode to You (Baby Just Walk) [The Quireboys material]

How Come it Never Rains [The Dogs D'Amour cover]

I Don't Love You Anymore [The Quireboys material]

So Far So Good

There She Goes Again [The Quireboys material]

Roses & Rings [The Quireboys material]

Despite the strangely abrupt ending, the show was still a lot of fun. It was great to experience an evening of live music again after so long, and Spike was in fine form. The stripped down format allowed his voice to really shine, and he sounded great despite having a year or so off the road. I would have personally preferred to hear more of his own songs, but a lot of the covers were fun - and some of the stories were hilarious. I am hoping that this show will be the first of many in 2021, although it all depends on what the government do next - with the 21st June and supposed freedom looming, but seemingly in question. In theory I will be catching Spike again, this time with The Quireboys and an orchestra, in September - at a show that was postponed from last year. Whether this happens or not remains to be seen, but I live in hope that my trip to Raynes Park will not turn out to be my sole night out this year.