Status Quo
Manchester Apollo
Sunday 6 April 2014
Status Quo have never been one of my top flight favourite bands and never will
be, but unlike the vast majority of my "big name" bands, I've known their music
from my earliest days and it's always been a pleasant enough listen. I will
always remember being on holiday some time in the seventies - and extremely
rarely for me, I was at a disco. Well, I wasn't much impressed by the succession
of sugar sweet, soft, quiet songs that came out - then, out of nowhere appeared
a Status Quo record that hit the place with a physical force compared to the
other dross, and the experience was a most formative influence in shaping my
future music tastes!
The chance came up to see them at the Apollo - I prevaricated and
lost my chance, which I regretted. Due to public demand a second show was put
on, so I snapped up the offer. What made the offer irresistible
was that it was the original line-up, the "frantic four", and whilst this may
have been mainly of sentimental value, it made it unmissable. I was particularly
impressed by the bass player, Alan Lancaster. His stage attitude, standing aloof
from the others, stood in his moody and magnificent rock hard man pose was very
impressive for me - that's what a rock star SHOULD be like! The other two,
Parfitt and Rossi were the "frantic" ones, doing their trademark synchronised
riffing alongside.
As befits a "reunion", the material was largely the kind of thing that made them
famous: low down dirty blues rock boogie - pretty much the UK equivalent of ZZ
Top. Although they had "fast" songs and "slow" songs, they just don't have
enough variety. I was left thinking that I "had just eaten an excellent meal -
but consisting of only one item". All songs are the same three chords - some
fast, some a little slower, but all basically similar. It was all the old style
stuff - sweaty blues really, but I very much did regret the absence of some of
the "modern" stuff, most especially "In The Army Now". There were a few too many
long drawn out doodling passages - but at least there was no drum solo, and it
is the hard rock tradition, so no major complaint from me. The sound system was
almost perfect and crystal clear, the guitar work came through excellently, and
it was more or less loud enough.
A good night out, another classic rock band duly seen and booked into my archive!
04.05.14