Gig review: The Quireboys + Blackballed at O2 Academy, Islington

Live review: The Quireboys + Blackballed at O2 Academy, Islington, London, Saturday September 2, 2023

By STEVE MASCORD

WHEN it comes to either of the competing versions of English honky tonk rockers The Quireboys, you just want to know if they are any good and what sort of business they are doing.

I get it.

To make it clear, this is the version without the iconic singer Spike Gray, with guitarist Guy Griffin performing vocal duties. Paul Guerin is on guitar, Keith Weir on keyboards and Pip Mailing on drums.

The current bass player is listed as none other than Chip Z’Nuff – but he’s not here tonight and Marshall Gill of support band Blackballed is performing those duties.

(Blackballed are a punchy three-piece producing muscular hard rock. I’d not hestitate to see them again if they came my way).

Let’s start with the business question. I had been offered as many as six tickets for the booking fee alone for months by the HRH/Off Yer Rocker organisation – and not because I’m a journalist. Because I’m on their mailing list as previous festival-goer.

On the eve of the show I read on The Quireboys socials that this gig was sold out so I bought two tickets at full freight. Then, when I couldn’t find the tickets I’d bought on my phone, I discovered I’d ‘won’ multiple freebies anyway!

That said, there was the extenuating circumstances of a train strike. Non-Londoners, the Academy is a smallish venue upstairs in a suburban shopping centre with a capacity of around 800.

It was around a third to a half full. I’ll draw some conclusions from that after telling you what the show was like.

It was good. Rank-and-file fans identify with ridiculous absoluteness with a singer; Spike and his perma-smile are what you are looking at normally for the majority of a Quireboys show.

Griffin joined the band first in 1989 and he’s a good deal more shy than his reconteur of a former frontman. But after touring the States with this line-up, he’s come out of his shell and this more than just the tightest most entertaining rehearsal you’ve ever seen.

But compared to what the Quireboys normally are, it is still MORE LIKE the tighest, most entertaining rehearsal you’ve ever seen.

There’s no mention of the bandana-ed one, or course, but Guy does have a running tally in his head of who played on what songs in the studio and when the number adds gravitas to this line-up, he’ll tell us about it.

It’s supposed to be a celebration of the Beautiful Curse album’s 10th anniversary but in fact the setlist is drawn very widely, although with more songs from the latter period in which these players were key.

A highlight is “This Is Rock’n’Roll” and we wind up, happily if not exactly triumphantly, with “I Don’t Love You Anymore” and “7 O’Clock”.

Good songs, performed by excellent musicians, then. A fine night out. But not exactly a party. This coming Friday night Spike is playing a show at Camden Underworld, capacity 500, and it’s not sold out either.

None of these men would be rolling in the proceeds of the schism – they are all more likely to be still footing the bill. Fans simply don’t want to see their favourite bands splinter like this.

Some will pick sides, some will support both but it’sthose who walk away completely that both versions of the Quireboys should pause to consider.