Review: The Quireboys at the Slade Rooms
With all the doom and gloom hanging over us, what could be better than a fix of good-time rock 'n' roll?
And few bands can deliver like The Quireboys. Led by mic-stand-wielding Spike, the rockers played a string of their best known songs to a packed Slade Rooms.
Spike welcomed fans, announcing 'We are The Quireboys and this is rock 'n' roll', before opening with Tramps and Thieves.
Ever the joker, he kept fans entertained with his Geordie humour and swagger between favourites such as Hey You, Roses & Rings, There She Goes Again and party track 7 O'clock.
Keith Weir provided honky tonk piano, ably assisted by bassist Dave Boyce, drummer Matt Goom and guitarist Paul Guerin.
The Quireboys' sound has echoes of Rod Stewart, and Spike is the man who adopted the Captain Jack Sparrow look long before Johnny Depp.
An encore of I Don't Love You Anymore and a rousing Dirty Town – Bilston being Spike's "second home" – rounded off a feelgood night.
By Debbie Bennet
