McQueen – Barfly 2007

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After spending near enough the whole of the last 12 months touring in support of debut album Break The Silence McQueen capped off a very successful year with their “Halloween Homecoming Tour” centred around a Halloween night gig in London, their actual homecoming in Brighton the night after and ending with a spot on the bill at the Hard Rock Hell Festival in Minehead.

With all the success they’ve had this year it remains a shame that the London dates of their tours end up being in some of the capital’s worst venues. Last time it was the hole in the wall christened Water Rats Theatre, and this time the dump that is the Barfly in Camden. It didn’t help that no door time was advertised outside the venue and that the bar staff clearly had absolutely no idea of their audience that night, playing a string of brain-eroding quirky dance “songs”.

Support came from Lunar Mile, rapidly gaining notoriety largely for being fronted by Black Sabbath guitar legend Tony Iommi’s daughter, erm, Toni (they can also name Judas Priest bassist Ian Hill’s son Alex, also bass, amongst their ranks), and Hungarian screamers Freshfabrik. Lunar Mile’s brand of hard rock had a little too much radio-appeal for my liking, and Iommi seemed to think she’s fronting a pop band with the way she moves and dances on stage, but a very handy guitar player in Tom Williams gives them enough classic rock appeal to hold their own, for now. Freshfabrik on the other hand possess enough aggression and passion for three bands, but lack the songs to match. A few decent riffs crashed in on a few tracks, but Kju’s incessant screaming pretty much ruined any good work the music had done. Yet listen to their studio material and the vocals are brilliant, every riff is great and some wonderful solos even pop up (Icon). In fact I’ve not yet found a studio song with a single scream in it. So what’s happened?

Since the summer McQueen have changed bassists for the fourth time in a year, with Kat Bax replacing Gina Collins. Bassist changes tend to go unannounced on the band’s website (there have been five now since the band formed), so very often fans are surprised to see someone else playing the shows when they turn up. Nevertheless, they seem to have a talent for finding bassists who fit the band well and Bax didn’t put a foot wrong all night; visibly enjoying herself throughout. The rest of the band remains, of course, unchanged, and so does their song list, reordered though it was.

Personally I’d now like to hear something new, but that’s only because I’ve seen them eight times in twelve months, for one reason or another. They are still promoting their debut album (a special edition of which has just been released) and have been touring non-stop since last November, so we’ll let them off. Of the songs from their debut (plus the handful of older non-album tracks they have at their disposal) I would still rather hear Numb and You Leave Me Dead than (Don’t Know How To) Break It To You, given the choice, but squeezing in everything would be equally pleasing, and this is still only a small point because of seeing them so regularly.

As ever, the distinctive opening bass riff of Break The Silence produced the obligatory roar, followed by the usual involuntary head-banging, and proved the always-popular live favourite it has done all year, mile-a-minute rockers Blinded and Neurotic went down just as well and perfect crowd-participation set-closer Like I Care, with usual main-set end point Bitch moved to earlier in the set, did it’s usual job of producing one last push from the crowd; a crowd full of McQueen regulars.

Hopefully they will now take some well-earned time off, write some killer new material, and be back next year with an all-new live set (and hopefully the same bassist two tours running) as 2006/2007 has seen them play to enough new people around the World to guarantee returning fans next time, wherever they go. McQueen’s quality and work-rate deserve better than shoddy venues like the Barfly, and hopefully 2008 will bring the rewards of their recent grueling schedule.

“ mile-a-minute ”

Lunar Mile Setlist: Rock Bottom / I Know / Heart In My Hands / Forgive And Forget / Belong / When Doves Cry / Bringin’ Me Down

McQueen Setlist: Dirt / Running Out of Things To Say / Not For Sale / Bitch / Break The Silence / Blinded / Don’t Know How To Break It To You / The Line Went Dead / Neurotic / Like I Care

Photo(s): Andy Wright | www.litost.org

Written by Andy Lye
More: Gigs, Hard Rock, McQueen