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To the uninitiated, West Yorkshire ’s Tardisesque venue has the external facade of a last chance saloon. But, on venturing within Keighley’s premier rock ‘n’ roll tavern, The Gassienda unveils a homely Northern atmosphere, steeped in music variety pedigree.
Opening for Newcastle ’s finest musical export are Keighley’s answer to Butch and Sundance, The Cowboy Chords. Expecting a conventional Country and Western band this Alternative Country duo, fronted by The Gassienda’s very own Uncle Johnny, pleasantly surprise and enthral the rock based crowd. Taking the packed house down the lost highway Johnny Gow and Nick Procter rustle up a collection of campfire classics and songs from the New West, featuring ‘Wall Of Sound’, ’Nothing At All’ and ‘Whiskey Whiskey.’ This ten song set, which would not have been out of place on Bon Jovi’s ‘This Left Feels Right’ album, leaves the sold out venue in high spirits, prepared for the transition from Cowboys to Quireboys, who were now ready to jump onto the Chords band wagon.
The select Keighley audience watch as The Quireboys singularly take their places on stage, tantalisingly yet purposefully left eagerly awaiting the appearance of the well oiled gracious Geordie gentleman front man, Spike Gray.
This anticipated rare acoustic arrangement opens with Spike introducing, “This is a song inspired by my beloved Newcastle”, leaving the knowledgeable intimate gathering instinctively primed for the ‘Homewreckers And Heartbreakers’ opening track, ‘I Love This Dirty Town’. This exceptionally classy outfit goes on to delight the mature audience with the classics, ‘Misled’, ‘Pretty Girls’ and ‘Long Time Coming’. With new material next on the set, the alcohol induced mischievous, yet eternally courteous Spike tells the audience, “Keep fucking talking please, I don’t know the fucking words so it doesn’t matter, keep chatting”, then further informs, “We’re amongst friends we can do what we want tonight, we can get naked!” Visually comparable with David Essex in his heyday, yet still retaining his roguish good looks, undoubtedly the women in the audience wouldn’t have complained if one of R’N’R’s most charismatic front men had duly obliged!
Reminiscent of Slade’s classic ballad ‘Everyday’, the songs ‘Late Night Saturday Call’ and ‘Mona Lisa Smiled’ follow, delivered with emotional vocal sincerity from Spike Gray and being beautifully complimented by Guy Griffin and Paul Guerin’s exquisite guitar playing. The band’s performance commands the full attention of the audience who react favourably to this entire spectrum of Quireboys material.
Previously mentioning rock ‘n’ roll Alzheimer’s Spike has an episode and announces, “I’m sorry, it’s the wrong song!” After recalling his first encounters with Guy Griffin, Spike then claims, “I’ve tried to destroy him as much as I can, but I tell you what, we’ve written some lovely songs together and here’s one for ya”, and proudly performs the timeless hit ‘Last Time’. The set culminates with Spike swaggering, strutting and swaying to two unforgettable tunes, ‘Roses And Rings’ and ‘7 o’ Clock’; still proof that a bit of what you fancy does you good.
After the astounding applause, the quartet individually re-enter to indulge the crowd to the finer stuff, seeing Keith Weir caressing the keys to the introduction of the fist clenching ballad, ‘I Don’t Love You Anymore’. Spike enters elegantly and exclaims, “Thank you for keeping acoustic Rock ‘N’ Roll alive”. With the audience sharing the chorus with Spike, this classic song is yet another highlight to the party, conducted to perfection by way of Spike’s rugged rock ‘n’ roll worn vocals and heartfelt performance. The final song, ‘One More For The Road’ is written for and dedicated to former drummer Michael Lee. Following this merry, bluesy tune the audience are in unison with Spike as he respectfully requests, “Raise your glasses for Michael Lee in heaven, God bless ya!”