kevtic
Rocker Rollin'
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Post by kevtic on Jul 25, 2016 16:12:11 GMT
I do the occasional gig review for a blog I do. Thought you might be interested or maybe not ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sadly an era is coming to an end for me. The Quo are hanging up their electric guitars and are due to do their final dates as an electric band at the end of this year. I believe they have some ill thought out plan to continue touring as an acoustic act which would be such a sad way to go from a band that played such great hard rock boogie in the 70s. They were my first music love and will always have a special place in my heart. This whole situation has now been complicated somewhat by guitarist Rick Parfitt suffering a 2nd (may even be a 3rd) heart attack in May which he is now recuperating from. In the short term the band have recruited the bass player Rhino Edwards son Freddie to take over guitar duties and on a few dates including this one they brought in Irishman Richie Malone, who I believe plays in a Quo tribute band, to do the honours. I was in two minds whether to go as Quo without Parfitt & Rossi is not Quo for me. The real Quo, imo, is the Frantic Four line up including Lancaster and Coghlan but I’ve made do with the Rossi/Parfitt line up for over 30 years and only go to hear the classic songs up to 1982. Anything after that, apart from one or two exceptions is a bit crap. Anyway I decided seeing as I had a ticket anyway and I was a bit curious I’d go. This involved a mad dash up the road from Blackpool after an unplanned extra day on our holiday which involved a Pleasure Beach visit and then an even madder dash from home to Ingliston. I made it with 4 mins to spare. The familiar drone heralded the band arriving on stage and regular set opener Caroline pierced the air. All the chords sounded in the right place but it wasn’t right. Not seeing Parfitt standing legs apart, his arm a blur as he thrashed out the opening chords to Caroline was just wrong, wrong, wrong. If you closed your eyes it sounded ok but watching the stage you knew someone was missing. That said I tried to enjoy it for what it was, one step away from a tribute act. They did an excellent version of Paper Plane that saw my trusty air guitar get an airing. One other downside of Parfitt being absent is we don’t get my favourite Quo song Rain but Don’t Waste My Time does get a welcome return. The middle of the show is a struggle as it usually is as we are subjected to the ‘newer songs’ which do seem to be crowd pleasers but I really don’t like them and don’t come anywhere close to the classics. And we get a drum solo, its 2016 and people are still doing drum solos. Why? The closing run of Roll over Lay Down, Down Down, Whatever You Want and Rockin All Over the World was pretty decent before the band go off and come back and do Burning Bridges. A song that encapsulates everything that went wrong with Quo when the classic line up split. It was my cue to get a burger and head for the exit pausing just long enough to watch the band close out with Bye Bye Johnny and thinking, this might be it. The very last time I see Quo on stage 37 years after I first saw them live and my life changed forever. Overall, for what it was it wasn’t as bad as I thought it might be, the new boy did well under the circumstances. The show was kind of short though at just over 90 mins and I’d expect a bit longer for £45 although I got a ticket for £20 so can’t complain too much. I have a ticket for the Final Electrics tour in December but if Parfitt isn’t there then I don’t think I’ll go having now witnessed the Parfitless Quo. I hope he makes a full recovery and we can finish our live love affair with one final flourish and with Parfitt in his rightful place and me with my air guitar going for it one final time. Stick a link to your blog on here. Here's a link to the review with a few crap pictures. noclosertowisdom.wordpress.com/2016/07/25/status-quo-ingliston-2016/You can reach the rest of my ramblings from there. Just something I fancied doing just for my own ends really.
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kevtic
Rocker Rollin'
Posts: 699
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Post by kevtic on Jul 25, 2016 16:12:57 GMT
Is there any band still as good as they were 40 years ago? The London Symphony Orchestra Were never the same after they moved to the barbican.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jul 25, 2016 17:05:48 GMT
Agreed, if I hadn't already had a ticket I probably wouldn't have bothered. I'd have flogged it to some unsuspecting ringpiece for face value. I know Derry Quo had been after a ticket.
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Post by Railroad17 on Jul 25, 2016 17:30:20 GMT
I'd have flogged it to some unsuspecting ringpiece for face value. I know Derry Quo had been after a ticket. He had a backstage "meet and see if you know him" VIP ticket.
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Post by Railroad17 on Jul 25, 2016 17:34:04 GMT
Parfitts stand in
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jul 25, 2016 19:26:33 GMT
Aye I was generalising a bit. He's only not been there a few months. Going to see Quo without Rick is like going to see Eric Clapton without Eric Clapton. Aye but Rick shites all over Clapton.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jul 25, 2016 19:31:52 GMT
Aye but Rick shites all over Clapton. Are you pished? Nearly.
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Post by freewilly on Jul 26, 2016 2:34:41 GMT
Aye but Rick shites all over Clapton. Are you pished? Love Clapton tbh but, Peter Green he is not. I know that has fuck all to do with the topic but, it's a fact. Rick is a better rhythm player than Eric(obviously) but, Clapton has this feel to his playing, which is undisputed. But he's a lead player tbf. Rory Gallagher shits all over both of them, and everyone else, tbh
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tqontq
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Post by tqontq on Jul 26, 2016 2:49:05 GMT
Bottom line is - no matter enjoyed or not - it ain't Quo! Its the brand Quo. Not the band! This situation basically says the Quo brand can go out with one member and bring in a bunch of musicians and dish it out as Status Quo. Freddie Mercury on stage without the others ? Would that still be Queen ? Roger Daltry on stage without the others? Is that the Who? Mick Jagger on stage without the others? Is that the Rolling Stones? Paul Mcartney on stage without the others? Is that the Beatles? I can go on.
I can't even believe people are going to these gigs and walking away from it thinking they have seen and heard Status Quo! There is no denying this band, whatever you want to call them, put on a good show and it is entertaining for the casual crowd. Job done in the so called Quo camp. Fair enough. But ...it still is NOT Status Quo. You haven't seen or heard Status Quo. You have seen Francis Rossi and a group of musicians playing Quo material.
If all that floats your boat then fine. I am not saying don't enjoy it for what it is but no one can honesty say we are talking about Status Quo here.
How low this band have become. They are hanging on by a thread in the name of business. Not how i choose to remember them.
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Post by Gaz on Jul 26, 2016 7:55:23 GMT
Love Clapton tbh but, Peter Green he is not. I know that has fuck all to do with the topic but, it's a fact. Rick is a better rhythm player than Eric(obviously) but, Clapton has this feel to his playing, which is undisputed. But he's a lead player tbf. Rory Gallagher shits all over both of them, and everyone else, tbh I'm not talking about guitar-playing ability - I'm just pointing out how pointless going to see Quo without Rick is. It would be like going to see Zep without Jimmy Page. Or Rush without Geddy Lee. Or ZZ Top without any of the bearded chaps. ... or Quo without Francis. I still wonder what they'd do if it was Francis with the ticker problem.
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Post by curiousgirl on Jul 26, 2016 8:05:54 GMT
I enjoyed your review Kev. And thanks for blog link.
I agree this is now the brand Quo and not the band. And I don't get goosebumps the way I do with the FF lineup.
Surely what people are enjoying though are the Quo songs/tracks. Doesn't this prove that their music special? Something we've always known.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jul 26, 2016 9:27:50 GMT
There is plenty of Eric Clapton stuff I like. But what is it about the live gigs through the years? Eric Clapton live is like Joe Bonamassa live. All the guitar solos waffle on for 20 minutes and all sound the same
Perhaps its more accurate to say JB is a tribute act to Eric Clapton. I tried telling my ex that. He wasn't happy.
Miaaow
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Post by americanquo on Jul 27, 2016 3:44:49 GMT
For me, it's simple -Quo in 1976....stunning. Apocalyptic. Quo in 2016....pish. QED. * Hard to believe that in October this year, it'll be FORTY YEARS since the legendary "Live!" gigs in the Apollo. I was at all three. I don't believe I've mentioned that before. Much. Is there any band still as good as they were 40 years ago? I've seen videos of one that came really close. They toured England in 2013 and 2014.
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Post by charliechops on Jul 27, 2016 5:35:59 GMT
Is there any band still as good as they were 40 years ago? I've seen videos of one that came really close. They toured England in 2013 and 2014. You'd better add Holland , France , Germany , Scotland and Ireland to that list as well mate , before their inhabitants rise up !
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Post by johnnymain on Jul 27, 2016 8:08:30 GMT
Is there any band still as good as they were 40 years ago? I've seen videos of one that came really close. They toured England and Scotland in 2013 and 2014. Corrected for you.
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