Kickin' Off
McQueen have a bit of a challenge on their hands tonight, playing support to the Dirty Sanchez film tour means they are faced with a mixed crowd of students, the majority of which haven't come to see a band play. Before they come on the crowd is fairly sparse in front of the stage but thankfully plenty gravitate down to the front and it fills up nicely.
The band kick off proceedings with 'Not for Sale' and without pausing go straight into the excellent second single 'Running Out of Things to Say', the sound is decent but whilst the guitar sounds great the bass is somewhat muffled and it does detract a little from the overall impression. The crowd reaction is predictably muted early on but gets steadily better, particularly when singer Leah issues a couple of damning retorts to a couple of hecklers, the rest of the crowd laugh and the offenders are suitably humbled. If anything this serves to make the band raise the bar and the effect of what is probably their heaviest number 'Break the Silence' is doubled when it is delivered with real aggression and it's fast becoming the highlight of the set.
For those already familiar with McQueen (and there doesn't seem to be any of them here tonight!) it's frustrating that the album has been put back again, especially when you're teased with thus far unreleased tracks like 'The Line Went Dead' and the storming 'Neurotic'. The crowd near the front warm to them but further back it's proving hard work and to the bands credit they don't let it phase them, that said they don't have the same impact as when they play to a partisan audience and Leah really engages the front rows. The strength of the material shines through however and as they finish with 'Bitch' McQueen once again demonstrate just how good they are. The live performance is well honed thanks to their heavy touring schedule and we keep saying it but when the album finally arrives it will be no surprise if they move swiftly through the ranks.
Difficult night, tough crowd but once again it's job done.