Music > Live Reviews

Status Quo

The Nick Rayns LCR, UEA

17/11/17

Status Quo played this venue once before, back in 2004. It was absolutely rammed, they played a really long set and completely blew me away. I came away feeling like I’d seen living legends in action, up close and personal. A lot has changed in the intervening years, not least the passing of Rick Parfitt at the end of last year which seemed to throw the future of the band into doubt. After their ‘Last Of The Electrics’ tour the band stated that from here on out all shows would be ‘Aquostic’, but very quickly went back on this when ticket sales slipped and fans made their feelings known. This Norwich gig was rescheduled from earlier in the year when illness forced the cancellation of the original date, but it was going to remain an acoustic set, although next week they begin another run of full electric sets.

First thing that has to be noted is the venue was not much more than half full, a bit of a climb down for a band who normally play arenas. Charging £50 a ticket certainly hadn’t helped. We had a support band, and that band was Walkway from Diss. I mentioned their hometown because it would have been easy to have mistaken them for a generic Californian rock band. Also playing acoustically, in my opinion they were terrible. Singing in a faux American accent can never be justified. Playing ball-less, anaemic, soulless, sub-par earnest rock can also never be justified. The crowd seemed to really enjoy them however.

Quo came on revealing a ten piece line up – the core band embellished by keyboards, backing singers, violin and an accordion player. Starting the show with And It’s Better Now & Break The Rules was a great beginning. Francis Rossi looked well and was full of energy, his voice sounding perfect. The sound was warm, and it was easy to understand how, initially at least, the whole Aquostic project had been such a success. Status Quo are one of those bands who critics love to hate, but it should never be forgotten that between 1972 and 1977 their studio output and one live album were faultless. Their legacy is built on that golden run. Even after those years, when the standard of their studio albums began to slip, they could still be relied upon to release a couple of great singles every year. It was some of those ‘lesser’ songs which provided some of this performances highlights – What You’re Proposing, Marguerita Time and Rock & Roll all benefitting from the stripped down arrangements. Brilliant songs such as Paper Plane and That’s A Fact sounded fantastic and Pictures Of Matchstick Men and Down The Dustpipe were my highlights of the whole show.

Another highlight was seeing long-term member Andy Bown’s musical prowess and versatility – guitar, harmonica, vocals and brilliant piano playing, Andy had it all.
There were definitely elements of the show that disappointed me; unless he did so while I popped to the loo, Francis made no reference to Rick Parfitt. If he did, I apologise, if he didn’t that seems unforgiveable and suggests that the rumours are true – in reality they didn’t like each other, the mates routine was just that – a routine. The merch stand was only selling gear from the forthcoming ‘Plugged In’ tour – that felt slightly insulting – screw this Aquostic shit, we’ve given up on that so we’re only interested in promoting a tour that you’re not going to get to see in Norwich. My final gripe is the length of the set – we had one encore and all done by 10.30 – a ninety minute show and not a second more. I think for £50 the audience could have had longer, another twenty minutes would have made all the difference.

I genuinely love Quo, and after last night I still do, their legacy just about remains intact. I didn’t hear anyone grumbling as we all politely filed out of the venue afterwards, and the acoustic set had reminded me of what great songwriters they are. Still, there was a whiff of the bare minimum about the night, when in reality if you can’t fill a venue the size of the LCR I would say Francis and band should be going all out to keep the fans they still have.