Tonight was a tad unusual in that Moshulu had been double booked by mistake, so two different headline acts were in attendance. I was there because of one act in particular though and that was the to see the ladies of McQueen play their first headline gig in Aberdeen after gracing the town previously as a support act with a number of high profile bands.  

First up as support though was the Hungarian band Freshfabrik, a band I was quite interested in hearing after their well received recent album “Finest”. Although not a huge crowd in as they kicked off, as fans were caught out by the revised stage times caused by the double booking.  I spoke to some people later who really wanted to see this band, but missed them. The organization for this night in general really wasn’t up to scratch, which was a shame as normally things run very smoothly. However, despite the circumstances, the Hungarian lads fired into their set with aplomb and the crowd steadily built up to their powerful set which captured a good many numbers from “Finest”. Throughout they communicated well and got a decent crowd reaction from their up-tempo, catchy numbers, though they do have quite a distinctive sound and are a bit hard to pin down style wise. Definitely worth checking out though, as they were professional and tight, and their recent album is well worth a listen. 

Then of course came McQueen, at what was ridiculously early time for a headline act. Once again a fair number of people were caught out by the early show time and missed the band completely. For those lucky couple of hundred who made it though it was a show well worth seeing, as the girls were in top form indeed. Having caught this band a few times before as support there is an added maturity and intensity about them now as opposed to earlier in the year. A summer of playing very large high profile festival shows has obviously sharpened them up considerably.  

Their familiar start up intro blared into life only to be extended somewhat into an overlong wait before the band hit the stage and blasted in “Dirt”. Frontwoman Leah Duors in full prowl mode, stalking the stage like a panther out hunting, and there was plenty of game ready to be caught - namely a lot of young men at the front barrier. McQueen certainly do seem to have a suitably varied fan base from the huge age range in attendance, young teenage girls to battle scarred old bikers and everything in between. The t-shirt’s on show as well covered everything from My Chemical Romance to Cradle Of Filth and really showed what a wide impact the girls have made since they exploded onto the scene a few years ago. From “Dirt” they hammered straight into “Running Out Of Things To Say” with gusto and then onto a brutal version of “Not For Sale”. Stopping for a bit of a chat, Duors has definitely upped her ante in playing with the crowd,having a good banter and even dedicating Bitch to local celebrity rock chick Bisto, because as Leah delicately put it, “Bisto was McQueen’s Bitch!” 

The band were definitely on a mission and followed on with a grindingly heavy version of “Break The Silence” which got a great head banging response, and further up tempo numbers “Break It To You” and “Blinded”. The band certainly seemed to be enjoying themselves and  new girl, bassist Kat B, fitting in nicely. Gina may well be missed, but they have hired well, and from the confident way Kat dealt with the massed throng at the merch stand afterwards she is no shrinking violet. The set finished with the full metal carnage of “Line Went Dead” and “Neurotic”, to a wild cheer from a very entertained crowd. McQueen have now turned into the band they always promised and are a powerful tight punk tinged metal band that have great stage presence and confidence. It will be very interesting to see how things go after a second album but from the way crowds react to them on stage to the huge volume of fans they get at the merch areas afterwards things look like they are going to go very well for this band. 

Criticism would be that the set was a bit short and they could do with maybe introducing a couple of new songs, though the re-arrangement of the set did help from the previous tours. The intro was also way to long and has lost the impact of the shorter intro tape they used to use. Duors' stage presence though just gets better and better, she has definitely mastered the sexy strut and carnivorous prowl, but all the band, from Cat’s powerful guitar work to Hayley’s brutal drumming along with new girl Kat’s assured bass work, lead me to believe that McQueen will be one of those acts that break through the glass ceiling into much bigger and better things in 2008.