Bass revolver
Regular readers of this site will know that we have been following the fortunes of hard rockers McQueen since the early days of their journey. Since that time they have made steady progress through the ranks and had numerous highlights but landing a support slot on 3 dates of Velvet Revolver’s UK tour (at the personal request of Slash no less) before jetting off to Australia to support HIM confirms that everything is going to plan.
Manchester Apollo is one of the biggest venues in the city and despite having graced the stage at Academy 2 several times it’s a significant step up for McQueen. Despite their early stage time there’s already a tightly packed crowd in front of the stage and with just 20 minutes to make an impression McQueen need to be on the top of their game tonight. They are aided in this task by the return of bassist Sophie, who slots effortlessly back into the line up after a year away. Kicking off with ‘Not For Sale’ and ‘Running Out of Things To Say’ what’s immediately evident is that the sound is fantastic. I later learn that Velvet Revolver’s sound guys have been doing McQueen’s sound as well and what a difference it makes; Hayley’s drums and Cat’s guitar both sound immense and it’s clear that they are both enjoying the fact.
Sophie never did move much but you can’t fault her performance and the stability of having an old friend back seems to inject new confidence into the rest of the band. Not that vocalist Leah was ever short on that front and she makes full use of the large stage, her interaction with the crowd clearly winning the band new friends as they get an extremely healthy reaction. There isn’t time to showcase any new material tonight, which is a shame but a minor point as the old favourites ensure a solid performance. ‘Break The Silence’, ‘Blinded’, ‘Neurotic’ and set closer ‘Bitch’ are all given new life by the excellent sound quality and whilst it’s a short set it really is job done. Sure the ending was a bit too drawn out but listening to the comments of the crowd later on it seems the majority have been impressed. The McQueen bandwagon rolls on at pace and they can but hope that some of the crowd here tonight turn out to see them on their next headline tour.