Some things in life will inevitably never change. Stuff like death, taxes, and of course The Quireboys. OK that’s maybe a little tongue-in-cheek but for over 30 years now, The Quireboys have been up there, out there, doing what they do best. Bouncy fun-time rock and roll, with a hint of country and a lot of bonhomie. The lineup may have changes slightly over the years but the core of Spike (vocals), Keth (keyboards), Guy (guitars) and Paul (guitar) seem to have settled into a groove that is almost a canyon. Well-worn, familiar and somehow comforting, The Quireboys are the pipe and slippers of rock music these days.

They are currently on the road celebrating the 30th anniversary of their first album “A Bit Of What You Fancy”, which they re-recorded and re-released last year, so the bulk of the hour-long set was taken from it. I find myself surprised again that despite the 30 years that have elapsed and the amount of newer recordings that have been released most of these songs are still stalwarts in a standard Quireboys set. Songs like ‘Hey You’. ‘Whipping Boy’, ‘Sweet Mary Ann’, ‘7 O’clock’, ‘There She Goes Again’, ‘I don’t Love You Anymore’ are all timeless classics, and watching Spike stumbling about on stage, trying not to insult the crowd too badly gives me a warm fuzzy feeling inside. The Quireboys are pure entertainment, they never change and nor should they. Good-humoured, they bring a smile to your face as you sing along. To quote another of their songs. ‘This Is Rock & Roll’, and it is, it really is. If only the atmosphere at a Quireboys show could be distilled and bottled, what a tonic that would be.

The Dead Daisies on the other hand, are slick, smooth and very professional. Their sound is clearer, their lights are spectacular, they are note perfect. I have to admit to a bit of bias here, when The Dead Daisies first started a few years back now I loved them. I knew that the band was essentially a vanity project for Australian millionaire David Lowy, but he had surrounded himself with some seriously good musicians and the band appeared to be going places. That started to fall apart a bit, at least in the UK, after the helicopter Incident at the Steelhouse, festival and with the loss of previous members John Corabi and Marco Mendoza, replacing both of them with Glenn Hughes, things changed. Don’t get me wrong, Glenn Hughes is a talented bass player and still has a voice to be proud of even at the ripe old age of 70 – he can still hit the notes and has an enviable range and a powerful scream. The issue from my point of view is that every band he is involved in eventually morph into the Glenn Hughes Show (a Deep Purple tribute act) and that seems to be what is happening to the Daisies too (note a purple tint on all promo material). Doug Aldrich (Whitesnake) still shreds and throws shapes like a good-un, the current drummer Tommy Clufetos (Ozzy, Black Sabbath) keeps the beat nicely, Lowy does his thing and does it well, the band is cohesive, coherent yet ultimately dull. It’s rehearsed, it’s polished, it’s a great performance. The set mainly focus on their latest album “Holy Ground” with only a handul of older songs (‘Mexico’, ‘Lock n’ Load’, ‘Leave Me Alone’} and covers (Fortunate Son’ and ‘Midnight Moses’) which are performed flawlessly. There are, inevitably, now a couple of Deep Purple songs thrown in there for good measure (‘Mistreated’, and encore ‘Burn’) which Hughes executes with pinpoint precision. But for me at least, there’s no soul, no heart. It’s a fantastic show, but unlike The Quireboys set earlier I feel detached from it. I am an uninterested observer, it’s a great show but I am not part of the atmosphere. I’m a little sad, because The Dead Daisies are a great band but they are no longer for me.