Quireboys, Album Playback and Intimate Show, Triangle Café, Greenwich, May 26th , 2024

Words and Pictures : Adrian Hextall – MindHex Media

From globetrotting, arena-filling metal bands to homegrown heroes promoting their new album with a new single, a great gig can come from the unlikeliest of places.

Over the last couple of years, the rock press has widely reported on the turmoil within the Quireboys’ ranks, with founding member Spike essentially being fired from his own band. I’m not going into the whys and wherefores in this piece, but suffice to say, Spike hasn’t rested on his laurels. Instead, the man who founded the band and probably has more right to its name than anyone has rebuilt a lineup from the ground up. This lineup includes bassist Nigel Mogg returning, Luke Morley on guitar, Chris Johnstone on keys, and Rudy Richman on drums. Guy Bailey had also returned to the fold, but as many are aware, we lost Guy at the end of 2023.

The resulting album, Wardour Street from Quireboys (note The has been dropped), sums up those early years of the band and includes new material penned by Guy and Spike. It will be released later this year, and to promote it, an intimate gig for around 80 or so people was performed in a tiny café in Greenwich.

A tiny semi-acoustic show didn’t need Nigel’s big bass sound, so he stayed in the VIP area with a drink and a smile. The show itself saw Spike, Luke, and Willie (“From The Grip”) Dowling perform some classic Quireboys material for the fortunate few present.

With the new album due later this year and a playback of it for those in the room before and after the show, there was a real buzz in the air. As Spike, Luke, and Willie came to the stage, it was clear that the show was going to be full of high jinks, teasing, anecdotes, and more. Looking back as far as 1991, when both Thunder and The Quireboys played London’s Wembley Arena as part of a 3-night Brit Awards series of shows, Spike recalled how Luke and Danny Bowes had gone to their dressing room and commented on how nice it smelled. “How does your dressing room smell so nice and ours doesn’t?” asked Luke apparently. “Well, we get girls visiting ours…” recounted Spike with a laugh, much to the amusement of all present. And so it continued.

The drinks and anecdotes flowed. Limited edition t-shirts with the date and venue on the back were distributed, and for those vinyl collectors, the new single Raining Whiskey backed with the previous single Jeez Louise was available as a red 7” single. Raining Whiskey features a vocal performance from Frankie Miller, the Scottish songwriter Spike has admired for years, even naming one of his solo albums after the great man. Frankie was even present in the room, and the 74-year-old, while not in great health following a brain aneurysm in 1994 which left him unable to speak or sing, was full of smiles and clearly happy to be part of the day.

It’s hard to see your own heroes struggle, so credit to Spike for doing what he can to keep Frankie’s legacy alive and keep the man firmly in people’s minds to this day.

They closed the short semi-acoustic set with more drinks, jokes, anecdotes, and a storming rendition of 7 O’Clock. They then stayed for photos, chats, pictures, and more. A perfect afternoon and a perfect gig. Just wonderful.