O2 Academy Liverpool – 31/10/21
A rainy Halloween night in Liverpool and I find myself queuing to get into the O2 Academy to see what promises to be an almighty night of music. The Quireboys, followed by The Dead Daisies and I couldn’t wait. The queue moved at snails pace, doors opened at 7pm, I got there just after ‘doors’ and finally got upstairs into the venue just as The Quireboys were coming onstage, a full half hour later.
As Spike and the boys launched into their first song, there was a huge cheer from the crowd. They were brilliant, I’ve seen The Quireboys four or five times over the years and interviewed them a few times too, and let me tell you, they always put a great show on, but this was on another level. It was the absolute best I have ever seen them! They were on fire.
They promised to play the majority of their debut album ‘A Bit of What You Fancy’ – they have just re recorded the album to celebrate their 30th Anniversary and they well and truly delivered. They opened with ‘I love this Dirty Town’ from Homewreckers and Heartbreakers, but then apart from ‘This Is Rock and Roll’ from the album of the same name, every other song was from their debut. They thundered through them, ‘Sweet Mary Ann’, ‘Roses and Rings’, ‘I Don’t Love You Anymore’ and of course, staple track ‘7 o’ clock’. The only one missing was ‘Sex Party’, which is another Quireboys staple, but perhaps they simply ran out of time, we were there to see The Dead Daisies after all!
After a quick turnaround, The Dead Daisies launched themselves at full throttle onto the stage. Kicking off with ‘Unspoken’ from their latest album Holy Ground, they well and truly hit the ground running. What followed was a full on assault of rock and roll. I was in my absolute element. Glenn Hughes’ vocals were not just incredible, but simply out of this world and guitarists Doug Aldrich and David Lowy expertly traded riffs throughout the night. Drummer Tommy Clufetus completed the line up and is possibly one of the hardest hitting drummers that I have seen in a long time.
Picture By: Rock Today
Glenn Hughes is a vocalist who I have wanted to see in the flesh for ever. Christened the voice of rock, this man was doing vocal acrobatics, his multi octave range was outstanding and to hear him somersaulting across the octaves with such ease was incredible. Going from right at the top of his range to the lowest and then back up again in one breath, with enough left in reserve to conjure a rock scream was phenomenal.
They played a great selection of songs, seven in total from their latest album but there was a good chunk of older Daisies stuff too. I really liked ‘Mexico’, not a song I was familiar with – and what a great solo from Doug Aldrich too. Speaking of solos, there was also a mighty fine drum solo from Tommy Clufetos which got the crowd well and truly going!
I was pleased they didn’t ignore Glenn’s Deep Purple history, two Purple songs were included in the set, the first being ‘Mistreated’, and Glenn said that at the beginning of the tour, they hadn’t included the song and were constantly being asked for it. ‘This is a big song’ Glenn declares, and he calls on Doug to play something ‘wonderful and experimental’ as Doug launches into some beautifully psychedelic guitar work, before turning things up to eleven and kicking into the Deep Purple classic. Again, Glenn’s vocals were mind blowing and Doug’s guitar was incredible, he really is a modern day guitar hero. The end of the song was outstanding, it was almost like being in a gospel church and Glenn was the preacher and we the crowd were the congregation, all worshipping the higher power!
The gig continued and came to an end all to soon. I witnessed an incredible night of rock and roll on Halloween night. The band finished their main set with ‘Holy Ground’, the title track to their latest album and then came back and delivered an equally amazing encore. Daisies classic ‘Long Way to Go’ followed by the final song of the night, ‘Burn’ and even after a full set of heavy songs, the band and Glenn showed no signs of slowing down. It was up to eleven right on until they played the last note.
Glenn said numerous times throughout the night ‘We are the Dead Daisies and we are a Rock and Roll band’ and believe me, never a truer word was spoken. I would say The Dead Daisies are up there in my top bands after seeing them on Sunday night. Just an absolutely mind-blowingly good night. Glenn’s vocals blew the roof off and as I said, Doug is a true guitar hero. So much so that when I got home, I got my old Les Paul out of its case and I’ve been playing it ever since! A truly epic night!
