Live Review: The Quireboys, Town and Country Club, 22nd February, 1990

THE BOYS TO ENTERTAIN YOU

Hell! The things we do to get you Riff Raff readers a piece of live action - fight off aggressive hordes of wild Indians, slay dragons, ward off unmentionable monsters, cope with London transport, etc., but seriously...

Tonight was no exception. Due to a run-off-the-mill bureaucratic blunder, our prime snapper was without a photo pass. It could have been a tragedy as we were out to cover one of the hottest bands around. Anyway thanks to the QUIREBOYS cavalry for coming to the rescue just in the nick of time!

Inside the venue we were witnessing the Quireboys tour machine in action. Back again to London's Town and Country Club with the same stage show and the same ol' songs. More people converted and a debut album firmly under their belts, an extremely confident group took to the stage to the ever familiar strains of the theme to the BBC's "It Ain't Half Hot Mum." Charismatic singer Spike was in fine voice, fettled out in pinstripe, rasping and roaring, swirling his mic stand in every direction. Bassist Nigel Mogg stancing and strutting his stuff, waywardly watched the grinning guitarists Griffin and Bailey, as they rolled out those rampant razor-edged riffs that have become the Quireboys trademark. Behind the bar Chris Johnstone served up the honky-tonk blues from his old joanna, while at the back of the stage drummer Rudy Richmen was providing a solid soulful backbone to the overall sound.

As for the set list, all the old favourites were there; "Please Me," "How Do Ya Feel," "Watching All the Pretty Girls," "Mayfair," plus all the standards from A Bit of What You Fancy. The singles "Hey You" and "7 O'Clock" had the crowd singing and swaying, while the shifty stomp of "Sex Party" had as all running in search of the nearest six-pack. The Quireboys roadshow also reeled out such classics as "Man on the Lose," "Misled," "There She Goes Again," and "Take Me Home." Every song performed had a memory for us all, whether from their Marquee days as the 'Queerboys' or from the Wardour Street scene, which became a former shadow of itself when the Marquee moved to Charing Cross Road in '88.

Past preferences aside, what the band do have now is a big record company behind their every move. Hard gigging around the country in the last few months (or should that be years) has resulted in them gaining a huge following of faithful fans. Now, with a little help from the media, the Quireboys are on a growing roller coaster and I'm sure that they are enjoying every minute of it. With excellent renditions of new cuts "Whipping Boy" and "I Don't Love You Any More," who could deny their sheer power and presence when it comes to stage performance. Acknowledging the roots of their music with the styles of MUDDY WATERS and CHUCK BERRY gives an impression that the band know where they've come from and most certainly where the hell they are going!

Me...I'm off down to Hammersmith in April. See ya there!

Mark Crampton
Photo: Mark Termeer
Riff Raff
April 1990

Revenge...?

Riff Raff was a legendary rock magazine based in London in the late 1980s and 1990s. Edited by the ultimate music biz insider, Mark Crampton, and employing such talents as Mark Blake, Jerry Ewing, Mike Harris, Paul Smith, Chris Collingwood, Alan McCrorie, Simon Robinson, Lyn Guy, Anna Marx, Nick Douglas, Marion Garden, Peter "Grunty" Grant, Joe "The Crow" Mackett, Billy "The Kluck" Kulke, and, lastest and mostest, the incredible Liddell Brothers, Mark (a.k.a. "El Perro") and Colin (a.k.a. "Der Fly"). Unfortunately, Riff Raff was just too R n' R for its own good. A genuine working class rock mag, written, edited, and translated into 16 European languages in a drug-N-Jack-D-fuelled haze, often on the back of motorbikes, with spell checking by our staff of attentive rock bimbos (chosen purely for their blondeness and big knockers), it soon fell behind more trainspotterly, nerdish, and politically correct publications like Q, Kerrang, Mojo, Metal Hammer, and Horse & Hound. This website is an archive and kind of shrine dedicated to the writing of its greatest writers, some of whom, luckily for the Rock Kosmos, still continue to write about music. This is the REVENGE of Riff Raff...Rock on!