IQ - The Garage London, 6/12/19

Words by Nick Wells

The annual IQ Christmas Extravaganza, hosted this year at The Garage in London, has become a traditional part of the festive build-up to for the bands’ fans. The intimacy of the venue, the warm crowd anticipation and the light and humorous touch of frontman Peter Nicholl is setting the scene for an evening of nostalgia and discovery. The band is still playing with 80% of its original 1983 line-up and set about their task with a passion undiminished by the passing of time. Age cannot wither these boys.

Opening with For Christ’s Sake, the band proceeds to tear through numbers from all eras, arriving at Shallow Bay from the latest album Resistance. Guitarist Mike Holmes, given his opportunity to let rip on an epic Steve Hackett-esque scale, did not disappoint.

Stay Down is a beautifully crafted melodic piece and an inexorable lumbering, relentless Terminator of a tune, followed by the twenty-minute The Last Human Gateway. Here is the point at which prog turns off the mainstream musical track and embraces the true essence of the style. No three-minute pop songs to be found here.

Peter, in his engaging, self-deprecating style, concluded that it was not possible to write an uplifting prog song and with The Road of Bones, they proceed to prove the point. Imaginative video backdrops on the three screens behind them combine with red lighting to produce a sombre mood for a dark subject.

A Missile from the new album shows the heavier side of IQ, which then gives way to Further Away with its haunting, magical fairy-tale intro. Last up, as an encore, its Ten Million Demonsand the by now expected sight of Mike Holmes appearing in angel wings.

IQ members have always been tetchy about being labelled as pretenders; Johnny Come Latelies to the prog rock feast. With their 35 year plus back catalogue, which has seen them explore the quiet lanes and backwaters of the form, they deserve to be taken far more seriously than they ever have been. Their live shows reveal their still extant enthusiasm for getting out there and their ongoing creativity in producing new albums which should ensure they won’t be going anywhere soon.