GIG NUMBER ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY-TWO
Who
I was so pleased when they announced that Wolves Civic was to be one of the handful of dates on the tour and I would have gone with my Dad but he'd already purchased tickets to see The Bootleg Beatles again. As I was on the ball I got tickets without too much difficulty but the date promptly sold-out and I was surprised to read later that a second date had been added, this one was scheduled before the first one - which always sucks - and tickets were slower to sell out, so I could even have seen them twice, once with my Dad sitting down and once properly standing up. It was rather pricey though so I didn't pursue this thought very far, preparing for the show by listening to their greatest hits a couple of times and watching a video. I was fortunate enough to have an eternally reliable VHS compilation of their music videos dating back to the mid-eighties and it was a pleasure to watch again, with the Rockin' All Over The World video - where Alan Lancaster is replaced by a life-size puppet as he didn't want to fly over for the shoot - being a particular delight. I had to drop an email to the ticket office to ask what the hell was going on with the ticket delivery as the confirmation email made no mention whatsoever of how I'd be getting my hands on them, and I'd purchased them in such a rush I didn't fanny about too much with the options. At least they were quick to email back to me to say I could pick them up on the night, but would it really have killed them to have just stated this on their original email? I could hardly escape the very large review for the first date in the local paper which revealed that the show was severely lacking in singles, so I braced myself grateful in the fact I'd already seen the band dispatching the hits in a reasonably definitive manner. It was a Wednesday night and I ventured out straight after work, having plenty of time to get changed then leave my stuff, this time bringing along my proper camera for its first night out so far of the year and the back of the confirmation email handy for writing up my notes on. I regretted not taking these last time around and it's crazy how after over 15 years of gig-going I am still learning stuff!
I headed into Wetherspoons to eat but they had practically no seats remaining so I quickly stepped outside to take the opportunity to feast somewhere else. I didn't want anything fancy though - thinking that my Latin American meal before My Bloody Valentine had been quite indulgent enough - so headed into the Lady Wulfrun seeing as it was possibly even cheaper than Spoons. Sadly they were still without Brains beer but it turned out to be steak night, which effectively was their normal steak menu with drinks for just £1 on top. This wasn't quite as good an offer as I'd hoped as I was only allowed a small glass of wine or a pint of shitty John Smith's rather than any of the interesting beers on tap, but I ordered a John Smith's and a side of onion rings, enjoying a good meal before exacting my revenge for the woeful pint by continuing my beer hunt elsewhere. I walked past Indi bar which I'd yet to go in but the range of beer looked shite then I passed Revolution which randomly only seemed to open on Thursday to Saturday nights. I was keen to try different places though so headed into the brand spanking new Billy Wright pub, which was a smart sports bar filled with TV screens. Although not as cosy as a typical pub I couldn't argue with a tolerable pint for just £2. Now it seemed I was on a pub crawl, but as I was struggling to think of places to go to it helped vindicate my decision to switch my birthday piss-up to Brum. It was a little dull being by myself though with no Sudoku to keep me busy so I then headed into the newly refurbished McDonalds for a Caramel McFlurry, noting they'd introduced a continental-style complex system of picking up your food from another kiosk. I finished my pub crawl at The Pub Formerly Known As The Litten Tree but was now feeling a little drunk and was unable to finish the mediocre pint on offer. After studying the menu it appeared to be exactly the same as at the Lady Wulfrun, but meals was £1 more expensive due to the slightly nicer surroundings. It was now time for the gig so I headed out and was shocked to note the length of the queue, but being a good punter I just joined the back and was pleasantly surprised with how fast it moved, barely finding time to even take a photo of the Civic. We passed The Venue Formerly Known As The Little Civic which was playing Ol' Rag Blues and I was not surprised to get to the front to be told to join another queue for the box office, which in fact was very short.
I picked up my ticket without too much fuss and the bouncer then tried to send me all the way to the back, but after explaining I'd just gone all the way through that queue to then be told to join another, although he went stroppy and adopted a loud and sarcastic voice he was at least sensible enough to leave me be. I'm not quite sure if to be grateful that he let me be or pissed off that nobody seems to have realised that the place to have staff is at the very back of the queue, explaining exactly what this queue is for before you waste any time in it! I had little trouble getting in though and the set times were clearly displayed on the walls, confirming that Status Quo would be playing from 8:35 to 10:05pm. It's always helpful to have this essential information - as everyone needs to know how to get home - but it was a surprise that the show would be finishing so early. Still, on a work night it would be helpful if more bands showed such consideration by finishing nice and early! The standing area was already pretty rammed towards the front so I headed for the middle, getting the beer out of my system before settling for a spot very slightly to the left. It was clearly a sell-out although there were a large number of empty seats to the right of the balcony, but these did fill up just before the main event. There was a banner onstage of the four-piece in a triumphant pose so I was keen to start taking photos, being mortified to realise that my camera had starting playing up, displaying random error messages about a lens error before closing. As this was the same error that had destroyed my last Canon camera and I went to extraordinary lengths to keep this one well padded and protected to avoid the same fate I was not impressed, but the camera just about managed to take enough decent photos to justify the hassle of it shutting down randomly, and it would have been worse if this happened partway through a holiday wouldn't it? There were an unbelievable number of Quo t-shirts for the new tour on display and the mostly male fan base included those sporting long hair, double denim and wispy beards who you never seem to see outside the confines of these events. Still, these were clearly die-hard fans, some of whom no doubt were attending every single night of the tour.
It was still rather cold - as we were experiencing another dash of winter just after thinking it was all behind us at last - but much warmer inside, so I took off my coat, feeling a bit of an outsider in my bright orange t-shirt as everybody else was wearing blue and black. Still, it's just one of the pitfalls of being a genuine individual, and nobody was rude enough to bother me for not adhering to their colour code! We didn't have long to wait before support band The Treatment took to the stage with the arrogance of rock Gods for a tedious bout of horribly dated hair metal. Their singer came across as exceedingly punchable, holding out his hands to try and engage us, wearing a Thin Lizzy t-shirt, sporting a smug face and continuously nodding his approval at the sound of his band. Their real worth is perhaps demonstrated by the fact that they don't even have their own Wikipedia page! From my vantage point one of the members looked like a girl and another had a Union Jack guitar, but I was not impressed. They were far too loud and the crowd actually seemed to quite like them - perhaps indicating their general level of enthusiasm for the evening more than anything else - and to be fair they weren't as anonymous as many support bands I've seen down the years, but I just found myself annoyed by their cockiness, hopelessly dated style and the unjustly enthusiastic crowd reaction. When they announced a song called Emergency I wondered if they were about to cover The Pigeon Detectives - which would have been a laugh - and perhaps the best thing I can say about them is that their style is perfectly suited to a stereotypical Quo fan who is stuck in the past and doesn't want to hear any influences from after the late 1980's. A more intriguing band probably wouldn't have been embraced so readily, so they did the job. Speaking of stereotypes, some of the crowd engaged in wankerish chants of "oh oh oh oh oh" and "who are ya?" which quickly became tiresome, but the thing that annoys me is the thought that many people here can only appreciate one kind of music, and as much as I like The Quo they'd be a pretty limiting band to have as your key reference point. I see them very much as an awesome singles act rather than a group with the depth of fantastic albums and b-sides such as SFA or The Beatles.
Show time was approaching though and, after a blast of Seven Seas Of Rhye, the lights went down and an intro tape apparently from an old live album announced the arrival of the band. The number of guys around me who were correctly mouthing the words to it was impressive, and then the screen dropped to reveal that the band were already onstage, with their customary row of amplifiers broken only by John on the drums in the middle. As before Francis was looking good without his ponytail whereas Rick had had quite a haircut as you can see from the picture above. Alan looked like a wizened rock God with his mane of white hair and interestingly enough he sung the first few songs all by himself. The opener was Junior's Wailing, which apparently is a cover version of a song by Steamhammer whoever they are! This was followed with a tune called Backwater, which opened the Quo album back in 1974. However I don't have the patience to go back and find out what all these songs are, it suffices to say that they were b-sides known only to the absolute die-hard fans. The Treatment had been loud but Status Quo were even louder, yet sound quality wasn't really an issue as this was the legendary Civic Hall, not Birmingham Academy! Francis finally said hi and there was a roar of approval as he pointed our attention towards John and Alan being here again, not that anyone was surprised by their presence! They seemed to be enjoying themselves although John looked very focused, either being a little moody or determined to be professional and to concentrate on his drumming. Francis joked about us all going deathly silent on him as he spoke and "accidentally" said fuck before deciding to be polite and retracting it. Also a reference was made to this being their second visit to Wolves on this tour - in fact they'd gone to Manchester and Glasgow between the two dates - and pointed out it was far colder this time around. The hits kind of started with In My Chair, which was alright but hardly on anybody's Must Play List, but I was much more excited to hear Little Lady with Rick on vocals, which is one of my very favourites. Although I was taking photos throughout this was the only video I shot all evening and it came out pretty well even though I kept the camera at my eye level. As usual there were some offensively tall guys in front of me - with the added distraction of their massive hair - but I didn't pay much notice. There was a decent stage set-up and good lightshow throughout but the opportunity for the three guitarists to rock out in a line in typical Quo style was tragically missed.
I recognised Railroad from somewhere but was far more excited to hear Forty-Five Hundred Times, as indeed was everyone else who had designated this as a fan favourite. It's a damned good thing I'd procured a copy of their XS All Areas compilation, as despite its inferior sound quality it included four songs from tonight I otherwise wouldn't have known. My primary Quo collection is Pictures - 40 Years Of Hits, which came out shortly before their Cardiff gig, but it gives far too much weight to their later songs and skips some early classics. Nevertheless, only three songs tonight were delivered from it, which simply isn't enough, especially when two of those three are only very minor hits. Despite being one of those minor hits, at this point I was grateful for anything familiar so it was nice to hear Rain, before Big Fat Mama continued the closest we'd get tonight to a barrage of hits. It was a decent home straight though and finished off with Down Down, which technically remains the biggest Status Quo single as it somehow hit number one where their better songs failed. This would have been a nice place to leave the stage with the crowd hungry for more but they randomly continued with Roadhouse Blues, which apparently is a Doors cover version. The band were preaching to the converted though and the roar for them to return to the stage was as loud as I'd expected, returning to the excellent sounds of Don't Waste My Time, although I confused it a bit with Break The Rules. Status Quo were very much sticking to their stage times though and drew proceedings to a close with Bye Bye Johnny, their effective and oft-played cover version of the Chuck Berry classic. Just like Down Down they milked the crowd reaction, including a specially extended ending to give us an opportunity to sing it back at them. The band then regrouped at the front of the stage to take a bow, and despite the sea of hands and heads I was very proud to take the photo you see above, which is so good you'd think I was standing in the pit rather than halfway back. Of course my consideration in not wanting to hold my camera over my head throughout the show was what undermined the quality of most of my other shots! It took a good while to get out through the main doors due to the large volume of people gathering around the shop, as it had been well publicised that the show would be available to buy for £20 on CD after the show. It made me wonder if they'd finished so early to give chance for fans to queue to get their hands on this, which would be a rare act of foresight and consideration!
On the other stall the support band were gathered and were adopting a much more humble attitude which would have served them well during their set, thanking fans for praising them. In fact I didn't hear a whimper of protest from the fans about the setlist, which I find annoying as I don't believe you should ever be an uncritical audience. Bands should always strike the right balance between hits and rarities with a small handful of new songs and a crowd have a duty to hold them to account if they fail to meet this obligation. In fact they'd played exactly the same setlist as they'd done at the last Wolves date, suggesting they either stick to their guns or nobody had the balls to boo or criticise them. I would have been absolutely pissed if I'd never seen them before and had been expecting all the hits delivered in triumphant manner, but most people here tonight must have seen them several times anyway. In fact the band played everything effectively and positively and seemed to be enjoying themselves, and it was heart-warming to see the classic line-up together after so, so long. Maybe their intention was to treat the absolute hardcore fans with a rarities set but at least they'd kept the tour small-scale, as they couldn't have got away with this on the main stage at Glasto. They could have been attempting to redefine their legacy by drawing our attention to some of the album tracks, or perhaps either Alan or John simply threw a strop and refused to play any hits, or they were determined to do it without any extras such as keyboards? I don't know, but I'm prepared to let them off with just a slap on the wrist for not advertising the nature of the set more clearly in advance. I felt rather sweaty and skipped past the dodgy t-shirts outside - which were going for £10 - visiting Spar to pick up a can of vanilla Coke, which was a treat to see on sale after so long!
I then headed into Spoons for a bottle of Erdinger which typically took ages to settle and is a nightmare to pour. I took advantage of the quiet atmosphere to draft this review on my scrap of paper while it was still fresh in my mind. I then headed to the station and sat outside in the freezing cold - as someone had had the bright idea of refurbishing the waiting room during one of the coldest snaps of the year - before getting the penultimate train home. As is typical after a show I didn't sleep particularly well and my ears were whistling, but largely due to playing some more Quo songs on my iPod rather than due to the show itself. Talking about omissions could take a long while, the fact that the band played just two songs from my video compilation - Down Down and Rain - says it all really. Also I can kind of understand why they'd want to steer clear of anything released after John had left the group. Nevertheless, if the aim of the game was to focus on their early career, couldn't Quo have found room for Pictures Of Matchstick Men, Ice In The Sun, Paper Plane, Caroline and Roll Over Lay Down? In particular Caroline is their typical opener and would have been much appreciated. Although I firmly believe that MP3s should have no financial value I have paid £10 to download the show, although as I'm writing this I realise I may have fucked up and downloaded the other night instead. Bollocks. They'd better be exactly the same! I picked up a flyer at the gig so headed to the website to check it out and am amazed to read that you can even purchase CDs from all the nights of the tour for £150. Now you've got to be a pretty crazy die-hard fan to do that! This tour was very much one for the obsessive die-hard fans like that though, and if those guys enjoyed it and the band liked being back together again perhaps that is ultimately the only thing that matters.
Mark: 7.0/10
Status Quo
Support
The Treatment
Where
Wolverhampton Civic Hall
When
13th March 2013
Price
£38.50
Who with
No-one
Position
In the middle
Comments
Just five days after seeing My Bloody Valentine - and I was rather pleased with myself for already writing up that review in double-quick time and still having my hearing intact - I swerved to another side of the musical spectrum for my third viewing of Status Quo. In fact this would have been the fourth time I'd seen them if they hadn't pulled out of their Stoke gig at the very last second, but at least I'd be doing it in some style. Firstly I saw The Quo playing an outstanding greatest hits set at Cardiff Arena, which was the best arena I've ever been to by far, then saw them playing a lovely outdoor show in Shrewsbury. I knew I wanted to complete the set by seeing them doing a small-scale indoor show and that had been the purpose of venturing up to Stoke-on-Trent. At least this way I'd be seeing them in the best possible venue - Wolves Civic - with the added bonus of it being a proper standing gig and, to top it all off, with the full classic line-up! I'd been watching their videos in the past and wondered what the original band would be like, never imagining I'd ever get to find out. I'd heard that Alan Lancaster had fallen ill and understood that they hadn't played since Live Aid back in 1985. I was amazed to read in fact that John Coghlan had left in 1981 so it had been a full 32 years since The Frantic Four had played together. It was interesting that they got together again and were so keen to ram home the point that this was a one-off reunion and that these guys were no longer the "real" Quo, but the newbies were. I wondered if they'll be true to their word and this would be their last tour together, and was sad to see afterwards that they announced more dates. It was funny that they had settled on playing smaller venues so I can only guess that they were determined to make this a special treat for the die-hard fans rather than for stadium-sized crowds.
Setlist (The Treatment)
I Want Love
Don't Look Down
Emergency
She's Too Much
I Need Rock 'N' Roll
Get The Party On
Nothing To Lose But Our Minds
Shake The Mountain
Setlist (Status Quo)
Intro
Junior's Wailing
Backwater
Just Take Me
Is There A Better Way
In My Chair
Blue Eyed Lady
Little Lady
Most Of The Time
(April) Spring, Summer And Wednesdays
Railroad
Oh Baby
Forty-Five Hundred Times
Rain
Big Fat Mama
Down Down
Roadhouse Blues
Don't Waste My Time
Bye Bye Johnny
