The last gig I attended at the Kelvingrove Bandstand must have been 40 years ago when Radio Clyde put on a free mini festival of local rock talent, ably hosted by the ‘Beard Of Doom’, Mr Tom Russell. Around the same time Quo were playing two sold out nights along the road at the Glasgow Apollo as part of their ‘End Of The Road’ tour, a gig I still regret not buying a ticket for when I had the chance!

Fast forward 40 years and a lot has changed (I had hair back then for one thing!), but the affinity that the Glasgow crowd has with Quo hasn’t diminished. The band were in town to play two nights with one completely sold out and the other well on the way as fans of all ages were ready to rock with Francis and co. one more time.

Support tonight was provided by up and coming blues maestro Laurence Jones. His driving, heavy blues went down well with the Glasgow crowd in the pleasant evening sunshine.

Kicking off with ‘What’s It Gonna Be’ Laurence’s fretboard dexterity was clear from the off. Ably support by a strong bass and drum rhythm section the band proved to be a real power trio. ‘In Too Deep’ kept up the pace and it was easy to see why Laurence has been hail as one of the best young bluesman of the age.

‘Bad Luck And The Blues’, the title track from the band’s last album, then slowed the pace a little with a chugging, heavy riff that had the crowd nodding along in appreciation. Things then got down and dirty with ‘Don’t You Leave Me This Way’, which, again, is built on a huge riff. The influence of Jones’s hero, Jimi Hendrix, is clear on this track, especially on the fuzzed up solo.

The only fitting way to follow that was to play a full-on homage to Jimi, and the band’s take on ‘Voodoo Child’ was superb. Jones didn’t play things note for note and instead added in a bit more melody to the mid-section which sounded great.

‘Stuck In The Night’ and a rousing version of ‘Women’ then rounded off a great set that went down a storm with the crowd. Winning over a Quo crowd can sometimes be difficult for a support band, but Laurence Jones took it in his stride and no doubt gained a few more Scottish fans into the bargain.

Tonight, though, was all about the mighty Quo. The age range across the arena took in everything from grandchildren attending their first show to Grandparents attending their 65^th. I always viewed taking my children to a Quo gig as a rite of passage, a perfect introduction to what a rock show should be.

As the intro taped blared, the guys took to the stage with little fuss before Ritchie Malone cranked out the familiar riff to ‘Caroline’. Francis Rossi looked happy and relaxed as he took to the mic and hammed it up with the crowd down the front of the stage. ‘Rain’ followed, thankfully the weather gods were onside tonight, and it was the only rain to feature during the evening.

We were then transported back to the heyday of the Glasgow Apollo and bell bottom jeans with ‘Little Lady’ and ‘Softer Ride’. Ritchie took the lead vocal on ‘Little Lady’, he has really earned his place in the band, and whilst no one could fully replace Rick Parfitt, Ritchie does a great job stage right.

The ever present John ‘Rhino’ Edwards fills the stage left spot and looks like a man very happy in his work. Things were brought a bit more up to date (well if 2007 can be considered up to date!) with ‘The Beginning Of The End’ which had the crowd rocking along. The tempo was then upped for a real crowd pleaser, ‘Hold You Back’, which really brought Kelvingrove to life.

The pace continued unabated as the guys charged off into the ‘What Your Proposing’ medley. This blast through a number of big hitting Quo tunes never fails to get heads bobbing and hands clapping in equal measure.

‘The Oriental’ then started off with a melody full of Eastern promise before finishing of with one of the heaviest moments of the evening as Leon Cave gave his bass drum pedals a real workout.  The guys then had full crowd participation on ‘In The Army Now’ as a few thousand voices hollered ‘stand up and fight!’ with great gusto, not that unusual a call in a Glasgow bar of an evening to be fair!

‘Roll Over Lay Down’ then led us into a run of big hitters leading to the set finale. The intro to ‘Down Down’ found Francis left on stage by himself to tease the crowd with some tasty riffs before firing into the familiar, chugging opening section of the song. That just left ‘Whatever You Want’ and the ubiquitous ‘Rocking All Over The World’ to round off another classic Quo set.

The band hadn’t quite finished though and returned for one encore which was another crowd pleaser, ‘Burning Bridges (On and Off and On Again)’, that had the bandstand massive bouncing for all they were worth. A fitting end to a great show.

The day before this show Francis Rossi had celebrated his 75^th birthday, but his performance tonight would shame some much younger rockers who could learn a lot from his stage presence and demeanour. Over the last few years Quo have put in some great live performances and I would urge anyone to get along to a show.

All present tonight from 6 to 60 plus left with huge smiles and a head full of top tunes, a job well done guys!

Review and Photos by Dave Wilson

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Featured Artist: JOSH TAERK

Since early 2020 Josh has been entertaining us with exclusive monthly live sessions, streamed via Facebook.

Next session: Sunday 19 January

Check out videos here: https://www.facebook.com/getreadytorockradio

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David Randall presents a weekly show on Get Ready to ROCK! Radio, Sundays at 22:00 GMT, repeated on Mondays and Fridays), when he invites listeners to ‘Assume The Position’. The show signposts forthcoming gigs and tours and latest additions at getreadytorock.com. First broadcast on 1 December 2024.

UK Blues Broadcaster of the Year (2020 and 2021 Finalist) Pete Feenstra presents his weekly Rock & Blues Show on Tuesday at 19:00 GMT as part of a five hour blues rock marathon “Tuesday is Bluesday at GRTR!”. The show is repeated on Wednesdays at 22:00, Fridays at 20:00). This show was first broadcast 3 December 2024.

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More information and links at our radio website where you can listen again to shows via the presenter pages: getreadytorockradio.com

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Power Plays w/c 9 December 2024

In this sequence we play ‘The Best of 2024′ GRTR! reviewer selections

Featured Albums w/c 9 December 2024

09:00-12:00 The Best of 2024 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003-2024 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2024 (Singer Songwriter)

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