Francis has done some naughty things lately, in my view. Firstly, I miss Rick. In fact I miss Rick to the extent that I thought Status Quo shouldn’t continue when he passed away. I am a long-term Status Quo fan since I first saw them in 1971 and I must have seen them at least 30 times since then, maybe even 40 or 50; I have lost count. I thought I couldn’t bring myself to go and see Status Quo without Rick, but there I was in the City Hall 
waiting to see what the new band was like. And secondly, Francis told us that the Last of the Electrics tour, would be just that; the last electric rock Status Quo tour. In fact, if you look at the ticket, you will see that the show was originally announced as an acoustic tour, Aquostic. Somewhere along the line, Francis decided to go back to the rock show. Now I was partly looking forward to the acoustic concert, but I was also secretly pleased that this was going to be a rock tour. Anyway, as I said, there I was, a little against my better judgement, sitting in my chair at the end of the row waiting for my first dose of the new Status Quo, with my carer Jackie.
The band are heralded onto stage with the usual drone, which leads into those opening chords of “Caroline” which always hit me emotionally and new guitarist, Richie Malone, does justice to Rick’s power chords. The set is a mixture of old favourites such as “Little Lady” and “Softer Ride”, and new (and now becoming classics in their own) “Creepin’ up on You” and (the mildly racist) “The Oriental.” The usual Status Quo medley of hits 
contains some other old favourites “Down the Dust Pipe” and “Railroad” and is swiftly followed by the loud, driving chords of “Down Down” and I know we are on the home strait now. They end with, as they always do now, “Rockin’ All over the World.” The encore starts with the classic “Don’t Waste My Time “from the equally classic album Piledriver, followed by (the little too middle-of-the-road/poppy for me) “Burning Bridges” and they finally end with, as always, “Bye Bye Johnny.” Well you know what, that was actually pretty good, and I forgive you Francis for all your recent naughty deeds (as referred to above). So Status Quo are back, and you know, they are actually pretty good. I even bought tickets to see them again at the Sage Gateshead later this year (if we ever get out of this crazy lockdown safely) and I am really looking forward to it. And…… I even rejoined the fan club. So, in the lyrics of “Beginning of the End”, “Happy days are here again.” 🙂
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. Encore: Don’t Waste My Time; Burning Bridges; Rock and Roll Music / Bye Bye Johnny.
The Captain is holding court, telling tales of the Damned on the road and how his favourite band is ABBA. He demolishes a packet of crisps in one go including the plastic pack itself! Elvis is quiet, drinking his pint. I’m not sure why the Captain was there, as he wasn’t appearing that night; I guess he must just have come along for the ride. This was the second time I had seen Elvis Costello live and I must admit I was very impressed, particularly by his second single “Alison”. I had seen him a few weeks earlier at Middlesbrough Town Hall, again on the Stiff tour. I think it must have been around November 5th and Guy Fawkes night, as I recall we were waiting outside the venue and some young kids had their “guy” against the wall and asked Elvis “Penny for the Guy?” as he passed them on his way into the Town Hall. I think he threw them a few coppers. “That Elvis Costello” I told my mates. At the time I wondered how a young guy dared call himself “Elvis”. I was soon to find out. He was soon to be in the charts with “Watching the Detectives”. A few years later, in 1980, I saw him in my home town of Sunderland, at the Mayfair. I’ve seen him a few times before and after that over the years, but I must admit I still prefer those early, rocking, concert performances by an angry young Elvis who spat out the lyrics.
and sings a beautiful version of “Shipbuilding”, followed by “Oliver’s Army” with everyone standing up and singing along and finishing with an excellent version of “(What’s so Funny about) Please, Love and Understanding”. Excellent. A marathon of professionalism and much, much better than I had expected. A great night. I also ran into some old friends Ian, Pete, Mike, Maureen and John. Happy days can be here again. 🙂
longtime drummer Richard Chadwick, Old friend and wizard Tim Blake on keyboards and theremin, along with (relatively) new members Niall Hone on bass and Magnus Martin on guitar and keyboards. So we are treated to some of my favourite Hawk tunes including “Spirit of the Age”, “Born to Go” and of course “Silver Machine.” For the encore we wind back 50 years to the first album and “Hurry on Sundown.” Then another of my all-time favourites “Master of the Universe”, by which time we are on our way out, panicking and waiting for the taxi with 10 minutes to go for our train. The taxi arrives just in time! Then it’s a quick dash along the platform in York station, having navigated lifts down and back up again, and two friendly guys are waiting with a ramp to get me back onto the train. Although they are arguing a little as neither have been “trained to use the new ramp!” They managed to use it and we take our seats on the train for the short ride back up to Durham, where our friendly Station taxis guy awaits us. A short ride to pick up Chris and I am helped back to bed after experiencing another wonderful night with my hawk heroes. Happy days are here again. 🙂
This concert was a big deal for Maximo Park. Their Facebook page proudly declared “everyone has played Newcastle City Hall: Bob Dylan, the Beatles; and now we are playing there”. The concert had sold out quickly: a hometown show with the added attraction that the band were showcasing their excellent debut album “A Certain Trigger” in full was bound to be a big draw. Laura was really excited about going but sadly came down with flu on the night of the concert, so along I went to the City Hall on my own.
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