Live Aid Wembley Stadium 13th July 1985
I went with a couple of mates. We missed out on tickets when they went on sale and the only way we could get there was to buy tickets for a coach trip from Middlesbrough. So we were up at 4am, drove to Middlesbrough and joined a coach which left at 5am for London. We arrived well before noon, had a couple of drinks and entered the stadium, which was of course completely packed so we found a spot in the stands right at the back. A few minutes later Status Quo took to the stage with “Rockin’ All Over The World” and the day started. This was Quo reunited one year after the split, with Alan flying over from Oz to join Francis and Rick. Their short set also featured Caroline” and “Don’t Waste My Time”. A fitting start to the day. I have so many great memories of that day.
Queen’s performance is, of course, often rated as the greatest live performance by any band. Freddie certainly commanded the crowd the day and it propelled them to super stardom. Their well planned set was a medley with short sections of their anthems: “Bohemian Rhapsody”, “Radio Ga Ga”, “Hammer To Fall”, “Crazy Little Thing Called Love”, “We Will Rock You” and “We Are The Champions”. They had apparently been rehearsing their short set for days, to ensure perfection, and it showed, and worked. U2 weren’t far behind them, though, in terms of performance, with Bono showing how great a front man he was. U2 played two songs: “Sunday Bloody Sunday” and a lengthy version of “Bad” during which Bono dragged a girl from the rush down front to dance with him on stage, and which also included snippets from Lou Reed’s “Satellite of love” and “Walk On The Wild Side”, and The Stones’ “Ruby Tuesday” and “Sympathy for the Devil”. Electric.
For me, however. the highlights were The Who and David Bowie, as I was, and remain, a big fan of both acts. Bowie started with “TVC15” (a strange and poor choice I felt, and remember being disappointed on the day), “Rebel Rebel” (great, good choice), “Modern Love” (well, ok) and then “Heroes” (we all sag along and it was pure magic). I still feel that with a better choice of songs Bowie could have eclipsed Queen and U2.
The Who performed “My Generation”, “Pinball Wizard”, “Love Reign O’er Me” (another strange song choice given the magnitude of the event) and a blistering “Won’t Get Fooled Again” with much mike swinging by Daltrey and lots of arm twirling by Townshend.
Other memories: Elton and Kiki sang “Don’t go Breaking my Heart” (great!). Paul McCartney suffered from sound problems and we couldn’t hear him at all for much of “Let It Be” although I gather it was fine on TV. Geldof drew massive cheers every time he set foot on stage, and he deserved every one of them. The scheduling worked amazingly, with very few hitches. Seeing the cameras pick out Charles and Diana over in their enclosure. The amazingly camp Bowie and Jagger video. The awful, sad and moving video of starving children played to the Cars’ “Drive”. Phil Collins playing Wembley and JFK courtesy of Concorde (show off).
But the truly unforgettable moment came at the end, and will stay in my mind for ever. That was the finale, with the entire stadium singing along to “Do They Know It’s Christmas ?” with Bob Geldof leading us, and everyone else on stage. I’ve never seen, felt, or heard anything like it before or since. We walked out of that stadium to the coach park, all of us still singing…..”Feed The World”…..
Then it was a long coach ride back to Middlesbrough. We arrived back around 5 or 6am, then drove home. 24 hours with hardly any sleep, just an hour or so caught on the bus, but a day I will remember forever.
Line-up: Status Quo; The Style Council; The Boomtown Rats; Adam Ant; Ultravox; Spandau Ballet; Elvis Costello; Nik Kershaw; Sade; Sting; Phil Collins; Howard Jones; Bryan Ferry (with David Gilmour on guitar); Paul Young/Alison Moyet; U2; Dire Straits/Sting; Queen; Video “Dancing in the Streets” by David Bowie/Mick Jagger; David Bowie; The Who; Elton John (Kiki Dee and George Michael join Elton); Mercury and May; Paul McCartney; Finale
Posts Tagged ‘concerts’
25 May
Live Aid Wembley Stadium 13th July 1985
24 May
End of the Road Newcastle City Hall 10th June 1984
End of the Road Newcastle City Hall 10th June 1984
End of the Road! What! This was a big shock at the time. The plan, as announced by the band was that they were going to retire from touring, and possibly continue to record now and then. But Quo being Quo, they had to go out in style, finishing off with a tour consisting of 69 shows, including 7 nights at Hammersmith Odeon. The tour called at the City Hall for two nights, and I went along on the second night. We should, of course, have realised then that this wasn’t really going to be the end. A band who had played as constantly and consistently as Status Quo would find it difficult to just stop.
The show I attended was a celebration of a great band and some great times. This was the 16th time I saw Status Quo, and it wasn’t to be the last either 🙂 Behind the scenes there were irreconcilable differences between Alan Lancaster and Francis Rossi. Alan saw Quo as a hard rock boogie machine and was getting increasingly frustrated with Rossi’s insistence on moving the band closer to the middle of the road, as he saw it, with the single Marguerita Time being the final straw. Alan moved to Australia and law suits followed. However a certain Bob Geldof persuaded the guys to get back together one more time and only one year later and I was standing in Wembley Stadium watching them open Live Aid. I will write about that great day tomorrow.
Setlist: Caroline, Paper Plane, Roll over lay down, Backwater, Just take me, Little Lady, Don’t drive my Car, Whatever You Want, Mystery Medley, Hold You Back, Rockin’all over the World, Over the Edge, Dirty Water, 4500 Times, Big Fat Mama, Don’t waste my Time, Roadhouse Blues, What you’re Proposing, Rain, Down Down, Bye Bye Johnny.
23 May
Courtney Love Newcastle Riverside 22nd May 2014
Courtney Love Newcastle Riverside 22nd May 2014
I wasn’t sure what to expect of Courtney Love. I’d read quite a bit about her, but can’t pretend to be familiar with her music at all. I went along mostly out of curiosity and because her wild rocker chick image and attitude reminds of the days of punk. I guess I was expecting something like a cross between Chrissie Hynde, Patti Smith, Joan Jett and Stevie Nicks. I know that all of those ladies were big influences on Courtney and her music. Add the attitude and values of the Slits and the Sex Pistols and a Rickenbacker guitar that looks like it is has come straight out of the hands of Roger McGuinn. Now if any of those guys come through in Courtney’s performance it ain’t gonna be half bad.
This was my first visit to the new Riverside, although I did go along to the original Riverside venue back in the day. Actually she was just great. It was like I was back in the late 70s at a punk gig. Local guy Ginger Wildheart was on guitar, Courtney was smoking Irish nights ecigs: “great ecigs”. She brings a guy up to sit on stage; he has been following the tour and has been right down front every night. Courtney: “When it comes to being a c**t I own the trademark”. Opened with “Wedding Day”. Covers included Fleetwood Mac’s “Gold Dust Woman” and “I’m not an addict” 90s hit by K’s choice (can’t say I remember it)..Courtney: “I love a good drugs song”…”I don’t do f***ed up I’m almost 50…I’m slightly inebriated”. Great stuff. The lady has some attitude. Rolling Stone once called her the “most controversial woman in the history of rock”.
Note the tour flyer doesn’t list the Newcastle date, which was added to the tour as a late addition.
22 May
Monsters of Rock Donington Status Quo 21st August 1982
Monsters of Rock Donington Status Quo 21st August 1982
Line-up: Status Quo, Gillan, Saxon, Hawkwind, Uriah Heep and Anvil
This was the third Monsters of Rock festival, and the second time I went to the event. I drove down with my mate Dave, and we had a great time. It was a strong line-up of hard rock bands with Status Quo topping the bill, and a clutch of great support acts in Gillan, Saxon, Hawkwind, Uriah Heep and Anvil. Tommy Vance was DJ and compere for the day. Highlights for me were Hawkwind, Uriah Heep and Quo. Saxon were quite successful at the time and represented the NWOBHM, and Gillan seemed to gig constantly during that period, and was always good fun, playing a few Purple classics alongside his own material.
Uriah Heep were fronted by new(ish) singer Pete Goalby, alongside long time Heepsters Mick Box, and Lee Kerslake. Their set included classic tracks like Stealin’, The Wizard, July Morning, Gypsy and Easy Livin’. It seemed strange to me to see them so low down on the bill. Both Heep and Hawkwind would have had headline status a few years earlier. Hawkwind’s set feautured Brainstorm, Angels of Death, Urban Guerilla, Psychedelic Warlords, and of course Silver Machine and Master Of the Universe. Their ever-changing line-up at this time included Dave Brock, Huw Lloyd Langton, Harvey Bainbridge and Nik Turner. Both great bands. But the day rightly belonged to Quo, who were worthy headliners. We pushed our way right down the front for their set. This show is often rated as not one of Quo’s best, but I enjoyed seeing them headlining a festival again, and thought they were pretty good. There were some problems with the sounds, with some parts of the crowd reporting that they couldn’t hear Quo very well, but I think this depended on where you were placed in the field. This was the first time I saw the band with Pete Kircher who replaced John Coughlan on drums. Quo were celebrating their 20th anniversary as a band.
Status Quo setlist: Caroline; Roll Over Lay Down; Backwater; Little Lady; Don´t Drive My Car; Whatever You Want; Hold You Back; Rockin All Over The World; Over The Edge; What You´re Proposing; Dirty Water; 4500 Times; Big Fat Mama; Don´t Waste My Time; Roadhouse Blues; Rain; Down Down; Bye Bye Johnny.
21 May
Status Quo Newcastle City Hall 15th May 1979
Status Quo Newcastle City Hall 15th May 1979
It was three years since Satus Quo had played in Newcastle, and this time they were back to play three nights at the City Hallon 15th, 16th and 17th May 1979. I went to the first night of the three. This was a slicker, smoother Quo, although the set contained mostly rockers. In terms of songs played, this was classic Quo with all the favourites: “Caroline” as opening song, “Backwater”, “4500 Times”, “Don’t Waste My Time”, “Roadhouse Blues” and the great singalong (although more country than rock) “Dirty Water”. But the softer songs, and Francis’ country leanings, were creeping in, much to the annoyance of Alan Lancaster, who was denim and hard rock through and through. This was the beginning of the end, which would come in a few years time. An example of those softer leanings was the release of Rick’s “Living on an Island” as a single in 1979.
Things I remember about this gig: I thought the tickets were getting very expensive for Quo at £5 a seat, I was disappointed that there was no support on this tour as Quo usually had a great opening act, the backline of amps was massive and unlike any I had seen before, and it was a good gig but much slicker, professional and less raw than shows of old.
Some great quotes from the programme, which continue to portray the guys as the band of the people and down-to-earth: “We don’t get Jackie Onassis or Princess Margaret droppin’ backstage after a go like the Rolling Stones or Rod Stewart. We generally get Joe Bloggs from the factory …that’s who we get along fine with” (Bob Young); “Status Quo – the only band to buy all their equipment with No 6 cigarette coupons” (NME); “Parfitt stripped to the waist and in ragged jeans looking more like a builder’s labourer than a rock star has retained a workmanlike approach. His own stage T-shist cost him 75p. They all wear jeans. There is no gimmickry during a performance (Daily Express).
Typical setlist of the time: Caroline, Roll over lay down, Backwater, Rockers Rollin’, Is there a better Way, Hold You Back, Little Lady, Like a good Girl, Rockin’all over the World, Oh What a Night, Dirty Water, 4500 Times, Big Fat Mama, Don’t waste my Time, Roadhouse Blues, Rain, Down Down, Drum Solo; Bye Bye Johnny.
“Wooh, oh, oh, oh; The water’s getting deep; And I can’t swim; Beacuse it’s dirty dirty water; Wooh, oh, oh, oh; Wooh, oh, oh, oh” (Dirty Water, Staus Quo, 1977).
20 May
Jeff Beck Manchester Bridgewater Hall 19th May 2014
Jeff Beck Manchester Bridgewater Hall 19th May 2014
Went to see Jeff Beck in Manchester last night in the beautiful Bridgewater Hall. After an uneventful drive down the A1 and across a surprising unjammed M62, I arrived just in time to catch support act Mike Sanchez who opened the show with a fine set of boogie woogie piano which made him some new friends.
Jeff Beck came on stage at 8.30pm dressed in a black jacket, waistcoat and trousers, and a white t-shirt, emerging from the wings playing a bright white Telecaster. The Telecaster was soon swapped for a white strat which remained his instrument for the remainder of the evening. For this tour Jeff Beck’s band are: Rhonda Smith bass; Jonathan Joseph drums and Nicolas Meier guitar. They are individually and collectively excellent, provided an accompaniment which blended jazz and classic rock. This time around Beck’s set drew from across his back catalogue, with over-all a heavier rock feel than on previous occasions I have seen him. I am becoming more and more of the opinion that Beck is the greatest living guitarist; he truly understands his instrument and can switch in an instant from the heaviest and raunchiest of rock riffs to the sweetest, most gentle tunes. The set had similar changes of style, from thundering rock reminding of his 70s days with Beck, Bogert and Appice, to Hawaian style, and to his treatment of ballads, such as Danny Boy, where he makes incredible use of tone and moving the volume control up and down. 
You can hear the influences, Hendrix of course, Santo and Johnny, Les Paul, John McLaughlin; all there somewhere in Beck’s playing, and yet he is also very much his own man with his own way of playing. The set was almost totally instrumental with bass player Rhonda Smith taking vocals on a couple of songs. But he held the attention of the crowd throughout. He hardly said a word all night, he comes over as a quiet guy who concentrates on his music, and is aware of his own stature and place in the history of rock. The guy is simply amazing and a genius. The crowd gave him a standing ovation at the end of the show.
The setlist consisted of some of (although not in this order, and I can’t pretend to know all of Beck’s material so have probably got some of this wrong): Loaded; Nine; Little Wing; You Know You Know; Hammerhead; Angel (Footsteps); Stratus; Yemin; Where Were You; Egyptian; Goodbye Pork Pie Hat; Brush with the Blues; You Never Know; Danny Boy; Why Give It Away ; Rollin’ and Tumblin’ ; Choral; Big Block; Cause We’ve Ended as Lovers; Declan ; A Day in the Life.
Jeff Beck finished at 10.10pm. I was home around 12.45am. I decided to come up the A19, as the signs above me on the motorway threatened a diversion on the A1, but that didn’t really help as the A19 was closed up at Peterlee, and I had to make a detour through Shotton Colliery; the joys of driving late at night.
While driving back I was creating my dream Jeff Beck setlist. Imagine if he put together a set that included (with a guest singer or two): Shape of Things, Morning Dew, Beck’s Boogie, Beck’s Bolero, Greensleeves. Love is Blue, Hi Ho Silver Lining, Keep Me Hanging On, A Day in the Life, Moon River, Jerusalem or Danny Boy, Little Wing, Over Under Sideways Down, You Shook Me. Not that would be something. Ain’t ever going to happen I guess, Jeff Beck is very much his own man, and plays what he feels is right. And that’s, I guess, how it should be.
19 May
The Reading Rock Festival 25 – 27th August 1978
The Reading Rock Festival 25 – 27th August 1978
This was the year punk finally arrived. The festival was now officially known as the Reading Rock Festival, having dropped “jazz” from the title and the line-up, and weekend tickets cost all of £8.95. Our old friend John Peel was compere, as always, and a van load of us descended on the riverside site, having driven part of the way down on Thursday, gone for a drink in Wetherby and slept on Wetherby racecourse (the crazy things you do when you are young 🙂 ) Highlights of the weekend for me were Penetration (I was a big fan at the time), Sham 69, The Jam, Status Quo (most of our group were heavily into them) and Patti Smith.
Friday line-up: Dennis O’Brien; The Automatics; New Hearts (who would become mods and change their name to Secret Affair); Radio Stars; Penetration; Sham 69; The Pirates; Ultravox; The Jam.
Memories: Radio Stars were always good for a laugh; “Dirty Pictures” (turn me on) was a favourite at the time; it was great to see local north east punk heroes playing up on the massive Reading stage Penetration, although they suffered from murky sound throughout their set; The Pirates rocked the place with no-nonsense rock’n’roll, “Shaking All Over” and ace guitarist the late Mick Green (a big influence on Wilko); and the John Foxx version of Ultravox! played a quite moody atmospheric electronic set. The main event was Sham 69, who were excellent with Jimmy Pursey his usual cockney “boy on the streets” self, and those anthems “What have we got?”, “Borstal Breakout” and “If the Kids are United”. The Sham Army had come across to Reading in force, all braces, No 2 cuts, and Doc Martins, and ready to take on those hippies. We were right at the front, although we soon moved to the side of the crowd when the fights started. A bunch of skins climbed on to the stage, and Pursey tried to call order, pleading with the crowd to stop fighting to no avail. He was in tears, watching bedlam and violence all around him, and not being able to do anything to stop it. But that was the nature of a Sham gig at the time. Jimmy even brought Steve Hillage on stage to show that it was ok to mix with hippies, but that just annoyed the skins more. A nasty, frightening experience, which marred an excellent performance by Sham. The Jam were great, Weller the edgy young mod, getting himself into a strop at the poor sound quality, and trashing his gear. Punk really had arrived at Reading.
The Jam set included: Mr Clean ; Away From the Numbers; Don’t Tell Them You’re Sane; Tonight at Noon; David Watts; Down in the Tube Station at Midnight; “A” Bomb in Wardour Street; News of the World
Saturday line-up: Speedometors; The Business; Jenny Darren; Next; Gruppo Sportivo; Nutz; Greg Kihn Band; Lindisfarne; Spirit; The Motors; Status Quo.
Saturday was a little more straightforward rock. Lindisfarne had recently reunited and hit the charts with “Run For Home”. The Motors were OK (Airport!). Spirit were excellent, with great Hendrix-style guitar from Randy California. Status Quo played a solid respectable set, nothing earth shattering. I know quite a few people were disappointed with them that night, but I thought they were OK. “Dirty Water’ was to become a crowd singalong favourite.
Status Quo setlist: Caroline; Roll Over Lay Down; Backwater; Rockers Rollin; Is There A Better Way; You Don’t Own Me; Hold You Back; Rockin All Over The World; Dirty Water; 4500 Times; Big Fat Mama; Don’t Waste My Time; Roadhouse Blues; Rain; Down Down; Bye Bye Johnny.
Sunday line-up: After The Fire; Chelsea; Pacific Eardrum; Bethnal; Squeeze; John Otway; The Albion Band; Paul Inder; Ian Gillan Band; Tom Robinson Band; Foreigner; Patti Smith Group.
Memories: Paul Inder is Lemmy’s son and was 11 years old (!) at the time; what a great thing to do when you are 11 🙂 ; Bethnal were a good band, who had a manic violin player; Squeeze were fun; Otway was as crazy as ever (Really Free); Tom Robinson led a mass singalong of “Glad to be Gay”; and Foreigner went down well with the crowd. But the day belonged to Patti Smith who was amazing. I was a big fan and left my mates to push my way right to the front of the crowd for Patti’s set. She had the whole crowd with her as she tore into “Gloria”, “Because the Night” and great covers of the Byrds’ “So You Want to Be (A Rock ‘N’ Roll Star)” and the Who’s “My Generation”. Stunning. I saw her again at Newcastle City Hall two days later and she was equally as electric.
Patti Smith setlist: Rock n Roll Nigger; Privilege (Set Me Free); Redondo Beach; Free Money; Ghost Dance; It’s a Man’s Man’s Man’s World; So You Want to Be (A Rock ‘N’ Roll Star); Ask the Angels; 25th Floor; Because the Night; Gloria, You Light Up My Life; My Generation; Godspeed
18 May
Status Quo live in 1975 and 1976
Status Quo live in 1975 and 1976
1975 and 1976 were busy years for Status Quo. This wasn’t unusual, however, the work ethic of this band is outstanding; they just keep on playing. They hit the UK singles chart four times: with a live EP which featured “Roll Over Lay Down”, “Gerdundula” and “Junior’s Wailing”, then with one of my personal favourites “Rain”, then “Mystery Song” and “Wild Side of Life”. I saw the band twice at Newcastle City Hall; on 12th May 1975 and again on 9th March 1976.
From the 1975 tour programme: “”To begin with in 1971 we played for a tenner or a fiver just to keep going and retain the right to play things our way” says Richard Parfitt. “We knew it was the only way to build a future for ourselves and a reputation we could live with”. After a decade as rock musicians the Quo now have the respect and approval of a massive following who have put their seal on a band who can truly said to have succeeded by “Public Demand”. The swaying thousands who form massed choirs and wave their scarves at a Quo concert to sing “You’ll Never Walk Alone”…have turned the Quo into unsuperstars of the Seventies…When the critics eventually put their group hierarchy into perspective in later years it will almost inevitably be those groups who kept to basics like the Stones, the Who and Quo who will be remembered as being the heart of this Generation’s music….Quo believe in what they are doing and millions ll over the work have come to believe they are “On the Level” too.”
Support for the 1975 tour was the excellent Pretty Things, who were a big favourite of mine at the time. They had just released the “Silk Torpedo” album which saw them entering a glam / heavy rock phase. Its opening song “Joey / The Dream” is just great. Front man Phil May was as energetic as ever, the rest of the line-up had changed quite a bit since the first times I saw them in the early 70s. Quo released two albums” “On the Level” and “Blue for You”, both of which were respectable slabs of rock, although not as heavy as the “QUO” album. Andy Bown joined the band as a permanent member on keyboards. Support for the 1976 tour was Shanghai, a new band fronted by 60s rocker Cliff Bennett of the Rebel Rousers fame. These were, as always, great gigs.
Status Quo also recorded two shows at Glasgow Apollo in 1976, and released them as a live album, called simply “Live”. The record is one of the few that manages to capture the excitement and rawness of a band at the height of their powers, and documents just how great Quo live were in those days. That it was recorded at the Apollo was entirely appropriate; the great venue had, along with Hammy Odeon and Brid Spa, become a second home for the band. The Glasgow crowds really knew how to rock and got fully behind Quo. On the other side of the coin, if a Glasgow crowd didn’t like a band, they would let them know. The “Live” album was the blueprint for the recent classic frantic four line-up reunion.
Typical setlist of the period: Junior’s Wailing, Mad about the Boy, Backwater / Just take me, Is there a better Way, Little Lady / Most of the Time, 4500 Times, Rain, Roll over lay Down, Don’t waste my Time, Roadhouse Blues, Caroline, Bye Bye Johnny.
It was 1978 before I saw Quo again, when they returned to the Reading festival as triumphant headliners. I’ll write about that weekend of rock tomorrow.
17 May
Status Quo 1974 QUO and on tour again
Status Quo 1974 QUO and on tour again
Quo-woh-oh-oh-oh….Some time in the mid-70s the Quo rituals started. A few drinks in the City Tavern and then in the City Hall bar, catch some of the support act (always guaranteed to be good, so had to watch them), and then up to our seats, the lights would go down and then our chant would start…”Quo-woh-oh-oh-oh….” The Quo intro drone would play and then they would run on stage, Alan at the front for the first song, which we knew would be “Juniors Wailing”.
“Love me baby, love me when I’m down; I said love me baby, love me when I’m down; Yeah you gotta love me baby; ‘cos there’s no use hanging around” (Junior’s Wailing, cover of a Steamhammer song).
Yes it was the same every time, but that was part of the fun, the ritual. The guys (I was going to call them our heroes, which they were, but that just doesn’t feel right, they were more like our mates) were up on that stage and everything felt good. For a few hours we were removed from our day to day lives, and subjected to loud music, frantic rocking with a sell-out crowd, all of whom understood and felt it in exactly the same way as we did. Oh and we had to wear denim. Levi jacket and jeans and t-shirt (ok maybe Wrangler was also allowed).
The other ritual was “the jig”. Not sure when it started, or exactly which song it featured in (I think it may have been included during “Roadhouse Blues” which was always extended and epic) but it became a regular feature of Quo shows in the ’70s, and we came to look forward to, and enjoy it. It’s going to sound naff now, and pretty uncool, but it was basically an Irish type jig played on guitar, led by Francis, and we all had to jump up and down to it. Picture a completely full, hot, sweaty, City Hall, towards the end of the gig, everyone in denim, hair flying around, jumping up and down in our seats with the three Quo front men on stage jumping up and down in front of us. Pure magic (ok it doesn’t sound cool, but you had to be there).
I saw Status Quo twice in 1974, the 9th and 10th times I saw the band. The first time was at Newcastle City Hall on 20th May 1974. The band were so popular that this time they sold out two nights at the City Hall, I went on the second night. I saw them again later that year when they came back to the North East and played at Sunderland Empire on 1st December 1974. I remember going to the Sunderland gig with a load of mates. Looking at the ticket for that gig we were right up in the cheap seats that night (40p! bargain). Note the Empire tickets never named the band in those days.
Support act for the City Hall show was Montrose and at the Empire it was SNAFU. There was a big buzz around Montrose at the time. Montrose were fronted by the late great guitarist Ronnie Montrose and (later of Van Halen) Sammy Hagar on vocals. They had just released their debut album, and the awesome tracks “Bad Motor Scooter” and “Space Station #5” were big dance floor favourites at rock nights in the local Mayfair (Newcastle) and Mecca (Sunerland) ballrooms. It was one of the few times that the City Hall was completely full for the support act.
I’d seen Montrose just two days before, when they appeared on the bill at the Who’s Charlton concert. Montrose were great, very loud, rocking and full of energy. One of the few acts who almost (in my view) managed to upstage the mighty Quo. Hagar was a crazy front man, and Montrose an ace guitarist. From the QUO tour programme: “Montrose have compiled an energy-laden set consisting mostly of original compositions with the bonus of an amazing live version of the Roy Brown classic “Good Rockin’ Tonight”, that’ll keep your feet a dancin’ and your fingers poppin’.” Well I don’t remember my fingers poppin’ 🙂 but I do remember some “Good Rockin'”.
Typical Quo Setlist from this year: Junior’s Wailing, Backwater/Just take me, Claudie, Railroad, Roll over lay down, Big Fat Mama, Don’t waste my Time, Roadhouse Blues, Caroline, Down Down, Bye Bye Johnny.
Status Quo released their seventh studio LP “QUO” 1974. The album included the single “Break the Rules” which reached No 8 in the UK single charts. QUO reached No 2 in the album charts. It is pure classic Quo and one of their heaviest, due to the influence of bass player Alan Lancaster, who wrote six of the eight tracks. “Backwater” and “Just Take Me” were soon to become live favourites; “Backwater” in particular, is one of Status Quo’s best rockers. Quo hit No 1 in November 1974, with “Down Down” another classic, and yet another live favourite. There were truly on a roll.
16 May
Status Quo Newcastle City Hall 24th September 1973 Hello!
Status Quo Newcastle City Hall 24th September 1973 Hello!
I was rapidly becoming a big Status Quo fan. I’d bought “Piledriver”, played it endlessly and was trying to learn the riffs to “Paper Plane”, “Big Fat Mama”, and “Don’t Waste My Time”. In September 1973 Quo released their 6th album “Hello!” which consolidated their success and went to No 1 in the UK chart. “Hello!” was the first of four Quo albums to top the UK Albums Chart, and the first album on which the group wrote all the songs (along with Bob Young the group’s roadie and harmonica player). Keyboard player Andy Bown played on “Forty-Five Hundred Times”. This was Andy’s first appearance on a Status Quo album, and he was of course soon to become a permanent member of the band. They hit the singles chart twice between “Piledriver” and “Hello”; first with “Mean Girl” which was an old song released by their previous label Pye, and reached No 20, and then with their trademark song “Caroline” which also appeared on “Hello!” and reached #5. This was the group’s first single to reach the UK top five. The relentless gigging continued (as it always has, and does to this day) and in September Status Quo went out on tour yet again to promote “Hello”. I saw them at Newcastle City Hall on 24th September 1973. This was the 8th time I had seen Status Quo within a couple of years. The concert was, as always, a triumph or rock and boogie, with Francis Rossi cracking on with us all as if we were his best mates. Quo were like that, just ordinary lads playing straightforward, no nonsense rock’n’roll. No airs and graces, no deep meaning to the songs. We all respected that, and just “got it” immediately and completely. 
The relentless touring up and down the country, with the gaps between tours of the city halls filled with club and festival appearances, the attitude, the approach, the authenticity, all forged a bond between Status Quo and the fans and created a loyalty that is, for many, still there to this day. Mick Rossi quietly became Francis Rossi some time in 1973. The Spring (Piledriver) programme lists him as “Mick”, while in the Autumn (Hello!) programme he is “Francis”. Support for the tour was the excellent blues band Savoy Brown, fronted by KIm Simmonds on guitar (who remains with the band to this day), and at the time, featuring the great Jackie Lynton on vocals. Jackie has a long association with Quo. His own band, the Jackie Lynton band, supported them on tour a couple of years later, and he used to announce them, his being the famous voice that says “Is there anybody out there that wants to rock? Tonight..Live..We have the No 1 rock’n’roll band in the land..Will you welcome the magnificent Status Quo!…” (cue Juniors Wailing) at the start of the Live album, recorded at Glasgow Apollo.
Typical setlist of the period: Junior’s Wailing, Someones Learning, In My Chair, Claudie, Roll over lay Down, Big Fat Mama, Railroad, Don’t waste my time, Caroline, Roadhouse Blues, Mean Girl, Bye Bye Johnny.
Vintagerock's Weblog. 