WHEN I first saw Francis Rossi treading the boards at Manchester Apollo in 1981, never in my wildest dreams would I have imagined seeing the frontman of the mighty Status Quo, performing an acoustic set in my hometown at Warrington Parr Hall more than four decades later!
Mind you I would never have dreamed of the mighty Quo appearing at the Parr Hall back in 2010 to a packed sell-out audience of 1,100 unbelieving fans seeing them live in such a small and intimate venue.
Fast forward to 2023 and the “Grand Old Man of Rock,” as he likes to be known, was back in my hometown, yet despite the intimacy of the venue and an audience of around 400, I didn’t get as near as I did back in 1981 when I was lucky enough the secure middle front row tickets at the Apollo, with my first ever credit card purchase of concert tickets! Can you imagine my face when I saw Row AA. Having secured four front-row tickets I was suddenly everyone’s best friend!
Now back to the future at Warrington Parr Hall last Friday night (After the previous evening bouncing around to The Buzzcocks and from the Jam) this was a much more relaxed affair as Rossi churned out some well-known and some not so well-known Quo tunes in a stripped back acoustic set.
Surprisingly in the modern world of social media being the best advertising for a musician, there was a strict no photos, filming policy! (My accompanying photo was taken at the end of the show for review purposes!)
As the frontman of the band with more top 40 hit singles than any other, Rossi can certainly still play the guitar (and find the fourth chord).
And having earned his stripes and his success, he certainly doesn’t care about being politically correct.
Now tea-total he is also more than happy to talk about his alcohol and drug-fuelled days back in the 70s and 80s when the band was at their peak – and he is certainly showing no signs of packing up yet, announcing that Status Quo will be back on tour next year between May and September.
At this rate, I will be joining Rossi “In My Chair” watching Quo for about “Forty-Five Hundred Times” while “Rocking All Over the World!”
All in all another fabulous night at Warrington Parr Hall – the perfect venue for a night like this!
