The title of ‘rock legend’ is a hard earned badge of honour bestowed on the few that have dedicated their lives to the cause and have left their indelible mark on rock music.

Francis Rossi is most deserving of this accolade as he and the rest of the Status Quo crew developed the soundtrack to several generations of new rock fans discovering the joy of the electric guitar through their accessible rocking blues.

Francis, by his own admission, embraced the rock lifestyle to the full and these stripped back, intimate shows have given him the chance to regale the audience with his hazy memories from the glory years and play some cracking songs from the vast Quo back catalogue.

Taking to the stage, Francis was met with a huge cheer and quickly fell into an easy rapport with the crowd. Part storyteller, part stand-up comedian, his easy going delivery had the crowd laughing from the start, especially on his failure to comprehend some aspects of modern life including ‘bulky pee pants’!

However, the tales were just the conduit between the music, and what a set it proved to be. With just Francis and fellow guitarist Andy Brook on stage this was as stripped back as a performance could get. However, this format affords the opportunity to really appreciate what a great guitarist Francis is, something that is often overlooked by those that see Quo’s music as three chords, heads down and see you at the end.

‘Pictures Of Matchstick Men’ opened proceedings taking us back to the psychedelic 60’s before we then headed into the heavy blues of ‘In My Chair’ and ‘Spinning Wheel Blues’. Francis was suffering slightly with throat issues all evening and was using throat sprays between songs to help him through. However, there was no stopping him and vocally he was spot on all evening.

The set list was loosely in chronological order with ‘Gerdundula’ and ‘Claudie’ taking us back to the early 1970’s when the bands profile was on the rise. ‘Don’t Waste My Time’ followed which then led into one of my Quo favourites, ‘Rock ‘N Roll’, which was perfect for this setting and had the crowd singing along.

We then went into the interval with a song which always gets a mixed reaction from Quo fans, personally I love it! Burning Bridges (On And Off And On Again)’ maybe a marmite number, but the crowd tonight were fully on board and sang along with gusto in the chorus.

After a quick 20 minute break, Francis did joke about prostrate issues and the need for frequent visits when you reach a certain age, it was back to the music. He had also joked at the start about his ability to meander during his chats and muck up the set timings, so in the second half he and Andy cracked on with the tunes with the chat kept to a minimum.

The familiar strains of ‘What Your Proposing’ kick the second half into life with more great guitar work from the pair. That was followed by ‘And It’s Better Now’ which always sounds great given a more acoustic slant.

Francis then played a few personal favourites that are less well know to those outside the Quo army. ‘Someone Show Me Home’ from the ‘If You Can’t Stand The Heat’ album was a case in point. To be honest I had forgotten all about this track and it was good to hear it live.

Up next we had another of my Quo favourite, ‘Twenty Wild Horses’. On the introduction Francis pointed out that the song was a difficult one to play and it involved different time signatures and that he my muck it up. However, both he and Andy played a blinder and this song demonstrated that the old ‘three chord’ adage did the band a real disservice.

The last of the more obscure trio was taken from the ‘Lost Chord’ album and was introduced as a song that ranks in Francis’s top ten Quo tracks, quite an accolade! Again, ‘Tongue Tied’ wasn’t really a track that was on my Quo playlist, but it is one I will be revisiting as it sounded great here.

We were nearing the tail end of the set now and Francis went for the big finish. He stated that on the first tour there were a few songs that he had avoided as they were heavier numbers, and he wasn’t sure they would work in the more acoustic setting. However, he had nothing to fear as ‘Roll Over Lay Down’ was a masterpiece. The interplay between the two guitars was spot on and Francis’s soloing was fantastic to watch, and the track was a triumph.

‘Rockin’ All Over The World’ had some of the crowd on their feet dancing along as all belted out the chorus. Mr Rossi’s guitar skills were again brought to the fore on the intro to ‘Down Down’ which went down a storm before ‘Caroline’ brought the setting to a fitting climax.

This proved to be a great nights entertainment with music and laughter throughout provided by the perfect host. The hash tag on this tour is GOMOR which stands for ‘The Grand Old Man Of Rock’, I couldn’t have put it better myself…

Review and photos by Dave Wilson

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Power Plays w/c 1 December 2025

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