The last musical event of the year for me was QuoFest last night – the first of an 11-date tour by Status Quo, supported by Kim Wilde and Roy Wood’s Rock & Roll Band.
I must admit that when I was told Kim Wilde was appearing I wasn’t that impressed – even writing about it now feels odd. I mean, it’s hard to be a hard-core rocker when you are watching and writing about… Kim Wilde. It’s like when my mate from Leeds, who I go to these gigs with, is asking me if I can get Spice Girls tickets from my agent (loudly, in the mens toilets during the intermission of Rush’s R30 tour) or, this time, for the Steps Reunion (loudly, at the Evanescence gig, and then again last night). There for his daughters, of course, but it’s still not good for your street cred at these things!
But Kim was a total revelation. She has a good live voice, a great backing band, and she played all her well-known songs, plus a brilliant cover of the Buzzcocks’ Ever Fallen In Love With Someone.
She’s still a bit of a looker, and her backing singer was too – but let’s not allow that to detract from the musical side of the matter, eh? We’re all grown-ups, after all.
Roy Wood supported Quo on a previous tour – I may as well get this out of the way now, but he has a very attractive backing singer, too.
This time round, I felt that Roy was more rock & roll than rock, though he played many of his old hits and some great covers (although he DID write them), so maybe I’m just imagining things.
I should point out that the average Status Quo gig sees a lot of activity around the disabled access entrances with the lifts (more so than at a Queen concert these days). What I’m saying is that the average age of the audience tends to be a little on the high side, and for the support acts in particular people usually remain seated – with just the odder people trying to jive in the aisles. Tonight was no different, until Roy closed with I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday. That got most people up.
Even before Kim Wilde came on, there was a worrying number of inflatable guitars being assembled, along with the wearing of silly, oversized spectacles and Santa hats with flashing lights on. Of course, when Quo took to the stage everyone did stand up (apart from one bloke near the front, who Francis Rossi immediately picked out).
They played many of their hits, plus a few tracks from the latest album, Quid Pro Quo. At various stages, the inflatable guitars obscured any hope of a decent view – I think a lot of these people are so wound up in themselves sometimes that they’re not even aware of the music – but maybe I’m just a grumpy git! In actual fact, a Quo gig is a very musically competent affair – I suppose after all those years, it couldn’t be anything less – but people don’t just seem interested in that. Oh well.
At the end, Kim Wilde and Roy Wood came on stage again and the group did a medley of Christmas songs.
If you get a chance to go to one of the shows, I’d recommend it.