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Review: The Quireboys, Thekla
In one of those increasingly frequent and annoying rock clashes, the Quireboys play the Thekla on the same night that their former touring partners Saxon are over at the Academy. If only this music was as unpopular as its detractors think it ought to be, we wouldn’t be faced with such agonising dilemmas. Those who opted for the Geordie sextet might have been in a slightly depleted minority, but if anyone can get a party started on a Sunday night in Bristol, it’s rabble-rousing, raspy-voiced frontman Spike, who takes to the stage in an advanced state of refreshment.
Last time the Quireboys played here just nine months ago, it was as a stripped-down acoustic four-piece. With all six of the blighters now crammed on to the Thekla’s tiddly stage in a riot of waistcoats and titfers, it’s keyboardist Keith Weir who draws the short straw and finds himself tucked away behind guitarist Guy Griffin’s amp where practically no one can see him. That’s a shame because Weir, who’s played with everyone from Steve Earle to Ian Hunter, is a key part of the Quireboys’ unpretentious smoky barroom rock’n’roll sound. Second guitarist Paul Guerin, meanwhile, plays with a broken hand, which doesn’t appear to hamper his performance.
Although this show is part of a tour to promote the band’s excellent new album Black Eyed Sons, we get only three tracks from it (Troublemaker, What Do You Want From Me? and Stubborn Kinda Heart) as they continue to lean heavily on material from the 1990 breakthrough, A Bit of What You Fancy. Hey You might have been their biggest hit, but it boasts one of the most annoying choruses in rock, while Sex Party is as cheesy and throwaway as its title suggests. There’s no question that the loyal Quireboys audience loves this stuff, but you can’t help wishing they’d take a few risks with the set list and air more of their recent material. As if to underline the point, the none-more-Rod Stewart and the Faces circa 1972 Mona Lisa Smiled sounds lovely and the irresistible Beautiful Curse gets a suitably huge response. Nobody pretends there’s any new ground being broken here, least of all the Quireboys themselves, but finding a niche and digging in never did the likes of next week’s worldwide chart toppers AC/DC any harm.
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