NO DRINKS ON STAGE – “that’s Luke Morley’s doing” jokes Quireboys’ frontman Spike as he spots the large warning signs stuck onto the front of the venue’s on-stage monitors. “He’s had me and Nigel practising too”. But what are the band going to sound like when they have rehearsed and not had too many sherries beforehand?

We’d been chatting in the pub beforehand about the times we’d all seen the Quireboys over the years, and the one thing we all said was “We’ve never seen a bad Quireboys gig”, but would a line up featuring two ex-members of Terrapin (thank you Spike for that little gem) on guitar and drums and the one time bassist/singer from (“remember the name”) The Grip match those high standards already set? Might tonight actually end up being an exception to that golden rule, even if ‘Wardour Street’ the album the lads are out on the run of shows to help promote is indeed a little bit of what every Quireboys fan should fancy?

Before all of that palaver though I’m in early doors tonight to catch the RPM approved Continental Lovers, who are playing some carefully selected Quireboys shows to help promote the upcoming release of their all new ‘Self Titled’ thirteen track debut album. Having last played Newport’s nearby McCanns basement venue just over a year ago the four Lovers instantly look just at home on this venue’s more expansive stage, the gigs they’ve played in between obviously reaping them full reward, as opener ‘St Joan’ crashes headlong into (my favourite tune by the band) ‘Tape Deck and we’re three songs in with barely the same number of minutes on the clock. It’s glam punk rock ‘n’ roll played fast and a hell of a lot of fun to (Chelsea) boot. 

As the crowd begins to fill out, I move back towards the mixing desk to take in proceedings, and as new single ‘Connection’ chimes in I can sense the levels of excitement rising through those lucky enough to get in early. In fact, from the number of Continental Lovers’ 7” singles I later see in people’s possession I’d say my glam punk senses were bang on point.

Closing things out with a cover of ‘Dead Flowers’ (think more the Dogs version than the Stones original) is perhaps something of an open goal, especially given tonight’s headliners, but every goal counts in this game and tonight Continental Lovers come away with all three points. “Victoire”.

At this point I have something of a confession to make, I’ve really struggled to get my head around ‘The Simpleton’, the new album from Willie Dowling, it’s not that it is a poor record, it’s just, errr…. not an easy listen (the last time I can remember this happening quite so clearly was with ‘Spilt Milk’ by Jellyfish around three decades or so ago).

It’s something that Willie himself explains to the audience from the get-go (phew, so it isn’t just me) as he takes his place behind his keyboard alongside his bass playing amigo Andy Lewis, with the rest of the music being provided by Willie’s electronic box of tricks and hence the band’s “Invisible” moniker.

The music itself isn’t a million miles away from the songs he’s previously written with Jackdaw4 or as part of Dowling Poole, but the lyrics are easily his most politically driven to date, as one listen to the likes of ‘Long Drop Down’ or ‘The Gravy Train’ soon prove. There’s even a heckler when Willie dares to criticize the calamity just waiting to unfold in the US in 2025 as he introduces Dowling Poole’s ‘Fuck You Goodbye’. Hmmm, perhaps ‘Long Drop Down’ is more prophetic than the songwriter could ever have imagined, and who would have thought that such stinging political messages would be delivered via tracks that actually sound like they were written during the days when the UK charts where full of names like Supertramp, Queen, Sparks and 10CC and not via the usual platform of punk rock? Has Willie perhaps unintentionally invented a new subgenre of politically charged progressive powerpop with ‘The Simpleton’? Only time will tell, I guess, but you can next catch the duo out on the road promoting the record with Cats In Space in the run up to Christmas and on a nine date 2025 headline tour.  

For the longtime Willie fans in tonight there’s a reworking of The Grip’s ‘Vera Daydream’ slotted in at the end of the set tonight, and as the duo leave the stage to their loudest cheer of the night, I’m reminded of the one and only time I saw that band, supporting (yup you guessed it) the Quireboys, then complete with their bar stage set, something that sadly isn’t with the band anymore, but their It Ain’t Half Hot Mum intro tape most certainly still is, and it’s soon booming from the Corn Exchange’s crystal clear sound system and Newport’s population of lovely boys (and girls) fall into line ready for tonight’s main event.

It feels a little odd watching Thunder’s Luke Morley strapping on his guitar and launching into the riff for opener ‘Jeeze Louise’, but only for about 30 seconds, because as soon as Spike opens his mouth to sing the opening lines and bassist Nigel Mogg quickly bounds across the stage to conduct the evening’s first Scorpions like pile-on with the six stringer, you can be in no doubt, this is very much a Quireboys show. Then there’s the smile on his face when they then race headlong into ‘Can’t Park Here’ which speaks volumes for how much he is also enjoying his time sharing stages with these two rock ‘n’ roll dandies.

The between song banter between Spike and the six stringer is fast and, at times, furiously funny, and the rehearsals I mentioned at the top of this review have certainly paid off for the band with new tracks like ‘Raining Whiskey’ (dedicated of course to Frankie Miller) and ‘You and I’ sitting pretty next to the likes of ‘Misled’, Tramps & Thieves’ and ‘Hey You’ and stand in drummer Harry James turns in a faultless shift in Rudy Richman’s absence.

Over on the piano there’s that Willie Dowling once again, now filling in for Chris Johnstone whilst also filling out the overall sound with the band seemingly settled on a reduced five piece format, although I do miss that added KLANG that the Ronnie Wood style second guitar always gave the band.

I also cannot go without mentioning that not only does the band’s merch tonight include two quotes from ex-members of UFO but whilst Mr Mogg was digging out his favourite Gibson Thunderbird for this tour he must have in the process also found all his old Pete Way VHS tapes, because he is absolutely on fire at the moment, throwing shapes left, right and centre, and this only serving to provoke his singing compadre to once again throw his mic stand around like Rod Stewart in his early ‘70s prime. And speaking of which, if I thought ‘I Think I Got It Wrong Again’ sounded like The Faces on record, then live, you could almost close your eyes and think you were back in 1970 watching one of the earliest UK shows by said band, and if that song is The Faces then ‘Happy’ really could be a Rolling Stones song. Magnificent stuff indeed.

These shows are of course overshadowed by the fact that founding Quireboys’ guitarist Guy Bailey passed away before ‘Wardour Street’ could be recorded and as such Spike dedicates an emotional ‘King of New York’ to not only the perma-behatted guitarist but also his father, who apparently thought the track was the best the band had ever recorded. You can almost sense Bailey smiling down on the band as they then draw the set to a close with a riotous ‘There She Goes Again’, ‘Roses & Rings’ and ‘7 O Clock’.

With the 10:30 curfew having long since passed there’s just enough time to raise our glasses in the air for a quick run through of ‘Like It or Not’ before we are all sent home with “something in our eye” thanks to an exceptional rendition of ‘I Don’t Love You Anymore’.

An emotional night for sure, and one that should silence not only any critics but also answer any nagging doubts you might have about what the Quireboys in 2024 are all about.

This is rock n roll, and I love it!

Author: Johnny Hayward