Status Quo - Thursday 15th August - Dreamland, Margate

Brief review:  Rumours are that the end is approaching for Quo as a live act. Not 100% confirmed by the band, but this could be the actual "End of the Road", 40 years after the tour of that name. And if it is true, then the standard of show suggests they are going out on a high - the band sound the best they have done for years. Even if the touring days are done, someone should persuade them to say a proper goodbye - after all this was the closest show to London (90 miles away) on an eclectic festival-like jaunt to random venues across the country.

Venue and View:  Standing. 50 yds back on right

Setlist
Caroline
Rain 
Little Lady 
Softer Ride
Beginning of the End
Hold You Back
What You're Proposing / Down the Dustpipe / Something 'bout You Baby I Like / Wild Side Of Life / Rollin' Home / Railroad / Again and Again / Mystery Song
The Oriental
In My Chair
In the Army Now 
Roll Over Lay Down
Down Down
Whatever You Want
Rockin' All Over the World 
+
Don't Waste My Time
Paper Plane
Burning Bridges (On and Off and on Again)

Status Quo - Wednesday 30th November - Brighton Centre

Brief review: Status Quo in Brighton supported, bizarrely, by Shakin’ Stevens. I sat in the row behind ‘Shaky’, in the stand at Plough Lane (Wimbledon) circa 1981 for a charity football match. A dozen teenage girls were pointing in my direction and screaming excitedly - what was I to think? In the 2nd half, Mr Stevens moved down to the touchline from his seat and appeared as a substitute for ten minutes. It was only then that I realised the attention was not for me - damn! 

He seems to have a reduced effect today, for ladies of a certain age. We are actually feeling quite young tonight. I would have hoped "Mr Stevens" would have thrown a few more hits into his set - it was OK, but nothing more. Of more interest was the bizarre scuffle that broke out at the front when a front row seat holder took objection to a guy from the 4th row wanting to enjoy "Merry Christmas Everyone" near the barrier!

Quo were good as normal and we got some decent solos from Mr Rossi as you'd expect. Additionally, Richard and I both commented that Rhino's vocals are now more than acceptable on the handful he sings on. Practice makes perfect!

Venue and View:  Central seats on the floor, about 5 rows back.

Setlist (Status Quo)
Caroline
Rain
Little Lady
Softer Ride
Beginning of the End
Hold You Back
Rock 'n' Roll 'n' You
Twenty Wild Horses
Medley: What You're Proposing / Down the Dustpipe / Something 'bout You Baby I Like / Wild Side Of Life / Rollin' Home / Railroad / Again and Again / Mystery Song
The Oriental
In My Chair
Cut Me Some Slack
Liberty Lane
In the Army Now
Roll Over Lay Down
Down Down
Whatever You Want
Rockin' All Over the World
+
Burning Bridges (On and Off and on Again)

Setlist (Shakin' Stevens)

How Could It Be Like That

Turning Away

Radio

Down Into Muddy Water

The Fire in Her Blood

Green Door

Beyond The Illusion

Have You Ever Seen the Rain?

Don't You Lie to Me

Marie Marie

This Ole House

Last Man Alive

Fire Down Below

Merry Christmas Everyone

Status Quo - Saturday 12th March - G-Live, Guildford

Brief review:  Probably the first time Quo have played G-Live since it was rebuilt on the site of the Guildford Civic Hall. This was effectively our replacement gig for the cancelled show at the "Hammy Odeon" during the pandemic. We got a couple of new songs from the Backbone album and a standard array of other hits. They really could do with mixing up that last 5 songs of the main set though. That said, it was still good - Francis Rossi seemed to be enjoying himself and the vocals from the other band members are slowly getting better tour after tour.

Venue and View:  Around the 5th row, just right of centre. Decent sound

Setlist

Caroline
Rain
Little Lady
Softer Ride
Beginning of the End
Hold You Back
Backing Off
Get Out of My Head
What You're Proposing / Down the Dustpipe / Wild Side of Life / Railroad / Again and Again
Mystery Song
The Oriental
Cut Me Some Slack
Liberty Lane
In the Army Now
Roll Over Lay Down
Down Down
Whatever You Want
Rockin' All Over the World
+
Paper Plane

Lynyrd Skynyrd / Status Quo - Saturday 29th June - Wembley Arena

One Liner: Decent support slot from Quo including 2 new songs from the upcoming "Backbone" album. Hilarious mistake in "Whatever You Want" - first time I've ever seen that messed up to that degree. And good entertainment from what is left of the headliners, who are allegedly on their farewell tour. We shall see!

Setlist (Status Quo)
Caroline
Something 'bout You Baby I Like
Rain
Medley: What You're Proposing / Down the Dustpipe / Wild Side of Life / Railroad / Again and Again
Mystery Song
The Oriental
Cut Me Some Slack
Liberty Lane
In the Army Now 
Roll Over Lay Down
Down Down
Whatever You Want
Rockin' All Over the World

Setlist (Lynyrd Skynyrd)
Workin' for MCA
Skynyrd Nation
What's Your Name
That Smell
I Know a Little
Gimme Back My Bullets
The Needle and the Spoon
Saturday Night Special
The Ballad of Curtis Loew
Tuesday's Gone
Don't Ask Me No Questions
Simple Man
Gimme Three Steps
Call Me the Breeze 
Sweet Home Alabama
+
Free Bird

Status Quo - Friday 8th December - Eventim Apollo, Hammersmith

One Line Review: Quo's Hammersmith show changed from Acoustic to Electric and all the better for it. View from "side standing" - better than we could have hoped for and "Don't Waste My Time" made a welcome return.

Setlist
Caroline
Something 'bout You Baby I Like
Rain
Little Lady
Softer Ride
Beginning of the End
Hold You Back
What You're Proposing / Down the Dustpipe / Wild Side of Life / Railroad / Again and Again
Paper Plane
The Oriental
Creepin' Up on You
Don't Drive My Car
In the Army Now
Roll Over Lay Down
Down Down
Whatever You Want
Rockin' All Over the World 
+
Don't Waste My Time
Burning Bridges (On and Off and on Again)
Rock and Roll Music / Bye Bye Johnny

Status Quo - Tuesday 14th December - Brighton Centre

More Quo - and more driving to Brighton due to another train strike. My last show of 2016 and support once again comes from REO Speedwagon (as on Sunday). They were OK again - they played their 3 hits - but boy, does the lead singer fancy himself! Everyone was made more than aware that he wrote the big hits! Still, as a support act, I'm glad I've seen them (twice!), but probably wouldn't choose to invest to see them as headliners.

A standing show meant a decent spot in the crowd for Quo, but a reasonable number of annoying people around (either barging to the front or in the case of one nearby - singing the entire setlist into the face of his mate whilst acting out the words in a sort of "I know the song, you don't" type of way. Watch the ****ing show and let your mate enjoy it!).

Show very similar to the O2 and very enjoyable again.

Setlist (REO Speedwagon)
Don't Let Him Go
Take It on the Run
Keep Pushin'
Can't Fight This Feeling
Son of a Poor Man
Time for Me to Fly
Back on the Road Again
Ridin' the Storm Out
Keep On Loving You
Roll With the Changes

Setlist (Status Quo)
Caroline
The Wanderer
Something 'bout You Baby I Like
Rain
Softer Ride
Beginning of the End
Hold You Back
What You're Proposing / Down the Dustpipe / Wild Side of Life / Railroad / Again and Again
Paper Plane
The Oriental
Creepin' Up on You
Gerdundula
In the Army Now
Drum Solo (The Caveman)
Roll Over Lay Down
Down Down
Whatever You Want
Rockin' All Over The World
+
Burning Bridges (On and Off and on Again)
Rock and Roll Music / Bye Bye Johnny

Status Quo - Sunday 11th December - O2 Arena

Latest Quo entry takes Mrs B and I to the O2 Arena in Greenwich for the "Last Night of The Electrics". This was my first viewing of Richie Malone (standing in for Rick Parfitt following his most recent heart attack) and he acquitted himself well. Sadly, not many other changes had been made. Which doesn't mean it wasn't excellent (it normally is), it's just the age old complaint about the static set list - still, too late to change their ways now.

Francis Rossi was on good form - Rhino was better than expected on the vocal parts normally sung by Rick and it was all very enjoyable. The older man next to me had not taken my stance on refusing to pay £6.50 for a pint of Stella and was absolutely hammered. His attempts to video portions of the show on a phone he couldn't work meant accidentally calling many of the people in his contact list. By the end of the show he had 10 "missed" incoming calls and 12 text messages. The one I saw was asking if he was OK as he kept calling them. I was amazed he made it through the show - he certainly won't remember much of it.

Setlist
Caroline
The Wanderer
Something 'bout You Baby I Like
Rain
Softer Ride
Beginning of the End
Hold You Back
What You're Proposing / Down the Dustpipe / Wild Side of Life / Railroad / Again and Again
Paper Plane
The Oriental
Creepin' Up on You
Gerdundula
In the Army Now
Drum Solo (The Caveman)
Roll Over Lay Down
Down Down
Whatever You Want
Rockin' All Over The World
+
Burning Bridges (On and Off and on Again)
Rock and Roll Music / Bye Bye Johnny

Elton John, Madness, Status Quo - Sunday 11th September - Hyde Park, London (Radio 2 Festival In a Day)

I'm sure I've mentioned in these pages before abut being "done" with Hyde Park and that I won't be going to any more shows there. Well, this turned out to be the show that broke that promise with the attraction of Status Quo (before they announced their warm-up last Friday) and the fact you don't really get to see Elton John for £45 these days anywhere!

And to be fair, with no "Golden Circle" and a reasonable capacity (55,000) we were able to turn up during Gregory Porter's set and get a good spot for Quo near the front. Madness were also quite good fun and we could even move forward further for Elton. I couldn't have coped with the full 11 hours, but it was a good afternoon.

After a tiring, but excellent, 3 gigs in 3 days, I think I'm due a rest.

Setlists

Gregory Porter (approximate)
Liquid Spirit
Take Me to the Alley
Don't Lose your Steam
Hey Laura
Musical Genocide
Papa Was A Rolling Stone

Status Quo (Acoustic)
Pictures of Matchstick Men
Paper Plane
Caroline
What You're Proposing
Claudie
That's a Fact
Hold You Back
Rollin' Home
Down Down
Whatever You Want
Rockin' All Over the World
Burning Bridges (On and Off and On Again)

Madness
One Step Beyond 
Embarrassment
The Prince
Life Has Just Begun
NW5
My Girl
Can't Touch Us Now
Wings of a Dove
Herbert
House of Fun
Baggy Trousers
Our House
Madness 
Night Boat to Cairo
Mr. Apples
It Must Be Love

Elton John
The Bitch Is Back
Bennie and the Jets
I Guess That's Why They Call It the Blues
Philadelphia Freedom
Looking Up
A Good Heart
Rocket Man (I Think It's Going to Be a Long, Long Time)
Tiny Dancer
Levon
Your Song
Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
Sad Songs (Say So Much)
Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me
I'm Still Standing
Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting
Crocodile Rock

Status Quo - Friday 9th September - Union Chapel

Acoustic Quo as a warm up for Sunday's Hyde Park show. Rick still not well enough to perform, so the "Aquostic" Quo are a man down. They've decided to stand for this one in the most intimate venue they've played for years. A good choice of up tempo numbers for a festival set seems a good choice and we get the bonus of hearing the "new" songs twice. It works - just.

Setlist
Pictures of Matchstick Men
Paper Plane
Caroline
What You're Proposing
Claudie
That's a Fact
Hold You Back
Rollin' Home
Down Down
Whatever You Want
Rockin' All Over the World
+
Burning Bridges
+
That's A Fact (repeat)
Hold Ya Back (repeat)

Status Quo - Wednesday 13th July - Rochester Castle

A trip to deepest Kent to see Quo in summer festival mode. Sadly Parfitt-less following his recent heart attack (get well soon Rick!), Freddie Edwards (son of Rhino) proved an able substitute and the band were on good form. Francis seemed to enjoy the event so much that he bizarrely threw his trainers out into the crowd afterwards.

Earlier, Steve Harley had warmed up the crowd with a good selection of material - including the inevitable sing-a-long for his last number.

And before that, I had won the "Kent Open" in the only bar we could find with a pool table. Sadly, by the time we found a dartboard it was nearly showtime.

Setlist - Steve Harley (approximate!)
Here Comes the Sun 
Judy Teen
Mr. Soft
All in a Life's Work
The Lighthouse
Journey's End
Ordinary People
A Friend for Life
The Best Years of Our Lives
Riding the Waves (For Virginia Woolf)
Sebastian
+
Come Up & See Me (Make Me Smile)

Setlist - Status Quo
Caroline
The Wanderer
Paper Plane
Hold You Back
Beginning of the End
What You're Proposing / Down the Dustpipe / Wild Side of Life / Railroad (Medley)
Don't Waste My Time
The Oriental
Creepin' Up on You
Gerdundula
In the Army Now 
Drum Solo (The Caveman)
Roll Over Lay Down
Down Down
Whatever You Want
Rockin' All Over the World 
+
Burning Bridges (On and Off and on Again)
Bye Bye Johnny 

Status Quo - Friday 11th December - Brighton Centre

Rossi, Parfitt, Cave, Edwards, Bown: Status Quo, Brighton  2015

December. Brighton. It must be Quo. Indeed it was and a very pleasant afternoon of pubs and darts was followed by another solid show at the Brighton Centre. We've seen support Wilco Johnson enough over the last year or 2, so skipped his support slot in favour of the Chippie and a beer.

Quo were as you'd expect - no, actually better when you consider their age and comments that Rossi is feeling the strain these days. The static setlist remains the one real bugbear for so many of us - there can be no excuse for the 2 Heavy Traffic songs remaining in the set at the expense of others and does anyone pay money to want to see Quo play The Wanderer? Other than that what's not to like?

Setlist
Caroline
The Wanderer 
Something 'bout You Baby I Like 
Rain
Little Lady
Burning Bridges (On and Off and on Again)
Beginning of the End
Medley: What You're Proposing / Down the Dustpipe / Wild Side of Life / Railroad / Again and Again / Big Fat Mama
The Oriental
Creepin' Up on You
Gerdundula
In the Army Now 
Drum Solo (The Caveman)
Roll Over Lay Down
Down Down
Whatever You Want
Rockin' All Over the World 
+
Paper Plane
Junior's Wailing 
Rock and Roll Music / Bye Bye Johnny 

Status Quo - Thursday 30th April - Royal Albert Hall

Back for more Quo? Why? Well one, I know it'll be good and two, there were some amazingly good tickets came online well after the front blocks had sold out.

We'd always wondered what it would be like to be in the 2 seats at the front row of the stalls, next to the stage. Well the answer is that you are effectively on the stage and almost feel part of the band. And for an acoustic show like this there are no sound issues either.

You won't be surprised to know that the setlist was the same as on Sunday, but the band seemed quite relaxed - I think they are getting used to playing the material in this way.

My personal highlights in this format are Rock 'n' Roll, All The Reasons, Reason For Livin' and the brilliant Nanana.

Setlist
And It's Better Now
Break the Rules
Again and Again
Paper Plane
Mystery Song / Little Lady
Rock 'n' Roll
Caroline
What You're Proposing
Softer Ride
Down Down
Pictures of Matchstick Men
Down the Dustpipe
All the Reasons
Reason for Living
Rollin' Home
Don't Drive My Car
Claudie
Rain
Marguerita Time
Nanana
Whatever You Want
Rockin' All Over the World
+
Rock 'til You Drop
Burning Bridges (On and Off and on Again)

Status Quo - Sunday 26th April - Hammersmith Apollo

Whilst enjoying the debut "Aquostic" gig at the Roundhouse last year, I wasn't certain I could justify the high price for seats this time around. That little issue was solved by the availability of rear-stalls standing tickets at a much fairer price, so we opted for those. I remember doing the same for Chuck Berry tickets years ago and (depending on the gig and security attitude), you are sometimes allowed to stand at the side of the venue rather than really at the back. That's what we did here.

The show was good, but in typical Quo style, they made zero changes to the setlist. Yep, all the same songs, in the same order as last year. Now that I could understand if it hadn't been for the fact that the new record is a recording of that show - the same songs in the same order. C'mon guys, throw us a curve ball - swap 2 songs over! Would it have been too much to ask that they learn another song?

Still - there's probably only a fraction of us that moan about such things. The sound was good, the songs were good and I really enjoyed the evening. Just as well, as I'm going again next week!

Setlist
And It's Better Now
Break the Rules
Again and Again
Paper Plane
Mystery Song / Little Lady
Rock 'n' Roll
Caroline
What You're Proposing
Softer Ride
Down Down
Pictures of Matchstick Men
Down the Dustpipe
All the Reasons
Reason for Living
Rollin' Home
Don't Drive My Car
Claudie
Rain
Marguerita Time
Nanana
Whatever You Want
Rockin' All Over the World
+
Rock 'til You Drop
Burning Bridges (On and Off and on Again)

Rhino's Revenge - Friday 6th March - 100 Club, London

Reverting to the Rhino's Revenge moniker (from Woodedz) in support of their new CD, an entertaining evening at the 100 Club started with Quo tribute band "State of Quo" delivering a brief but fun set of Quo classics and obscurities.

Rhino with family and friends then took the stage to showcase their new CD which meant the set had a few less covers and Quo songs than normal. All were delivered well - as mentioned on these pages before, Rhino must know he's no vocalist, but that sort of misses the point of the band. People were here for a good time and in the main that's what they got. There are a few duds in the set - the perennially awful "Secretary" always grates with me personally, but some fun light hearted ditties such as "Stan The Man" provide balance with the rockier numbers. The band do a good version of Jam Side Down which is much heavier than the Quo version for example.

So, all in all a good night. The Quo collector in me was tempted to buy the CD - signed copies of what looked like a CDR were available, but they were £15 - about the same as the price of the show. In a rare moment of reasonableness, I weighed up spending the cash now on a CD which is likely to enter my CD player approximately once against waiting and picking up a bargain bin version at some time in the future. The cash stayed in my pocket.

That sounds harsher than it should, as I enjoy seeing the guys play and will happily spend money to see them again (and on a different night may have a different view on buying the CD - especially a factory produced version), but when it comes down to it will I pick "Piledriver" or "Rhino's Revenge 2" off the shelf when I next listen to some classic rock at home? I'll leave you to ponder.

Status Quo - Saturday 20th December - Brighton Centre

The next blog entry should have been "The Who" last Wednesday, but that is postponed until March next year due to Roger Daltrey's throat condition.

So, instead it a "traditional" trip to Brighton for a bit of Quo. The afternoon was spend on a darts session (luckily of high enough standard to impress a group of lads on the "shared-space" pool table).

The evening was at the sold-out Brighton Centre for the last night of the 2014 tour. The evening started with a mixed set from Chas 'n' Dave. They bravely did some new material as well as many of their old favourites. All good fun, but for me they are at their best in a smaller venue with a lively crowd joining in. The arena setting just didn't feel right.

Quo came on around 8:45 and very good they were too, despite the fairly predictable setlist (I'm not going to bother moaning about the lack of change or "Blue Eyed Lady" being dropped from the start of the tour) and more surprisingly a new guitar for Francis Rossi. Turns out his classic green Telecaster has nearly given up the ghost and can barely be played due to it's condition. I'm not quite sure why he hasn't purchased / been given one that looks the same as he is so identified with it - surely Fender would make one for him!

Still, the new guitar sounded fine and the band were all on good form. Rick sounded better vocally than recently and after his latest health scares is hopefully off the fags and booze and fighting fit. Even the normally dodgy "Burning Bridges" sounded OK here with Rossi playing the lick alongside the keyboards.

Despite what the detractors may say, "current Quo" still pack a punch and give the audience what they want (missed the obvious "Whatever You Want" reference there!).

Setlist (Chas 'n' Dave)
Gertcha
I Wonder in Whose Arms
London Girls
Margate
That Old Piano
(Unknown)
The Shape I'm In
My Blue Heaven
(Unknown)
When Two Worlds Collide
Diddle Um Song (Diddle Umma Day)
Rabbit
+
Ain't No Pleasing You
The Sideboard Song (Got My Beer In The Sideboard Here)

Setlist (Status Quo)

Caroline

Something 'bout You Baby I Like

Rain

Paper Plane

Little Lady

Hold You Back

Beginning of the End

What You're Proposing / Down the Dustpipe / Wild Side of Life / Railroad

Big Fat Mama

The Oriental

Creepin' Up on You

Oh Baby

In the Army Now

Drum Solo

Roll Over Lay Down

Down Down

Whatever You Want

Rockin' All Over the World

+

Burning Bridges (On and Off and on Again)

Rock 'n' Roll Music / Bye Bye Johnny

Status Quo - Wednesday 22nd October - Roundhouse

So this is a bit different - Status Quo acoustic (or "Aquostic" if you go by their new album). A trip to the Roundhouse in Chalk Farm and he were not quite sure what to expect having not yet heard the album. Predictably, the "hardcore" on the Quo message boards had been ripping the concept to shreds without even hearing anything, but a full house turned up to watch a performance being beamed around the country on Radio 2 and the via BBC red button service.

The venue was pretty packed, so we settled for a spot under the moving camera arm - controversially on the right (but with no electric bass, this wasn't really going to be an issue!). And guess what? It was a really enjoyable evening. I think 99% of the people there seemed to enjoy it. Some songs worked really well - I particularly enjoyed "Na Na Na", "Reason for Living" & "Rolling Home" and to be fair some didn't - "Mystery Song/Little Lady" springs to mind!

As a one-off project I think it works. I can't see it being a sustainable change of direction - I can't see fans turning up show after show if Quo shy away from their high tempo electric shows (although an acoustic section in the main electric set could work). I would imagine sales of the album cover T-Shirts (with Francis and Rick semi-naked) would count as the lowest ever!

An 8 out of 10 for me as a unique event.

Setlist

And It's Better Now

Break the Rules
Again and Again
Paper Plane
Mystery Song / Little Lady
Rock 'n' Roll
Caroline
What You're Proposing
Softer Ride
Down Down
Pictures of Matchstick Men
Down The Dustpipe
All The Reasons
Reason For Living
Rollin' Home
Don't Drive My Car
Claudie
Rain
Marguerita Time
Na Na Na
Whatever You Want
Rockin' All Over the World
+
Rock 'til You Drop
Burning Bridges

Status Quo - Wednesday 16th July - Sandown Park Racecourse

Many UK racecourses now do live music events, featuring and evening of Horse racing and a well known band. This one was quite close to home, but the first time I've seen any acts at Sandown Park.

As can be seen from the picture, the stage itself was quite large. What can't be seen is the huge sideways slope where the audience stands. In front of the left hand side of the stage must be several feet lower that the right hand side which makes standing a touch uncomfortable!

Still, after some success on the gee-gees (get in, "Needlessly Shouting"!), we took up a spot about 2/3 of the way back to the mixing desk. We had some Quo "first timers" with us who reported their enjoyment of the show later. For the Quo regulars amongst us, this was a decent performance, without being stunning. It's always a bit more difficult away from your own audience. Quo did their standard "festival set" (the same as at Download a month or two ago). It went down well, but it would have been nice if it was a bit louder! That seems to be the main issue with the race course shows - I think they have strict sound limits in place that aren't quite loud enough for an open air show.

From where we were standing the keyboards were far to high in the mix. This actually highlighted how good Andy Bown's playing is, but there is no disrespect in saying that when you come to see Quo, you want to hear guitars!

Setlist
Caroline
Paper Plane
Hold You Back
Rain
Rock 'n' Roll 'n' You
Beginning of The End
What You're Proposing / Down The Dustpipe / Wild Side of Life / Railroad / Again and Again
Big Fat Mama
The Oriental
Creepin' Up on You
In The Army Now
Roll Over Lay Down
Down Down
Whatever You Want
Rockin' All Over The World
+
Junior's Wailing
Rock and Roll Music / Bye Bye Johnny

Woodedz - Tuesday 8th July - Grey Horse, Kingston

So after a gig-free June, a late announcement means it's 2 live shows on the bounce seeing Quo bassist John "Rhino" Edwards and Woodedz. On the night of the scarcely believable Brazil 1, Germany 7 World Cup Semi-Final, the band completed their 3 night "World Tour" with a headline show in Kingston.

The set turned out to be a bit longer than at Putney and as normal, the standard of musicianship was exceptionally high. Rhino, as I'm sure would be the first to admit, is not amongst the World's top vocalist and this was compounded tonight by what I assume was a severely sore throat. A new career as a 1930's bluesman beckons! Still, to be honest, that didn't really matter a jot as the smallish crowd of friends, family and fans lapped it up. Sounds like it may be the last show from the guys for a while - good luck to Max who is off to Germany to study. A new album is on the way though... allegedly!

Setlist
2 Way Traffic
Shame
Secretary
Dust to Gold
Don't Come Around Here
Republican
Obstruction Day
Belavista Man
Get Out of Denver
Jam Side Down
Bad News
Paper Plane
+
Jungle Love

Woodedz - Tuesday 27th May - Half Moon, Putney

So, I’m spending quite a bit of time in Putney this year. Back to the Half Moon for a support slot from Quo’s bassman John “Rhino” Edwards and his family band – Woodedz. A small crowd witnessed a decent 40 minute set of Quo rarities and solo material. “The Republican” was dropped from the typed setlist – presumably due to time constraints. Not sure why they didn’t just come on earlier, especially as 90% of the crowd were here to see them. Indeed I felt slightly guilty walking out later on the main act “The Wild Things” (who weren’t bad, by any stretch) and leaving them with an audience numbering 7.

Highlights were surprisingly a heavy-ish version of “Jam Side Down” (yes, really!) – “for the hardcore” and a debut of “Dust To Gold”. Let’s hope we get a headline UK show from the Edwards clan soon.

Setlist
Two Way Traffic
Shame
Secretary
Dust To Gold
Bad News
Don’t Come Around Here
Jam Side Down
Belavista Man
Jungle Love

Status Quo - Monday 31st March - Hammersmith Apollo

Quo Night 3.

I'd genuinely had no intention of doing the Monday night at Hammersmith, but nights 1 and 2 were so good, it made it essential - especially if this is genuinely the last chance to see this line-up.

The venue was much less busy - probably only 2/3 capacity on the floor, so this meant we had easy access to a good spot. We swapped our "normal" front-left position for a front-right one to see Alan Lancaster close up. He seemed revived after a day-off and again the band were on form. A slight bit of feedback disturbed the set part way through, but Rossi was having fun with some searing solo's than were different from the previous shows. Still no jig in Roadhouse Blues, which was a rare disappointment.

I treated myself to the signed lithograph on the way out - it will find pride of place somewhere at home.

All in all though, a fantastic 3 shows. Got to be up there as the gigs of the year.

Setlist
Junior's Wailing
Backwater / Just Take Me
Is There a Better Way
In My Chair
Blue Eyed Lady
Little Lady / Most of the Time
Rain
(April) Spring, Summer and Wednesdays
Railroad
Oh Baby
Forty-Five Hundred Times / Gotta Go Home
Big Fat Mama
Down Down
Roadhouse Blues
+
Caroline
Bye Bye Johnny