The Brook, Southampton
Tonight The Quireboys return to The Brook in Southampton part way through what is now their annual trip around the UK delighting audiences with their very own brand of classic Rock ‘n’ Roll. With promise of new material along with the classics, it is bound to be a good show to warm the good sized crowd on this cold wet Wednesday night.
The audience are treated to two supports acts who are in stark contrast of each other, the 1st “Diesel” who are a 3 piece rock/metal power trio who plough through their set of Metallica/Motorhead influenced songs with little or no audience connection, the songs such as “Unforeseen Collaboration” sounded great but seem somewhat lost with tonight’s crowd, on the other hand “The Gentlemen of Distorted Sound” are a completely different matter. The band arrive onto the stage a with a great presence and every one in the room has to stop and pay full attention to lead singer Dubliner “Gareth Nugent” who was kitted out as a sinister rock gent in top hat, suit tales and a cane. After brief introductions the music kicks in in a big way. The no nonsense rock is pure and is everything that you would want from a band, a great audience connection with excellent songs such as “Spirit Woman”, “Electric” and the fantastic anthem “Tonight We Can Be One”.
There are American Indian influences similar to that of The Cult in the 1980’s, guitarist “Mako” performs the last number with a full Indian feathered headdress along with dark eyed make up. The crowd very soon warm to the band and by the end of their set they have made lots of new fans, as there is soon a queue at the merchandise stand to grab a copy of their new EP “Bone Idol”.
Shirley Bassey’s “Big Spender” hails the arrival of tonight’s headliners, Lead singer “Spike” arrives on stage a little merry after a few pre gig drinks, the soppy mischievous smile on his face was the promise of a good night, the band appear to put on an act not knowing what to play as they decided to throw the set-list out of the window, this is seemingly carefully engineered to give the audience extra anticipation. Right from the start whatever the band ‘decided’ to play was greeted by positive responses from the audience, such was the reaction this easily could have been a home gig, the band seemed to feel equally as comfortable.
The new songs arrived in the form of “Too Much Of A Good Thing” and “Mother Mary” and by the sound of them the album that in due in 2012 is going to be a belter. The combining of the twin guitars and piano along with Spike’s unmistakable voice is still a winning formula after all these years. The band performed for over 90 minutes thrilling everyone in the venue with a memorable show that well and truly entertained, the band left stage with the crowd still wanting more and after a little noisy encouragement they dutifully returned with a great version of their 1st single “Mayfair” from 1987 which went down a storm. This band may not be playing the huge sized venues they once were used to, you cannot help thinking that these smaller shows create a better atmosphere and are much more enjoyable for the audience. Great band great night………….lets hope they return again in 2012.
Set-List
Dirty Town
Misled
Tramps & Thieves
There She Goes Again
Too Much Of A Good Thing
Roses & Rings
Lorraine Lorraine
Hey You
Mona Lisa Smiled
White Trash Blues
Mother Mary
Can’t Park Here
Take Me Home
Sweet Mary Anne
I Don’t Love You Anymore
7 ‘O Clock
This Is Rock N Roll
Mayfair
Videos
The Quireboys
The Gentlemen Of Distorted Sound
Review, Pictures and Video Dave Chinery(Chinners).
