News / Heads down, no nonsense, mindless boogie…!!!
You have to wonder if, back in late 1967, when Francis Rossi and Rick Parfitt elected to name their band Status Quo they already had a premonition – or plan – that this was one outfit who would NOT be open to embracing radical musical change – however long they lasted.
To maintain the ‘status quo’, of course, literally means to “keep things the way they presently are” – and that’s more or less exactly what the lads have done over the intervening 45 years!!!!
Over that incredible length of time many musical fads and fashions have come and gone, but the mighty Quo have doggedly stuck to their ‘back to basics’, tried and tested, rock n’ boogie ritual.
It’s an approach that’s seen them ridiculed and revered in almost equal proportions over the years, but let’s face it, it’s one that’s served them VERY well indeed.
So after all the speculation as to whether or not it would actually happen, it was eventually ‘hats off’ and congratulations to promoter Malcolm Younger and his Callum Younger Reach Fund for having the financial bravery (dare I say audacity?) to risk taking such a large and costly gig to a small place like Shetland in the first instance.
Sure, some might have baulked at the £75 per head ticket price, but most certainly not the 1200+ hardcore fans who eagerly responded to Malcolm’s (and his sponsors’) leap of faith who packed into the Clickimin Centre ready to expend bucket-loads of energy and sweat in honour of a very personal visit from their hard rocking heroes.
First up it fell to Shetland’s very own No Sweat (perhaps not a name to aptly describe this particular gig) to warm up the already near capacity audience – if indeed they needed warming up at all.
It’s always incredibly refreshing to see a local band have the confidence to deliver a full set of their own original material – and No Sweat do this on pretty much every occasion.
No need to hide behind crowd pleasing covers here. Tongue-in-cheek songs such as Blue Whiting, Party Animal and On the Piss have, in themselves, become recognisable standards in their own right over the years.
As always No Sweat quite simply delivered everything required of them in their own terrific and inimitable fashion. No sweat to them indeed!!!
And so the big moment arrived and the main hall lights dimmed. One thing Status Quo don’t do is subtlety. Literally exploding onto the Clickimin stage to a huge welcoming crowd roar they immediately burst into a trio of crowd pleasing classics Caroline, Something ‘Bout You Baby I Like and Rain. It was a sure-fire way of immediately winning over their Shetland audience – as if they had to be won over anyway!!!
This led the way for an 80 minute full-on, text-book, aural assault. “Hope you’re going to enjoy yourselves tonight,” coaxed Francis Rossi. “If it’s too loud, it’s too loud – sorry!!!!”
Their set was of course largely a greatest hits parade. What You’re Proposing, Whatever You Want, Roll Over Lay Down, In the Army and Down the Dustpipe got their regular airings, alongside some newer, and perhaps for many in the audience, less familiar material.
If their more recent material possibly acted as a “semi-subduer” for the audience, then the closing salvo’s of Down Down and the classic Rocking All Over the World acted as the tipping point for the return of mass mayhem.
Then, just as things were kicking off again, and to the surprise of many, with a brief wave to the audience they were gone – returning only for a short encore of Chuck Berry’s classic Rock ‘n’ Roll Music and the inevitable crowd-involving sing-a-long to accompany Bye Bye Johnny – another Berry/Quo classic.
Eighty minutes appeared to be too short a set for some – perhaps based on the expectation that a long established band like the Quo might be expected to play for longer, but that’s about the only complaint anyone could feasibly have on the night.
To be honest there wasn’t much missing popularity or effort wise that’s for sure. Given the medleys of greatest hits they delivered during the set it perhaps could even be argued they actually packed an otherwise two hour show into an hour and 20 minutes.
Anyway, my guess is you won’t hear too many moans – except from a few painful heads in the morning.
Ridicule them if you will you “three chords” musical accusers, you have to accept the fact that these guys still know how to pack a real punch and deliver a high energy, back to basics, rock ‘n’ roll show – even if the years (and God knows what else, given their past reputations) have clearly taken a bit of a toll on their voices.
Granted, again given their advancing years, some might expect their backstage ‘rider’ to include a selection of oxygen bottles and masks, but on Wednesday night’s evidence there’s still a lot of mileage and indeed capacity in these hard rocking lungs to be expended yet.
Ultimately the Quo delivered to their Shetland audience what they’ve successfully delivered every gig for the past 45 years (and counting) – a night of “heads down, no nonsense, mindless boogie” – and of course no-one would have expected anything less of them.
“Age shall not weary them……….”
Davie Gardner
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