26/11/2014 The Quireboys @ Islington Academy

Seeing the Quireboys play one London show a year has become a pretty regular thing, although this is actually the second time they have played in 'the smoke' this year as they played an intimate pub gig a few months ago. So here we all are and Islington's corporate Academy venue is pretty full.

Needless to say, the atmosphere in the venue is terrific! These boys have the goodtime bar-room boogie and swagger in spades - and just as importantly, they have the tunes to back it up.

In the band's earliest days they gloried in being pretty ramshackle performers, although they got a lot better with an album or so under their belts and some pretty big tours and support slots. Then after the second album it all went a bit wrong and half the band moved to the USA - they went their separate ways for a few years. Meanwhile, ex-Quireboys guitarist Ginger (booted out just before the first Quireboys album) formed The Wildhearts and established a reputation and career of his own - with many ups and downs along the way... Fast forward a few years and the Quireboys reformed with a slightly different lineup and set about playing shows and making a third album. To be honest when I saw them in those days I thought they had become a very average live band, although I'm sure some will disagree. However, the record they made 'This is Rock 'N' Roll' was actually a solid album with some excellent songs including the title track which remain in their live set to this day.

Finally, the Quireboys started to take things seriously and started acting in a much more professional manner. They upped their game and became better and better as a live act. These days they are the finest bar-room rock 'n' roll band in the land. Spike in particular stands out as one of the best frontmen out there - drinking less but performing better and looking like he's loving every minute of it!

 

The reformed band put out a string of albums full of well crafted songs ranging from Faces style rockers (no one has ever done that style better than the Quireboys) to ballads, although there seem to be a lot more of the latter on their albums these days.

This band now have a very rich back catalogue to draw from when they put their setlists together so you know you are going to hear a load of great songs when you go to a Quireboys show! They certainly didn't disappoint tonight. Naturally their classic first album 'A Bit Of What You Fancy' was heavily featured tonight as always - simply because it has most their best songs on it, but they also have plenty of strong more recent material to feature too.

The Quireboys remain what they have always been - a good-time party band. As a live act they are better than ever these days and are really at the top of their game - you can't go to a Quireboys show and not have a good time!