The idea of Queenadreena is great – a screaming psycho front-woman over crunching guitars. Why on earth then have they never really made an impact the size of Mars on the UK rock scene? They have been around for ages, have three albums, and to this day their only highlight has been a genius cover of Dolly Parton’s ‘Joline’. The answers are all in the DVD.

Queenadreena Live comprises of two short gigs and nothing else. To be fair the live material is well shot with very little in the way of annoying ‘artistic’ interludes and intolerable ‘groovy’ effects with how feral and deranged the wine wielding vocalist Katie-Jane Gartside come across as. Again this should, in theory, be just what you would look for in a proper rock DVD. It starts well, violent early Marilyn Manson guitar, a possessive beat and the guttural howlings of Katie-Jane but after the opening tracks you begin to wonder whether you have probably got the message already. It is in the monotone Chrispin Gray’s limited riff vocabulary and Katie-Jane’s wailing that you find yourself wanting to press the skip button in case things change further on. They don’t.

Although Queenadreena are capable of creating the odd memorable tune, the brutal ‘Pretty Like Drugs’ and ‘Ascending Stars’ are the only highlights with the overall effect spoilt by the incoherent, inaudible wailing from Katie-Jones and the complete lack of any memorable melody. The fact that the band also think that these live performances are “amongst their worst” doesn’t really inspire one to run out and spend hard earned pennies on it either.  
(2/5)

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