Gig review: STATUS QUO – Wolverhampton Civic Hall, 13 March 2013

There’s not much that can be said about this band that hasnt already been said. They have been the purveyors of the famous 3 chord songs for longer than most of us wish to or care to remember. Since the early days of The Spectres in 1962 until today they have spanned over 50 years and all the music eras and continued on with there own uncompromising style of boogie rock that has filled some of the biggest arenas and thrilled thousands of loyal fans around the world.

They have had there ups and downs over the years as you would expect but this tour brings together the four original members on the same stage since John Coghlan left in 1981 and Alan Lancaster in 1985.

The Frantic Four tour has been long awaited by fans and when it was anounced last year the first batch of dates sold out so well that an extra set of dates were anounced which also pretty much sold out.

A lot of people I know had tickets for multiple shows which goes to show the drawing power of these guys.

Wolverhampton Civic was pretty full when we arrived and unfortunately missed most of the support band The Treatment apart from catching the end of there last song, they received rousing applause from the crowd but I can’t say any more about their performance, I did hear good comments from about them on the night though.

The hall was now full and there was definitely a sense of anticipation throughout the crowd so as the lights dimmed the cheers went up and the four appeared on stage the buzz was amazing.

Straight into the music with Juniors Wailing, Backwater and Just Take Me. Alan Lancaster took the vocals for these first numbers and was in good form. The night continued and it seemed that the set we were to hear was not quite what was expected.

Instead of all the big well know hits we got rather a excellent set of album tracks with only a few of the bigger hits thrown in. I’m not sure of the idea behind this but I do know it recieved a mixed reaction from the audience ranging from “excellent night” to “well, I wish they would have played… “

Considering this is the first time the four have been out in such a long time then maybe a hit laden party night might have been an option but I suppose that would have not pleased others.

In all it was a brilliant night and by all accounts a great tour, whatever the choice of material it was great to see one of the biggest classic bands back on stage performing and I hope this isn’t the last time we see them together. Hopefully this will get the fire back in them and we will see a few more “frantic” tours coming up in the future.

Setlist: 1.Junior’s Wailing 2.Backwater 3.Just Take Me 4.Is There A Better Way 5.In My Chair 6.Blue Eyed Lady 7.Little Lady 8.Most Of The Time 9.April, Spring 10.Railroad 11.Oh Baby 12.Forty-Five Hundred Times 13.Rain 14.Big Fat Mama 15.Down Down 16.Roadhouse Blues Encore: 17.Don’t Waste My Time 18.Bye Bye Johnny

Review and photos by Simon Dunkerley

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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)