Status Quo Glasgow Carling Academy, 10 March 2013

Status Quo, the original 1967 line up took to the stage at about 20 minutes to nine in front of an enthusiastic audience in a packed out auditorium. Over the next hour and a half they 'ran' through many of their back catalogue. I say 'ran' but in truth it was more of a ramble, with Francis Rossi regularly having to check his set list to see what was up next! Forgetfulness comes to us all it seems, even the mighty Quo!

Rick Parfitt (64) on rhythm guitar looked unfamiliar to me as his hair is now cut short, next to him, in the middle of the stage, was Francis Rossi (63) on lead guitar, likewise sporting an older man's haircut. Moving across the stage, we then had Alan Lancaster (64) bassist & founder member along with Mr Rossi, and keeping with the 'hair theme', was the only one with a retro hair do, a full blown perm job by the looks of it! Then finally, in the traditional drummer's position was John Coghlan (67), he of a Glasgow-born father and a London born half-French mother. What of his hair, I hear you ask! Well it was in keeping with most of the band i.e. cut short!

As for the actual gig, the sounds was good and the bass and drums were extremely 'punchy', bone crushingly so which made you feel the music as well as hear it. Rossi and Parfitt were slick and professional although the trade mark head banging standing side-by-side stance was only pulled out on a few occasions. A musical highlight for me was "In my chair" a 1970 song which I have in my singles collection (B side: Gerdundula) and this had me rocking along with several others in the crowd. We were also treated to Chuck Berry's "Johnny B Goode" at one point, however, having heard it the night before at the Wilko Johnson gig, I felt the Quo version was a be flat and formulaic.

As the concert passed by I began to feel that the band just weren't getting to me and I noticed that about 30% of the folk I could see were standing still just watching the band, rather than getting into the music. It reminded me of being at a classical concert where the audience respectfully listen and clap their approval at the end of the song. Had these people all been as old as the band then one might think that their dancing / shimmying days were over, however, most of them were at least half the age of Quo! I also wondered why a band with over 60 UK chart hits, more than any other rock group, of which 22 reached the UK Top Ten, were playing two nights in a 2,500 capacity hall, but maybe they like the smaller venues these days, who can say.

All-in-all the sounds was good (base/drum excellent), the band were tight and the songs flowed by in a flurry of half forgotten memories, however, I left felling 'flat'. The band worked hard but, for me, they just didn't get above being just a bit more than ordinary. Oh well, at least I can say that I finally saw the original Status Quo, but before I finish, I want mention the wee guy in his new Quo tour t shirt, possibly 12/13 years old, who stood in front of his (rather bored looking) dad who played along on his air guitar to every single song, and by the look of his fingers he was on lead guitar! At least someone had a brilliant night and good for him!