Tyla - Thursday 3rd April - Cavern, Raynes Park

Brief review:  Tyla from the Dogs D'Amour with a relatively rare band show. Less chat than normal and a set which concentrated on the first 2 albums. Very enjoyable with a predictable guest spot from the Quireboys' Spike for "How Come It Never Rains".

Venue and View:  Standing towards the back

Setlist

* I'm fairly certain that Errol Flynn was missed out.

Quireboys - Sunday 26th May - Triangle, Deptford

Brief review:  Launch Party for the new Wardour Street album from 'Quireboys' (as this incarnation with Spike seem to have settled on). A slightly chaotic brief show (it was a freebie for pre-orders of the Boxed Set), the whole thing was held together by the brilliant Luke Morley (of "Terraplane" as he was constantly teased) in a sort of musical director role.

On this showing, the album should be good.

Venue and View:  Very small venue - standing, effectively 2nd row to the left.

Spike / The Quireboys - Friday 8th September - Underworld, Camden Town

Brief review:  Spike and his version of the Quireboys rock The Underworld. Not packed, but then again this was a pretty expensive ticket and it wasn't clear if this was a solo or band show. In the event, it was both - a show of 2 excellent halves.

The first half also featured Mark Stanway on keyboards, whereas original Quireboys Chris Johnstone & Nigel Mogg joined in the fun in set 2.

Venue and View:  Front right, standing.

Setlist
Set 1 - Solo and Frankie Miller Songs
Be Good to Yourself
Cocaine
Brooklyn Bridge
Raining Whiskey
Fortune 
Intensive Care 
Have a Drink With Me
Rise Above

Set 2 - Quireboys
Can't Park Here 
Misled 
There She Goes Again 
Sweet Mary Ann 
Hey You 
7 O'Clock 
+
I Don't Love You Anymore 
+
Jeeze Louise 

Spike - Thursday 23rd December - Cavern, Raynes Park

Brief review:  Third Spike show of the year for me - officially billed as "Spike and Chris's Xmas Miracle" with Chris Heilmann again providing additional guitar sound and generally keeping order. Similar set to normal, but a fair bit of rambling meant that it was shorter musically than previous ones. Spike shared some sad news about the death of his friend Robin Le Mesurier (Rod Stewart band member, Womble and more recently occasionally playing with Cregan & Co) and clearly felt emotional about his loss. As ever, some interesting tales were shared - how many are true is anyone's guess!

We shared our table with Dawn Osborne working for Total Rock - you can read her full review of the show here.

Venue and View:  Front right seats, directly by the stage. Not noticeably busier than the socially distanced shows earlier in the year.

Setlist

White Christmas (snippet)
Run For Home
Just My Imagination (Running Away With Me)
You Can't Always Get What You Want
Darlin' 
Pearl's a Singer
The Cadbury's Flake Advert Jingle (snippet)
Fortune 
Raining Whiskey 
+
The Wombling Song (snippet)
House of The Rising Sun
The First Cut Is the Deepest 
How Come It Never Rains 
I Don't Love You Anymore 
There She Goes Again 
So Far So Good
The Power of Love
"New Christmas Song"

Spike - Thursday 15th July - Cavern, Raynes Park

Brief review:  Spike enjoyed his May dates here so much that he's back for more. Pretty similar set, but good fun as always. Shared a table area with Dave "Bucket" Colwell, his Bad Company manager and their wives/girlfriends. I was asked to take a photo of them, so I am now claiming I am the official Bad Company photographer :) - move over Ross Halfin! Dave got picked on from the stage for a couple of the stories, but unfortunately didn't guest on any music.

One Geordie guy had been enjoying the hospitality a little too much and was getting very annoyed with the sound of a game of pool in the back room. He was gently removed during the interval.

Venue and View:  Side view, seated with rock royalty. Socially distanced venue limited to 50 people.

Setlist
Similar, but not identical to previous show. Also included "The House of The Rising Sun"

Spike - Sunday 30th May (Afternoon Show) - Cavern, Raynes Park

Brief review:  Back to the Cavern which is one of the few venues showcasing live music current. Spike from the Quireboys performing an acoustic set of favourites, across many genres. I must admit that I didn't even know Spike played guitar. A fair few amusing stories were thrown in for good measure, and I understand that this afternoon show was a fair bit longer that the evening one that followed.

Venue and View:  Decent view near the front, seated. Socially distanced show limited to 50 people and made to feel welcome as always by Noel and the team.

Setlist

The Cadbury's Flake Advert Jingle [Soundcheck]
+
Run For Home
Just My Imagination (Running Away With Me)
You Can't Always Get What You Want
Darlin' 
Pearl's a Singer
Fortune 
Raining Whiskey 
Seven Spanish Angels 
Little Ole Wine Drinker Me 
The First Cut Is the Deepest 
+
Ode to You (Baby Just Walk) 
How Come It Never Rains 
I Don't Love You Anymore 
There She Goes Again 
Roses & Rings 
Let Me Down Easy 
First Song 
Streets of London 
Wild Horses 

Spike's Free House - Sunday 7th June - Borderline

Luke Morley & Spike Gray

Spike from the Quireboys is a big fan of Frankie Miller and 70's legends Free. This show was designed to showcase the material of both the Scottish Rocker and Free. Andy Fraser - Free's bass player was due to be in the band, but his untimely passing a few months ago turned this into a fitting tribute to his music as well.

Spike had assembled a first class band - featuring members from many of my favourites - Luke Morley (Thunder), Mark Stanway (Magnum), Simon Kirke (Free) and Nick Malling (Quireboys). Spike was full of his normal summer spirit and entertained the crowd between songs with a few comments. The music was King here though and an entertaining set was of the highest quality. It would have been great to have been a little longer, but I guess if the aim was to send the crowd home wanting more then it was mission accomplished.

There did seem to be a few people under the influence (indeed there was an unpleasant smell of vomit in the venue) and a few female audience members barely able to stand. Shame they won't remember much of this. Finally, 1 point scored for a Ling-alert!

Setlist
Be Good To Yourself
Wishing Well
Cocaine
My Brother Jake
A Bottle Of Whisky
Intensive Care
Fortune
Mr Big
The Other Side Of Town
Living In A Cheap Hotel
The Hunter
Cold Cold Nights
The Brooklyn Bridge
All Right Now
+
Darlin'

Spike & Friends - Kingston Peel - Sunday 2nd December

Spike is Spike Gray, vocalist from the Quireboys. The "Friends" are basically the Quireboys and a different drummer !! For those that don't know the "Peel", it is a slightly rough 'n' ready pub on the outskirts of Kingston-upon-Thames. However, it was perfect for a raucous and occassionally drunken evening of good time rock 'n' roll. 

The evening had started well with Manchester United beating Middlesbro 2-1 at the Riverside (dive, what dive?) and we caught the X26 (ex-726 for those old enough) to Kingston. A quick phone call to the venue suggested that Spike wouldn't be on stage until 9.30, so we had a bit of time to kill, which was spent in the Fighting Cocks, Kingston Tup and the Honest Cabbage before finding the bar in the Peel. Keith Weir, the keyboard player could be seen on the pool table, enjoying a couple of pre-show beers and this was the theme of the evening (it was the last night of their tour) - Spike as usual encouraging the audience to buy him a "pint of JD and Coke" constantly during the show! 

As could have been predicted, the 9.30 turned into a 9.45 start! Anyway, the music - mainly based around Spikes "new" (well, recently released anyway) solo effort, was good enough for first part of the show, with a few ballads and a Frankie Miller cover. The end of the show (and several encores) was basically the best of the Quireboys and excellent. Shame the crowd was so small (about 80ish?), but a good fun evening - band on until past 11.20, and good connections for us on the buses home.