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Status Quo  

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Status Quo are a rock band that formed in 1962. Hailing from Catford, London, England, they are one of the most consistently successful groups of all time, who have more UK hit singles than any other band and play huge shows all over the world to this day.

For a band who’ve become something of a byword for steady, water-treading reliability in the world of rock and roll, Status Quo have had a pretty weird old career when you think about it. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the fact that they’re still going as strong as ever, half a century after they started and a good few decades after the brand of boogie rock that they continue to play to this day became stale in the eyes of the record buying public. Yet, here they are, still able to sell out arenas across the globe, still able to to score top ten albums and still able to slay festivals in their sixth decade together as a band. Really, you couldn’t make it up if you tried.

I suppose it makes sense that the band formed in secondary school. There’s something profoundly “boys own” about the band and they’ve never quite lost that feel that they’re still schoolboy scamps who made good at heart. I mean, what else can you say about two sexagenarians who posed nude on their latest album cover with acoustic guitars preserving their modesty? Anyway, the band began in 1962 as The Scorpions, formed by lead guitarist and singer Francis Rossi, and original bassist Alan Lancaster. A year later they changed their name to The Spectres, added John Coghlan on the drums and by 1966 The Spectres were signed to Piccadilly Records. However, success would not come easily to the band, and their first couple of singles sank without a trace.

This would all change in the following year however, since back in 1965, Rossi had become close friends with fellow guitarist and singer Rick Parfitt. The pair had vowed to work together on some kind of musical project but nothing came of it until 1967, when Rossi completed the vintage Quo line-up by adding Parfitt as co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist. Not for nothing was this Quo line-up referred to as the “Frantic Four”. Also in 1967, the band discovered psychedelia, which was to be their making as a band. That’s right, Status Quo, them of the four chord barroom boogie rock, got their big break with a psychedelic rock song. Namely 1968’s “Pictures Of Matchstick Men”.

The song was an astonishing hit, reaching the top ten in the U.K and Canada, whilst also reaching number 12 in the U.S. However, try as they might, they failed to make lightning strike twice and after their second album tanked they went back to the drawing board. What they came up with would change their lives forever, and the band abandoned psychedelia in both sound and look, in favour of hard rock, faded jeans and white T-shirts. In 1970 they debuted this new look and sound in the album “Ma Kelly’s Greasy Spoon” but it wasn’t until 1972 that it began to catch on. ’72 was the year they signed to renowned hard rock label Vertigo, and with “Piledriver”, their first album on the label, they had a top five hit album, a run of three hit singles and the rock world was suddenly their oyster.

Since then the band’s only rivals have been legends like The Stones and The Who. Jagger and Richards’ band are to this day the only band to have more hit albums on the UK charts than them, and it’s estimated that they’ve played 6000 live shows in total to over 25 million people. However, what makes them so vital is that while members come and go, the band lives and dies with Parfitt and Rossi, whose friendship and collaboration has been the constant driving force of the band. Few other bands can lay a claim like that, just like few other bands can lay as convincing a claim to being true national treasures as Status Quo can. Highly recommended.

Live reviews

Recent shows have seen Status Quo play in a reformed version of their classic seventies line-up of Francis Rossi (guitar, vocals), Rick Parfitt (guitar, vocals), Alan Lancaster (bass, vocals) & John Coughlan (drums) regularly referred to now as The Frantic Four.

They played a brilliant set based on the seminal 1976 "Live!" album, that is a bluesier, heavier version of Quo. I'd happily watch this version of band do the same set every year from now until the end of time but all good things have to come to an end and it's likely from now on the line-up will revert to the more familiar "Party Quo" line-up.

"Party Quo" are still led by Rossi & Parfitt and feature long time Quo members John Edwards on bass, and Andy Bown on keyboards along with a drummer, most recently Leon Cave. They are likely to play bigger venues and more often than not manage a Christmas tour of the UK.

The set list still features songs from the band's seventies peak and you're likely to hear plenty of heavy rock classics such as Caroline, Paper Plane, Down Down & Roll Over Lay Down. However, with "Party Quo" you'll get more of the more recent hits like Whatever You Want, Rocking All Over The World and In The Army Now.

Either line-up will give you a couple of hours of great rock'n'roll and even if you only have a passing fancy in the band you're almost guaranteed to have a good time. I've seen the band in various line-ups over 30 times and have enjoyed every single one.

Status Quo remain one of the best live bands you're likely to see which is pretty impressive for a bunch of musicians who are old enough to collect their bus pass.

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Status Quo are still as unbelievable live as they have ever been, playing true to their names as legends of Rock n Roll. The band has been one of the biggest musical names in British rock history since they formed back in 1962. It is incredible to think that they are still going strong, and that many of their classic 70s hits are still huge anthems today. The crowd that lined up to watch the band perform proved how popular Status Quo still are and always will be: there were young teenagers, 20 somethings, families and rock veterans in the crowd, all equally excited to see the iconic band live. Status Quo did not disappoint. They hashed out a number of classic 70s hits such as ‘Caroline’ and ‘Paper Plane’ as well as fan favourites such as ‘Whatever You Want’ and ‘Rocking All Over the World’. Francis Rossi and Rick Parfitt led the vocals and guitars, and both received an incredible reaction from the crowd. They were joined by the rest of the Frantic Four in a reformation of the band’s classic line up from their golden years.

I left in a glass half full mood.

Don't get me wrong, the concert was excellent and on a rough calculation, this was my 50th Quo gig. Francis Rossi is the best frontman in rock. Ritchie Malone was an able deputy for the missing Rick Parfitt. Alas, it was the last night of the electrics. I will no longer be able to rock along with the mighty Quo.

That's why I left the gig, although mightily fulfilled, a little sad.

The Quo have been there to rock out to, for most of my teens and then adult life.

Goodbye to the electrics I will miss it.

If you feel inclined to do the odd electric gig though in the future, I'll be first in line for tickets.

Quo will always be my musical love, the music, the stage presence and that catchy boogie riff. Audiences around the UK will miss them, but memories will remain forever. I love the Quo and I don't care who knows it.

A great night and the 98th time I've seen them and one of the best yet. The set list was much as you would expect it, but at least you know what you are getting! The band seemed to be really enjoying themselves last night.

With support from REO Speedwagon who I've not seen before but they rocked! Playing for 1 hour with an impressive stage set for a support band.

Plus the Lounge Kittens which were better than I expected doing about 30mins

The 6.35 start time caught a few people out, but a good value gig.

I saw Status Quo at the beginning of the month at the Bournemouth International Centre. Francis Rossi is the only one of their classic lineup but the Quo still rock throughout the night, performing a good variety of new songs and their classic hits. Francis provides good humour all round and interaction with the audience. More highlights included a rocking encore of ‘Burning Bridges’, and a medley of many of their old hits that they couldn’t fit in full rolled into one.

Would see again

Saw Quo at Bournemouth 9th December and what an amazing night. After years of promising ourselves to go we were not disappointed. Francis Rossi brings such energy to stage and as always has the crowd eating out of his hand.

His sense of humour and obvious enjoyment of being on stage still shines through. Bought tickets for brother as early Christmas present he said probably best Christmas present ever had. Thank you to all the group for giving us a proper show.Long may you continue.

Fantastic Acoustic performance - 9 in the band. Rossi very much on form. Non stop hits - played 1.5 hours non stop with very little talking. Back to back music. Prefer the acoustic shows. I'd recommend both the show and the venue but not the prices inside. £9 something for a small bottle water, small Diet Coke and 2 bags of crisps. £4.50 per tub for ice cream and there was only chocolate flavour available. Take your own refreshments with you would be my advice.

Fantastic night and everything you expect from the mighty Quo. What was a surprise was the amazing support act Cats in Space. They were probably the best support group I've ever seen. Downloaded their albums and I would pay just to see them in future.

Back to the Quo; as brilliant as always. Really enjoyed last year's acoustic show and sadly miss Rick. The band did a great job of carrying on and long may they continue.

To night out. Thank you Songkick.

Uriah Heep opened, and my god can they still sing and play! Those oldtimers knocked it out of the park....

Then Status Quo came in with medley after medley and just rocked it oldschool! The venue was also very well organized and everything went according to plan, because both bands were very punctual.

It was really worth it purchasing the golden circle ticket, because it wasn´t too expensive, but still very confortable and not completly full.

as i went with my partner i have been 2 times he has been 118 this band may be getting on a bit but they sure know how to rock and put on a good show starting with Caroline at 9 pm and finishing with burning bridges at 10.30 pm with lots in between amazing don't for get the warm up band cats in space a very good choice very good seats all in all 11 out of 10

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Status Quo is not due to play near your location currently - but they are scheduled to play 34 concerts across 5 countries in 2024-2025. View all concerts.

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The British boogie rock band founded by Francis Rossi and Alan Lancaster have with a career spanning more than 50 years and countless hits.

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When Status Quo’s sixth studio album, Hello! , was first released nearly 40 years ago in September 1973 and jumped straight into the UK albums chart at No. 1 it was the culmination of persistence, constant gigging and a creative transformation the likes of which most groups would never attempt let alone survive. Almost unbelievably Status Quo are still going strong, still touring, still making the commercially successful, no-nonsense boogie-rock records that capture the imagination of air guitarists the world over. Many such axe was raised in tribute to the sad passing of founder member Rick Parfitt in late 2016.

If Status Quo was an American band they would be worshipped as Gods, as it is they are just good blokes, the very epitome of great British musicians who know how to put on a great show and make records that have sold many, many, millions.

Their roots can be traced as far back as 1962 when, still at school, Mike (later to become Francis) Rossi, Alan Lancaster and Alan Key (who later left the group) formed a band called Scorpions that then transformed into a five-piece called Spectres. Almost five years later, during which time they’d secured a contract with Piccadilly Records, released three unsuccessful singles and played a summer residency at Butlins in Minehead, they became Traffic Jam for a couple of months and released another single that flopped. Clearly, a change of direction and fortune was needed if they were to continue – another guitarist Rick Parfitt was recruited, the name Status Quo was adopted, flower-power outfits were donned and at the end of February 1968 they suddenly had a No. 7 hit single with the psychedelically-tinged ‘Pictures Of Matchstick Men’. Momentarily in tune with the times, they had a follow-up No.8 hit with ‘Ice In The Sun’ in October but then faded almost as quickly as they’d bloomed, two albums and five subsequent singles in the next two years making very little impression on the charts or the record-buying public.

At the beginning of 1970 though there were signs of yet another change in direction. ‘Down The Dustpipe’, with its straightforward riff and wailing harmonica, was their most successful single since ‘Ice In The Sun’ and gave an indication of where Quo might be heading, and the album released later that year, Ma Kelly’s Greasy Spoon , reinforced that suspicion. One more personnel change – long-time keyboard player Roy Lynes had had enough – reduced them to the classic quartet of Rick Parfitt (guitar/vocals), Francis Rossi (guitar/vocals), Alan Lancaster (bass/vocals) and John Coghlan (drums) that during the next 10 years or so enjoyed truly enormous success. They embarked on an astonishing and unprecedented run of 11 consecutive Top 5 UK albums and only one of the 15 singles they released in that period failed to make the Top 20. A more dramatic turnaround in fortune is hard to imagine and they basically did it by adopting the simple expedient of stripping away all pretension, muso-instrumental doodling and unnecessary elaboration from their music, honing it, in its most primitive form, down to three chords, donning t-shirts, jeans and trainers in favour of kaftans, and then working their socks off.

Their new, raw and ecstatically infectious boogie-rock appealed immediately to an audience that wanted loud, solid, uncomplicated rock to dance to – music to have a good non-cerebral time to. The crowds who saw them at the 1972 Reading and Great Western Festivals will attest to that. Another album, Dog Of Two Head , released at the end of 1971, was just too early to benefit from this new impetus and then the band went a whole year (unheard of in those days) without troubling record retailers until they made another career-changing move and signed to Vertigo, ironically a label known more for its top-heavy roster of largely obscure prog-rock bands than as a home for no-nonsense, riff-based boogie. Nevertheless, in January 1973 they released what was Status Quo’s fifth album, Piledriver . A Top 5 album containing the No. 8 hit single ‘Paper Plane’, it nailed the formula that, with some tweaking and augmentation, the band adopted from thereon, and it truly marked the emergence of a powerful and lasting presence in rock music. The beauty of their recorded music was of course that, unlike a lot of their contemporaries, they could play it live and actually add something to it – energy, power, more guitar! – rather than delivering a diminished album listening experience. And audiences worldwide lapped it up.

Quick to ride the crest of this wave, in September of 1973 they released what many Quo aficionados still regard as their tour de force. Entirely self-written, self-produced and packaged in a stark black sleeve that mirrored the new minimalist approach to their music,  Hello! entered the UK album chart at No. 1 and has been in the intervening 40 years, a constant steady seller. The press was predictably a bit sniffy and condescending about it, as they have been with a lot of Quo’s recorded output – NME said mysteriously that the band were “slaves to a musical cliché rather than masters of it” although Jon Tiven in the US Zoo World opined more generously that the album was “pure chunka-chunka music  a la  Canned Heat , taken to a much higher level”. Hello! also contained the band’s first Top 5 single – ‘Caroline’, the first of a string of 1970s Top 10 hits – ‘Break The Rules’, ‘Down Down’, ‘Rain’, ‘Wild Side of Life’, John Fogerty ‘s ‘Rockin’ All Over The World’ and ‘Whatever You Want’ – that meant that Quo were supreme on three fronts – Top 5 albums, Top 10 singles and huge concert draw. Unbeatable.

The other 1970s albums were  Quo  (No. 2 in the album chart),  On The Level  (No. 1),  Blue For You  (No. 1),  Live!  (No. 3),  Rockin’ All Over The World  (No. 5),   If You Can’t Stand The Heat  (No. 3) and  Whatever You Want  (No. 3) and by the end of the decade their sound had become perceptively more polished, as outside producers were used, but without losing any of its edge or ability to deliver the primal, unfussy music that their fans adored and demanded.

The 1980s were a time of continued all-round success if on a less stable footing. 1981 saw the departure of founding member and drummer John Coghlan to be replaced by ex-Honeybus member Pete Kircher, and this line-up lasted until the band’s appearance at Live Aid in July 1985. Around that time they also recruited two ex- Climax Blues Band members – drummer Jeff Rich and bassist John ‘Rhino’ Edwards – plus keyboard player Andy Bown who had actually been an on-off member of the group since 1974 but for contractual reasons couldn’t until now be counted as such. Original bass player Alan Lancaster had already departed in less than amicable circumstances (the tried and trusted cliché “musical differences” was quoted – they’ve recently patched up these differences apparently) and actually tried to stop the band continuing as Status Quo. It would have taken more than that to stop the Quo juggernaut though and the band went on to record their  In The Army Now  album. This line-up was actually the longest lasting (1985 to 2000) and in that period enjoyed seven Top 20 albums and eight Top 20 singles. One personnel change since has seen Matt Letley replace Jeff Rich on drums but essentially the band has retained, through the dominant Parfitt/Rossi axis, the same persona and character.

To this day Status Quo continue to tour and play large, prestigious gala concerts, arenas and festivals on a regular basis and, almost as a mark of their rock-establishment status, Rossi and Parfitt were awarded OBEs in 2010 for services to music and their work for various charities. In 2011 they released their 29th studio album, Quid Pro Quo , and, almost as regular as clockwork, reached No. 10 in the album chart. Last year they announced a new venture that promises to raise a few eyebrows – the band’s first feature film, a comedy, starring themselves and set in Fiji! And on a more prosaic note last October a two-and-a-half-hour documentary film was released in cinemas and on DVD. Titled Hello Quo! it charts the band’s history in uncompromising fashion and does much to place their commercial, achievements into some kind of perspective within the framework of rock history. The film reveals some surprising devotees such as Paul Weller , Jeff Lynne and Brian May , who appreciate the talent and expertise it takes to distil and refine a sound and to remain true to a clear, uncluttered vision.

Sadly, the death of Richard John Parfitt, on Christmas Eve 2016, in Marbella, Spain – aged just 68 – is bound to disrupt the Status Quo modus operandi. He was such an integral part of the sound, the look and the fun that a Quo sans Rick is hard to fathom. For the time being, we return to Aquostic (Stripped Bare) and Aquostic II: That’s A Fact , the last studio albums to feature this remarkable musician who gave so many such pleasure.

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Status Quo: Britain's most underrated rock band

The power of the latest reunion from Quo's 'Frantic Four' line-up makes you wonder why so many people still think of them as laughable

Simon Hattenstone interviews Status Quo

I went back in time on Saturday, to 30 years ago, which was the last time I saw Status Quo play live. I was a kid, and went to Milton Keynes Bowl on 21 July 1984 to see what was billed as the last ever Quo show. It turned out it wasn't; they were back together for Live Aid within a year, and recommenced a career that continues to this day. I always felt cheated by that; I wouldn't have gone had it not been the last ever show.

But on Saturday night – as part of my continuing to campaign for force Guardian music writer, pop historian, and Saint Etienne band member Bob Stanley to embrace heavy rock – I was down at Eventim Apollo (or the Hammersmith Odeon, as pretty much everyone there would have known it) for the return of the Frantic Four, the original Quo line-up. Or, rather, the second return of the Frantic Four, since they first reunited this time last year for the first time since 1981. Never let it be said Quo don't have a pretty good eye for an opportunity, because this line-up is alternating with the actual current line-up, the Frantic Four playing the deep cuts, the current line-up doing the end-of-the-pier hits set.

Recent years have seen some extravagant claims made for Quo. A big Mojo feature posited their single-mindedness as a precursor to punk, and Bob suggested to me they had plenty in common with Krautrock, in their own peculiar way – making Francis Rossi and Rick Parfitt the Norwood Neu! – and that the guitar pattern that introduces Caroline has rather more in common with the systems music of Steve Reich than with, say, Foghat.

I can't go that far. And I doubt Quo would be likely to make those claims for themselves. But, equally, to paint them as the world's most limited band is to do them a grave disservice. They are used a byword for predictability: I saw a review earlier of the Cure that took this usage, saying they had "turned into a formulaic, Goth rock Status Quo". And that's simply unfair, probably on the Cure and certainly on the Quo.

For a start, it isn't all heads-down no-nonsense mindless boogie. Alan Lancaster's Is There a Better Way is a song that provides some justification for the proto-punk argument; the guitar intros to Oh Baby and Blue Eyed Lady venture into near baroque territory; and Rossi, as everyone who's seen him live knows, is a genuinely excellent blues guitarist, while Parfitt's frantic downstrokes on rhythm were the blurry twin of Johnny Ramone.

But I can't deny it. Quo are at their most thrilling – and thrilling is the right word – when they bring on the boogie. Rain was astoundingly heavy, Down Down as fabulous as ever (and as lyrically puzzling: "I want all the world to see/ To see you're laughing and you're laughing at me." Why? Who would want that?). Small wonder the Apollo/Odeon was as packed as I've ever seen it, with an audience as fiercely partisan as I've ever encountered. This was the first time I've ever entered that auditorium and been physically unable to make more than a couple of steps into the crowd.

So why are Quo so dramatically underrated by those outside their fanbase? It can't just be that people think they do one thing and one thing only – look at AC/DC, whose range is equally limited, but who are now regarded by anyone with half a brain as a treasure. I think it's more to do with their lack of any hint of rock star mystique. Now, you might say AC/DC lack that, too, but they do it by being more or less invisible when they're not touring, and by doing so few interviews. By staying silent, they make themselves more interesting than they actually are. Quo, by contrast, have no problems putting themselves out there – Rossi and Parfitt have told their war stories a thousand times – to the extent that they even starred in their own crime comedy last year, Bula Quo! There's no hint of mystique about them: Rossi and Parfitt are evidently a pair of genial south London fellas who do exactly what they want, which makes them appear a bit naff (though it surely contributes to the fierce loyalty they attract from their fans). Pair that with records like the execrable Margarita Time and it's not hard to argue that if a big part of rock'n'roll's appeal is about creating an image of excitement, then Quo fail dismally. On Saturday morning, I was telling a friend I was off to see Quo that night. "For pleasure?" he asked. Yes. He looked aghast. And I got that reaction time and time again from different people.

That's probably the way I'd feel – possibly wrongly – about the official, current Quo line-up, which groups the hit singles into medleys, and which I associate with the band's transition from rock group to family entertainers. But the Frantic Four? That's one of Britain's defining rock groups, and they deserve to be treated as such.

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Rick Parfitt obituary

Status Quo's Rick Parfitt was 'archetypal rock star' says bandmate

Status Quo: 'We're not musicians — we're players!'

Rick Parfitt: My family values

Bula quo – review.

What I see in the mirror: Rick Parfitt

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The British Invasion that failed: why Slade, Status Quo, the Sweet and Dr. Feelgood never conquered the USA

Slade’s Noddy Holder and Jim Lea join Status Quo’s Francis Rossi, the Sweet’s Andy Scott and Dr. Feelgood’s Wilko Johnson (in one of his final interviews) to explain what did – and didn’t – go down in the ’70s

The influence of American music on British acts – and vice versa – is well documented and has been going on since the birth of rock ’n’ roll in the ’50s. The tables were turned in the ’60s with the British invasion, led by the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and the Who. But since the ’70s, it’s fair to say that the influence going back and forth across the Atlantic has been evenly balanced. 

In spite of the global cross-pollination of musical influences, there remain acts who are massively successful in their native territories yet fail to achieve very much of note any further afield. Many British acts have achieved almost global dominance yet have failed to score more than a handful of hits, at best, in the United States. 

From a sales point of view, the figures speak for themselves: Status Quo are still active and have racked up total sales of approximately 118 million. Slade split up in 1992, having scored sales of more than 50 million worldwide since their first hit in 1970. Sweet were glam-pop superstars in the early ’70s, scoring an amazing run of 16 hit singles between 1971 and ’78, with album sales in the region of 35 million. 

Dr. Feelgood’s sales were relatively modest compared to the three previous chart heavyweights, but as precursors to the punk explosion in Britain, they heralded a vital new approach to making music. Songs cut to the bone, running at three minutes or shorter, and with an image that was lifted by numerous punk acts. 

Their influence spread across the Atlantic to America, when Blondie’s drummer, Clem Burke, brought their debut album, Down by the Jetty , back to New York with him in 1975. It became glued to turntables at parties with all the prime movers on the NYC punk scene in attendance – and taking notes.

Slade, Quo and Sweet all came up through the same club circuit in the U.K. in the ’60s. They knew each other from the numerous occasions when their paths would cross, and all served their time honing their songwriting chops and learning how to work a hostile crowd. 

Dr. Feelgood came up through the U.K. pub rock circuit, which was largely based in London, and saw an explosion of back-to-basics rock ’n’ roll and vintage Stonesy R&B, played in sweaty barrooms to rabid punters, desperate for a fix of something other than the glam pop excesses of the early ’70s or the tired old prog and pomp rock dinosaurs. If this sounds like a familiar tale – the birth of punk – you’re right. 

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Except for one key point: It wasn’t the likes of the Sex Pistols and the Clash who started that ball rolling; it was the brutal, relentless bands such as Dr. Feelgood, and their contemporaries, Ducks Deluxe, the Count Bishops and Eddie and the Hotrods who paved the way.

Slade had formed from the coalition of two bands, the N’Betweens and the Vendors. Having released a handful of singles between 1966 and ’69, the band signed to a new label, Fontana, changed their name to Ambrose Slade and released their first album, Beginnings , in 1969. 

The album, which was made up of covers of the American hard rock acts such as the Amboy Dukes and Frank Zappa, wasn’t successful, but the arrival of new manager (and former Animals bassist) Chas Chandler, the man who guided Jimi Hendrix to stardom, changed everything. 

He took over the reins, instructed the band to start writing their own material and watched them explode into the most successful singles band in the U.K. between 1971 and 1974, outselling everyone from David Bowie to T. Rex. They even became the first band since the Beatles to score a single entering the charts at Number 1, a feat they repeated three times. 

The secret to Slade’s success was their songs, penned by singer Noddy Holder and bass player Jim Lea, who was the musical brain behind the band. A virtuoso violinist as a schoolboy, he abandoned the staid world of orchestral ensembles for the hedonistic joys of the three-minute classic. 

Lea wrote all the music and often came up with key phrases for choruses and titles, leaving singer Holder to fill in the gaps with bawdy tales and a mirrored top hat full of double entendres…

Piledrivers

Slade made their first earnest attempt to try to break open the world’s biggest market – the U.S. – in 1974. Holder remembers how different the American audiences were from what they’d been used to everywhere else in the world.

“It was a very strange experience,” he says. “Half the audience was out of it; they were just stoned out of their trees. We were an out-and-out rock ’n’ roll band trying to get audience participation going, but the audience just didn’t have any energy. Visually, I think we probably looked like four spacemen up there.” [Laughs] 

The Americans didn’t get us at all. Instead of playing to a rabble-raising crowd, all you could smell was pot Jim Lea

Lea agrees: “The Americans didn’t get us at all. Instead of playing to a rabble-raising crowd, all you could smell was pot. We were really big on getting the crowd involved live. We really made that a big part of our act from day one – maybe we even invented it. When we got to America, no one was doing that, really pulling them in and getting them to be a part of the show, singing and stamping and clapping along. Nod was fantastic at that.”

Interestingly, there were plenty of key figures in the audience taking notes, including future members of Mötley Crüe and Kiss. Noddy again: “Gene Simmons and Nikki Sixx told us they’d seen us live when they were younger. Kiss were a perfect example of taking our thing to the nth degree – people were waiting for a change, and that worked well for Kiss. Then there was the MTV thing, which didn’t exist before. We’d have been perfect MTV fodder.”

Status Quo, to this day one of the biggest bands in the world, had a couple of minor American hits at the tail end of the ’60s with Pictures of Matchstick Men in 1968, six years after they formed in 1962. 

That single and its followup hit, Ice in the Sun , were very much of their time – a mix of light psychedelia and pop that bore little resemblance to their later blues ’n’ boogie approach, which has served them well since Down the Dustpipe broke into the U.K. charts in 1970. 

Quo realized that all they really wanted to do was wind their amps up to the max and rock out, abandoning the pop elements and replacing them with their own particular blend of heads-down, no-nonsense, boogie. The cover of the band’s 1972 album, Piledriver , tells you all you need to know, without even needing to hear a note of their music. 

Quo managed the neat trick of keeping the blues and rock elements of their music real, while also knowing their way around a memorable melody. The riff masters have scored an amazing total of more that 70 hits to date – and counting.

Founding member, guitarist and singer Francis Rossi remembers their first forays into the U.S. circuit. “When we first went to America, I remember we went to this Travelodge in La Brea [in Los Angeles], which was a shithole, really, but light years ahead of what we’d been staying in in England – 24-hour TV, beautiful showers, etc., but the funniest thing was when the phone rang in the room and Rick [Parfitt, rhythm guitarist] and I just looked at each other and went, ‘Fuck, it’s just like on the TV.’ [Laughs]

Everything was almost a little intimidating to a degree – the accents, the full-on confidence everybody seemed to have Francis Rossi

“Everything about America was so wow, you know? For most bands going over to America in the early ’70s, it was the first time we’d ever been there, so all we knew was what we’d seen on TV and movies. It wasn’t really that common to go to the States for a holiday back then. 

“The first time we went to California, we just thought, ‘Wow, for fuck’s sake!’ I loved it, but you certainly wouldn’t have wanted to be poor in California in 1973. [Laughs] What that meant was that everything was almost a little intimidating to a degree – the accents, the full-on confidence everybody seemed to have.

“I think, though, with hindsight, that if we’d had someone based over there, working for us, he could’ve given us a shakeup, maybe said, ‘Come on, you fucks, pull it together,’ you know?”

Rossi thinks that’s one of the key reasons Quo didn’t break the U.S. market. “Our manager told us we needed management in the U.S. When the idea was presented to me back in about 1971, I didn’t realize the importance of having representation in the States and rejected the suggestion. 

“Unfortunately, what that meant was that whilst we were getting support and promotion during the time we spent in America, we had nobody working for us at all when we weren’t there. I think that happened to a degree for Slade and the Faces as well. 

“There was also the well-known fact in the ’70s that if you wanted to get radio play you very often had to sweeten the deal with a couple of grams of coke for the DJs when you gave them the album – all those kinds of things that we didn’t have in place. I think, looking back, we should have been prepared to give away a percentage of our management for some U.S. representation, [because] if things had taken off, it would have paid for itself many times over.”

The Sweet Life

Sweet were ’70s glam-rock superstars around the world and had more success than Slade and Quo stateside, but nothing like the level they enjoyed in dozens of other countries. They had one of the strongest images at a time when British pop music was overflowing with outrageous, over-the-top acts. 

Singer Brian Connolly cut a distinctive figure, and with his long blond hair, he was an instant teen heartthrob. The rest of the band adopted the glam look wholesale, with bass player Steve Priest unafraid to take things to the extreme, even dressing up as a camp Adolf Hitler on one memorable TV performance. 

Guitarist Andy Scott, the last man standing, as the three other band members have now passed on, continues to tour with a new lineup of Sweet, playing festivals all over Europe.

Scott remembers that Sweet spurned the first chance they had to crack America for a deliberate career-driven reason. “ Little Willy reached Number 3 in 1973, but we didn’t go to America to promote it, as we were advised that if we did, we’d forever be associated with that song, and it would probably limit our future opportunities,” he says. “Following that, Blockbuster just about scraped into the top hundred, but then Ballroom Blitz broke the top 10 again. 

“We didn’t travel over to work in America until 1975, when Capitol, our American label, released a different version of our Desolation Boulevard album, which did really well. It included Fox on the Run , which reached Number 5 in the U.S. charts and also included Ballroom Blitz from a couple of years earlier. It made for a strong album as there were quite a few hits on it from the U.K. and America.”

We had quite a big stage show, with films projected behind us, a huge lighting show, a drum solo... and a 6-foot-high penis that would spray the audience when we did our version of J.J. Cale’s Cocaine Andy Scott

Sweet committed a lot of time to touring America in the mid-’70s. “We did a warm-up show in Seattle then did our first really big date at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium in 1975,” Scott says. “It sold out in minutes and there was a huge buzz about us. We got a fantastic response. 

“We followed that with a headlining tour. When we were playing America in ’75 and ’76, we had quite a big stage show, with films projected behind us, a huge lighting show, a drum solo where Mick [Tucker] would play against himself on the screen and a 6-foot-high penis that would spray the audience when we did our version of J.J. Cale’s Cocaine . I think if we’d been taking that show out six or seven years later, things could have been quite different for us.”

Nikki Sixx has often mentioned the influence Sweet in particular had on his vision for the kind of band he wanted Mötley Crüe to be – a blond singer fronting a band with three black-haired musicians. 

“Yeah. I was told, and I’m not certain it’s true, that when [Sixx] placed the advert for a singer for the band, it said, ‘Glam rock band in L.A. Wanted: lead singer – Brian Connolly, please’ – or words to that effect,” Scott says. 

There can be no doubt from a musical and visual perspective that the Crüe of Too Fast for Love (1981) clearly drew a huge inspiration from the Sweet, although perhaps the addition of a hint more metal was the extra ingredient that was required to take them to stadium-filling rockers. That and the push of MTV, which is something Holder thinks could’ve made a huge difference for Slade. 

“We were ahead of our time,” he says. “The visuals and everything – we would have been perfect for MTV.” Scott is in total agreement: “MTV would’ve been a game-changer for us when you think about how visual we were, with Brian’s image and Steve’s outrageous visuals.” 

Dr. Feelgood came along after the glam years that saw Slade and Sweet explode into megastars, and just before the punk explosion. The visual chemistry between the band was beyond intense. Lee Brilleaux, who died in 1994 from lymphoma at age 41, had an aggressive vocal style that was mirrored in his image, looking permanently on the edge, ready to do some serious damage to anybody who might want to disagree with him. 

Guitarist Wilko Johnson’s feverish darting across the stage would occasionally be punctuated by leaps into the air, and the rhythm section looked like a pair of gangsters from London’s East End. Johnson, who we interviewed not long before his November 2022 death at age 75, recalled that everything was in place for the Feelgoods to crack the U.S. market. 

“When we signed with United Artists, our deal was for everywhere in the world except America,” he said. “We were really making an impact and consequently we attracted a lot of attention from some American record labels. 

“The key moment was when we played the big party for Led Zeppelin after they’d done their five Earl’s Court [London] shows in May 1975, and Robert Plant had asked if we’d play the huge party afterwards. There were a lot of big names from the American industry there. Ahmet Ertegun was really excited by us and was interested in doing something, and CBS eventually signed us after that. 

“We’d released our first album, Down by the Jetty , at the start of 1975 and we’d release our second, Malpractice , at the end of the year. Next thing we knew, we were flown over to their annual convention to play a spot. They were all into us and were planning to really get behind us as a band.”

Meeting SRV in Austin

Plans were set in motion to expose American audiences to the unparalleled might of the live Feelgoods experience. “We actually did two fairly substantial American tours in 1976 after we played at the convention,” Johnson said. “We played all over the States, including the so-called hip venues like CBGB and the Roxy. 

“We found, when we got to America, that we were meeting a lot of bands who knew our music and were really into us like the Ramones and Talking Heads. It looked like things couldn’t fail for us. [Laughs] 

The thing about Down by the Jetty was I fought for us to play it live, in the studio, with no instrumental overdubs, and I also insisted we do it in mono. My ego was unrestrained at that time Wilko Johnson

“I remember we did get to see some of our heroes. I saw Jimmy Reed at Antone’s in Austin with the Fabulous Thunderbirds backing him. I remember meeting Jimmie Vaughan’s brother, Stevie Ray, who said, ‘Aren’t you in Dr. Feelgood?’ and asking us about Down by the Jetty , being amazed that we recorded it in mono. 

“It kind of showed the reach that album had. The thing about that album was I fought for us to play it live, in the studio, with no instrumental overdubs, and I also insisted we do it in mono. My ego was unrestrained at that time. [Laughs]

“Once we’d just released Stupidity , our live album that went straight to Number 1 in the U.K. in 1976, CBS wanted us to make our next album, which would turn out to be my last for the band, Sneakin’ Suspicion , with an American market in mind. They found us an American producer, Bert DeCouteaux, who’d worked with a lot of great artists. 

“They didn’t release the first three albums, so the intention was to launch us with Sneakin’ Suspicion to the American audience. We were getting a fantastic response everywhere we played in America. I can remember when we played the Bottom Line in New York it was exceptional. 

“I think our timing was perfect, getting in on the punk/new wave movement; we’d been influential to both in the U.K. and, it turned out, in New York as well.”

Inter-band problems and some unfortunate management decisions started to undermine the band, and surefire success started to look like a distant dream. 

“One part of one of our tours was where we were supposed to support Kiss at a stadium show in Mobile, Alabama. We weren’t fans of Kiss at all. [Laughs] Something happened at the venue with our manager and the band or their management, and he came back to tell us we weren’t doing the show. 

“I remember CBS turning up and their guy was absolutely beside himself – he couldn’t believe we were pulling out. [Laughs] The funniest part of that experience was that our next date was scheduled for Memphis, and I was sitting there pondering the whole fuckup when I realized, as a huge Dylan fan, that I was stuck inside of Mobile with the Memphis blues again.” [Laughs] 

Things took an even worse turn soon afterwards. “Unfortunately, things weren’t happy in the band. I was freaking out a bit because we were doing all this touring, but I was also under pressure to come up with the songs for the fourth album. There was a lot of friction in the band, and the divide came down to the rest of the band against me. 

“Everything was boiling over when we were recording Sneakin’ Suspicion at Rockfield Studios in Wales. Things came to a head when they were all drunk and doing coke and I was speeding, and by the morning it came to the point where they threw me out of the band. 

“Naturally, CBS were freaking out then, as they’d got rid of the band’s only songwriter. [Laughs] They’d put a lot of money into us, and they could see everything was falling apart. Everything was pointing in the right direction, but the band imploded. By the time the dust had settled, they had a new guitarist, but the momentum was gone, and I formed a band called the Solid Senders, which I don’t have fond memories of.”

Coincidentally, at the same time Dr. Feelgood were attempting to make headway in America, Slade had decided to spend a couple of years living there, thinking the only way to really make an impact was to apply the same intense touring workload that had enabled them to dominate the U.K. and most of the world. 

Holder: “Our U.S. manager said we need to spend more time touring the States, so we made that decision to spend two years of solid gigging in America. 

It improved us as a band because we had to work hard to win over U.S. audiences in some areas, but we really were the wrong sort of band for a lot of places. The East Coast and Midwest were great, but the West Coast was just too laid back, too much into the singer/songwriter vibe. We were considered too heavy for AM radio, but FM was playing our album stuff, which was weird as we were considered a singles act.”

Quo and Slade played some dates together in America in the mid-’70s. Noddy remembers: “Francis Rossi said that if we weren’t careful we’d end up losing our home audience. He told me that Quo were going back to the U.K. because it seemed too risky to endanger their success everywhere else for the sake of cracking America.” 

We thought what if we spend X years chasing that American dollar and we don’t break through, we could end up losing some of what we already had Francis Rossi

Rossi remembers the conversation: “I did think there was a danger of them losing their core support if they spent too much time away from the U.K.” In fact, Slade’s sales and chart placings did start to slip at that time, but whether that was due to their absence or just the changing tastes of a fickle record-buying public is impossible to say. 

“I remember the notion was that you’d work a territory back and forwards and then move on to another then consolidate what you’d done,” Rossi says.

“I was looking at a map of California and I thought we aren’t even going to live long enough to do justice to California – it’s that big. [Laughs] We had a discussion as a band that we were doing really well everywhere else in the world, making great money, that we thought what if we spend X years chasing that American dollar and we don’t break through, we could end up losing some of what we already had.”

When Status Quo opened up Live Aid in 1985, it seemed the perfect chance to try to capitalize on their higher profile. Rossi recalls: “Live Aid didn’t make any difference. We didn’t even really want to do it, so we just said we’d go on first to get it out of the way, but ironically, that opening clip was what got shown all around the world time and again on news channels.

“It didn’t have any impact on our sales – not that we were doing it for that reason anyway – we just did it as a favor. If we’d been thinking about capitalizing on opportunities I suppose we could have done some stuff in America on the back of it, but that never entered our minds.

“Having had this discussion, though, you’ve really made me think whether we should have gone back and tried to have another go at America. I know there are a lot of bands in America, rock and punk, that have told me they really liked what we did, and I always have to ask them how they even knew our music.” [Laughs]

Slade returned to the U.K., having to finally admit defeat on their quest to replicate their worldwide success in America. They found that the changed music scene in the U.K. in the mid-’70s, with the U.K. in the grip of punk, wasn’t as welcoming as the scene they’d left a couple of years earlier. 

“I don’t know if it was our absence, or just that things had changed so much in the U.K.,” Holder says. “There was a whole disco explosion as well, which really wasn’t something that had anything to do with a band like Slade.” Lea agrees: “I think that’s right, in a way. 

“When there’s musical uncertainty it always seems to turn to dance music. With a band you get a group of guys together with personalities, you know, but the dance/disco thing was very producer-orientated. Things weren’t noisy anymore. The Bay City Rollers did really well in the U.K. and in America, and I suppose they kept a small bit of that glam spark going – but tastes did change.”

Sweet found that while they had a degree of success in America, sales back home were slowing down for them as much as they were for Slade. Unfortunately for Sweet, relationships in the band also started to fall apart, which hastened their demise. Connolly left in 1979, which was a hard blow to sustain, but then when Priest left in 1981, it caused the band to temporarily split. 

“Ed Leffler, who was a well-known figure who’d worked with the Beatles and the Osmonds (and later Van Halen), managed us when Desolation Boulevard came out and we were doing quite well, really,” Scott says.

“What he said, we did, because we had a lot of faith in him, but that ended up to our detriment, because by the end of the decade we had fuck all left in our pockets because we’d spent too much money touring. We tried to pull things together again a few times over the years with Steve, but he never really wanted to commit to playing.”

Having had this discussion, you’ve really made me think whether we should have gone back and tried to have another go at America Francis Rossi

If there is a common theme amongst why Slade, Sweet and the Feelgoods didn’t take America by storm in the way that they’d become accustomed to elsewhere, it seems to be a matter of bad luck – or simply bad timing. 

For Slade and Sweet, the arrival of MTV 10 years sooner was probably all it would’ve taken. For the Feelgoods, relations had deteriorated too far by the time the opportunity arrived. For Status Quo, a pragmatic decision was taken that has perhaps been proven to be the correct choice with hindsight, as they continue to fill stadiums around the world. 

Rossi is somewhat rueful when he looks back, though: “I think, again with hindsight, that it was probably a mistake to opt out of trying to crack America and continue to work the rest of the world. 

“I guess we possibly worked the other markets where we were doing very well to death, but it’s easy to look back and see what you should have done differently. We were doing exceptionally well everywhere else, and of course we all had families, and security is important to some degree, and we decided to take things the way we did.”

The four bands discussed here are arguably the four most important British bands to fail to really make an impact in America, but there are many more acts worthy of further investigation, including the Sensational Alex Harvey Band, Wizzard, Cockney Rebel, Mud, Japan, the Jam, Ian Dury and the Blockheads, the Stranglers, the Buzzcocks and the Specials, to name just a handful.

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Mark is a freelance writer with particular expertise in the fields of ‘70s glam, punk, rockabilly and classic ‘50s rock and roll. He sings and plays guitar in his own musical project, Star Studded Sham, which has been described as sounding like the hits of T. Rex and Slade as played by Johnny Thunders. He had several indie hits with his band, Private Sector and has worked with a host of UK punk luminaries. Mark also presents themed radio shows for Generating Steam Heat. He has just completed his first novel, The Bulletproof Truth , and is currently working on the sequel.

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Prawns in the tempura: What happened when Status Quo's Frantic Four reunited

The Status Quo reunion they said would never happen finally happened when the Frantic Four reunited in 2012. Classic Rock was there to record history being made

What a difference 32 years can make. It’s late 1981 and Status Quo are in Switzerland recording the album that will mark their 20th anniversary when John Coghlan kicks his snare drum across the studio. The hot-headed drummer (aka the Mad Turk) informs his bandmates: “That’s it, I’m leaving.” 

The reply from Francis Rossi must have stung: “Fucking good job. This time you’re out [for good].” 

And Rossi meant it. Coghlan was quickly replaced by Pete Kircher. Coghlan’s departure brought a fractious end to the ‘classic’ line-up of Quo, which is now widely referred to as the Frantic Four, thanks to a song introduction from their celebrated 1977 album Quo Live! . 

Four years later, bass player Alan Lancaster quit Quo after their appearance at Live Aid , leaving Rossi and fellow guitarist/vocalist Rick Parfitt to carry on the name. A legal battle saw the ugliness continue to fester. Back in 1992, addressing the question of a Frantic Four reunion, Rossi told Classic Rock : “That’d be like trying to get your dick up your own arse – impossible.” 

But here we are on the day of the 2012 Classic Rock Awards. Rossi and Lancaster (both 63), Parfitt (64) and Coghlan (66) are seated around a cafeteria table at London’s Roundhouse to discuss one of rock’s most unlikely reunions. 

Having recently denied having multiple sclerosis, Lancaster looks more frail than expected. And Parfitt is less hirsute than usual (“Never go to a random barber in Teddington,” he will tell The Daily Mail a few days later. “Maybe I’ll wear a syrup [on the tour] and no one will notice!”). 

Welcome to the madhouse.

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We happen to be meeting on what is the first day of the pre-sale of a tranche of tickets for the upcoming Frantic Four live shows…  

Rick Parfitt [interrupting]: They sold out in 10 minutes, apparently. 

Francis Rossi : Which is nice, obviously. 

Parfitt : We’d been told that they would either sell [raises hand to indicate mid-range success] or they’d sell [stretches up to the ceiling]. And fortunately they’ve flown out the door. That’s a fantastic start. I wasn’t sure it would happen, to be completely honest. And I know that you [gesturing to Rossi] weren’t either.

With most of the shows taking place in midsized theatres, were you a bit too cautious?  

Rossi : The business people always are very cautious, and I suppose that’s wise. If we go in there all buns glazing [sic] and nobody turns up, then we’ve got egg on our faces, haven’t we? I mean, if there hadn’t been a band for the last 30 years, then maybe we’d have been a lot more gung-ho. But there has, so we weren’t. The fact that tickets are on sale – and selling out – makes this real. 

Do you all share the astonishment of the fans that it’s finally actually happening?  

Parfitt : I’m still finding it pretty mind-boggling. I just said to Nuff [Lancaster] that walking around the streets again with these guys feels very surreal. I’m sitting here and I’m feeling like the new boy all over again. I mean, these three started it all up.

Alan and John, do you share Rick’s sense of disorientation?  

John Coghlan : I do. But I’m really enjoying it. After all these years, I’ve lost count of the fans that have asked me whether the original four members would ever get back together. I always told them I had no clue. But now… what a buzz. 

Alan Lancaster : I’m just looking forward to playing again with the boys. 

Parfitt : But there’s still a lot of work to do to bring things back up to the standard that the fans will have been used to. None of us are thinking that we’ll just plug in and play all those old songs again and – hey presto – it’s 1973 again. I’d like people to know that we’re not approaching things lightly.

Have you actually played together since the segment of the Hello Quo! documentary filmed at Shepperton?  

Parfitt: No. But we’ve got two weeks of rehearsals to put it all together. The songs aren’t a problem, though I’m sure some of them won’t work the way we hope, so there’s plenty of work to do. 

When do the rehearsals begin? 

Parfitt : Tomorrow at 10am. No [laughs]… after Christmas. Three of us will be rehearsing [for all of that time] together but the long-haired one [nodding at Lancaster] says that he doesn’t need to. 

Lancaster : John and I could play the set tomorrow. We did a lot of those songs together in Perth [with The Party Boys in 2008]. 

Rossi : Yeah, but you didn’t do them with me and him [Parfitt]. 

Lancaster [indignantly]: I tell you what, we did it in front of 25,000 people. 

Rossi [with a sense of triumph]: So what the fuck are you doing sitting here, then?

It’s a good question. For those that don’t know, why is this happening now? 

Rossi : Well, if it didn’t happen soon then it probably never would. I mean, look at us – we’re old men. 

And what changed to make it possible?  

Rossi : The fact that we’re talking to Alan again. He came to see us play in Sydney… 

Lancaster : Actually, it [the process of reconciliation] started quite a long way before that. Simon [Porter, Quo’s current manager] and I had been talking for about six months to a year. Eventually we [the Frantic Four] came to our senses. A lot of the problems we had were down to managers and the people that looked after business. We have been partners all our lives. I don’t mean like a limited company, more like it’s a marriage. And it had broken down – badly. But every problem between us had been given to an outsider to sort out, people that were being paid by us; it was ridiculous. We were being milked. So when Simon put Francis on the phone to me, everything fell back into place. 

Rossi : At the time of the split there was a lot of cocaine involved. Some of us smoked, some of us snorted, some of us drank – and of course some of us didn’t. That’s not conducive to communication, is it? 

Parfitt : It was especially difficult for John because we all got into the wonga [cocaine] and he didn’t even smoke… 

Rossi : …so we held him down and blew it up his nose. 

Lancaster : But now John’s on the heroin, he’s perfectly okay. 

Parfitt [trying to make himself heard]: Poor old John, he’d drink himself silly and the rest of us would be in hysterics over anything – a teaspoon, maybe. He just didn’t get it.

So, basically, you were sitting targets to be ripped off?  

Lancaster : We were taken advantage of, yeah. People would say, ‘Oh, I’ll sort that out for you.’ And they did sort it out, but they’d also take money out of the bank account. 

Parfitt [nodding]: We took our eye off the ball, big time. 

How much of the Frantic Four split can be attributed to drugs?  

Parfitt : A lot of it, I’d say. We were all wonga-d, we were all laughing. Often we’d go onstage a bit wonga-d. We were all over the shop, and something had to give. 

Lancaster : You must realise that the band’s decision-makers were on cocaine, the record company was on cocaine and back then so was the whole bloody industry. 

When it all went tits up, how did it make you feel? 

Parfitt : The elevation of the band through the 1970s seemed to happen so quickly, it was mind-blowing. And then for it all to fall apart… to go our separate ways… it was really, really sad. I never wanted it to happen. 

Rossi [quick as a flash]: Yeah, but if we hadn’t split up we couldn’t have got back together again, could we? And Classic Rock have a few blank pages in their magazine. 

Can you verbalise your feelings about the day you met again at Shepperton Studios and played a few numbers together for the Hello Quo! movie?

Lancaster : I felt a bit like I’d been thrown in at the deep end. I thought there’d be a little room where we could sit and talk [before anything happened]. But I walked into Shepperton and there we were on a fully lit concert stage with 14 bloody cameras in our faces. We hadn’t even discussed what we were going to play. I hadn’t tuned up my bass and my voice was about three tones too low because I’d not done any exercises. When we went into In My Chair… it could not have been any colder. 

Parfitt [nodding]: Yeah, that version of In My Chair was just fucking awful. 

Coghlan: There were no set-lists but to me it felt really exciting. We just played what came into our heads. 

Rossi: Those versions of Tie A Yellow Ribbon and Michael, Row The Boat Ashore were great, weren’t they?

So that’s the practicalities – let’s talk feelings . 

Lancaster : I was very emotional indeed. 

Coghlan : After all those years, I was too. 

Rossi : To me, and I don’t mean this in a bad way, it was like putting on an old shoe or glove. Even if you’ve not worn it for 20 years, it still fits. There were a few disagreements over tempos that we’ll have to address later on, but it surprised me how comfortable it felt. I thought it would be really weird but… [pauses for thought] it just wasn’t. 

Francis has quite rightly said: ‘There’s no way this can be the band of the 1970s.’ 

Rossi : That’s the thing that really makes my bum twitch because quite obviously it cannot be that again. 

Lancaster [laughing]: That’s right. I’ve got this big mirror in my bedroom and I was playing air guitar. I practised jumping off the bed like I used to do from the rostrum…

Rossi : They’re called drum-risers now, Nuff. 

Lancaster [ignoring him]: And I really hurt my foot. I’ve still got all the movements together. 

Rossi: We don’t want those. 

Lancaster : I can still do a bit of bum-wiggling. We’re gonna do a lot of disco moves. 

Rossi [leaning into the dictaphone]: That’s why it’s not going to be a very long tour, folks.

Several issues ago, Rick predicted to Classic Rock : “This tour will bring back the older fans that lost faith in us.” Can you elaborate on that please?  

Parfitt: I’m very optimistic that it will. There are a lot of forgotten faces – the ‘front-rowers’, as we like to call them – that have long, long since disappeared. I’m sure when we walk out there, it’ll be, ‘Oh, it’s you again.’ 

Rossi [interrupting]: ‘Ain’t you got fat and old?’ 

Parfitt : And I daresay they’ll think the same of us. 

Coghlan : For me, getting the chance to do this again proves a point. We’ve been slagged off and laughed at, but the fans still love us. Look at the way the tickets are selling.

Although you’ve stated that the set will use Quo Live!, the double album from the Glasgow Apollo released in 1977, as its blueprint, there’s been much speculation as to what will be played.  

Parfitt : The way it’s looking right now, one of us will be singing quite a lot and two of us won’t. 

Rossi : Rick and I are gonna be sitting on stools. Count them: Backwater, Just Take Me [both sung by Lancaster]… 

Lancaster [in shocked tones]: At Shepperton I thought that I used to sing Umleitung but it was him [points to Rossi]. That’s why nobody could remember the words. 

Parfitt [to Lancaster]: I’ve been singing Roadhouse Blues for the last 20 years when it was in the set. But if you [to Lancaster] can’t sing it then we’re fucked. 

Lancaster [above the laughter]: I want us to do a 45-minute version of Forty-Five Hundred Times . 

Rossi : You’ve got absolutely no fucking chance. 

Parfitt : Actually, it was only 22 minutes long. 

Rossi [slightly contemptuously]: Yeah, and that was the short version.

And what happens if Francis says he wants to play Marguerita Time ? 

Parfitt : We split up again. What would be great is to start with Marguerita Time , then halfway through it we have a punch-up and walk off. Then we re-form and come straight back on again. 

Rossi [grinning]: With Marguerita Time . [Much laughter] 

Francis, you once told Classic Rock that Live! is “the worst album that Quo ever made” . 

Rossi : I think so, yeah. I always have done. It’s a mess. 

And now you’re basing the set on it?  

Rossi : Well, that’s more from a production sense. The third night [of the three that were recorded] was by far the best, but there were problems [with the audio]. What we should’ve done was go back in and overdub. Had we done that, it would’ve been great. 

Parfitt : I know what Francis means, but it does have a certain rawness. It sounds ‘real’. 

Lancaster : Going back to it to re-learn it, I still stand by it. 

Will Jackie Lynton introduce the show, as he did so famously on the Live! album? 

Parfitt: We’ve thought about this… 

Rossi : …But he’s quite old now, isn’t he? And he’s ill. To have him go out there and say: “Do you wanna fucking rock?” again, that might be a bit… [pause]… well, he’d have to tone it down, which wouldn’t be right. 

Parfitt : For nostalgic reasons I’d like to think we might use Jackie, but whether he could raise it to the level of that original – I mean, he really fucking meant it. 

Rossi : “Are you ready to… I don’t quite remember what I’m here for.” It’s not the same, is it? So the jury’s out on that. Lancaster: We wouldn’t want it to be corny. 

Of the four of you, who has changed the most of all… and the least?  

Parfitt : Wow, that’s a really interesting question. 

Lancaster : To me, Rick’s changed the most. As a person, he’s a lot warmer than he used to be. 

Parfitt [looking perplexed]: I’d say that’s probably a lack of drugs. 

And what about Francis, Alan? 

Lancaster : Well, he’s become really cold. 

Parfitt and Rossi [simultaneously]: That’s a lack of drugs as well! [Much laughter] 

Rossi [into dictaphone]: Bring back the drugs! Now! 

Parfitt [attempting to sound serious]: I think it’s really quite weird. When we were together back then, Spud [Coghlan] and I used to love our drinking, so did Alan and Francis. Like I said earlier, most of the time we were completely out of it – wonga-d. It’s quite a shock when we get back together, all straight, and sit around a table. Perhaps after all these years we’ll finally get to know one another for the first time. 

Lancaster : What Rick’s saying is true, but we weren’t out of it all of the time… 

Parfitt [interrupting]: You speak for yourself, mate. [Roars with laughter] 

Lancaster : What I’m trying to say is that none of us are really that different as people. Maybe the personalities have been tweaked a little? Softened? 

Lancaster: That’s it exactly. One of the reasons that we got so grouchy – and this might sound stupid – is that we used to go for huge periods of time without being fed. Also, our diets were wrong. [The others nod] 

Rossi : That’s a good point. Hunger can do strange things to a man. 

Lancaster : If you’ve not eaten for 24 hours… 

Parfitt [interjecting]: Because you’ve not got any money… 

Lancaster: …You tend to behave a little differently. It can make you really angry. 

Rick, in your last Classic Rock interview, you stated that John is “still a moody bastard”, just like he used to be. 

Parfitt: I didn’t mean that to sound nasty. Until we get out on the road, I don’t know whether Spud has got better or become worse. Time will tell. 

Rossi : Oh… look out, he’s got that look in his eye. 

Parfitt : Spud, by his own admission, was a moody fucker. You’d get halfway through the set and something would upset him, and then you’d see his face change. He looked like thunder, and he played like a bastard – it was fantastic! So we’ve got to make sure we upset him somehow. [Laughs] 

Rossi : Back then Spud was much, much quieter than the rest of us, but a lot more explosive. 

Parfitt : John always looked very handsome when he was moody… till he grew a beard. 

Rossi [horrified]: Well, I didn’t want to shag him. 

Parfitt [looking around him]: All I can say is that it’s such a pleasure to be sitting here with everyone else. It’s freaking me out in a way.

That’s unusually profound, Rick.  

Parfitt [in decidedly forlorn tones]: What happened was such a shame. Although in some ways the split was inevitable, after all of that amazing success, for it all to have fallen apart… for me it was incredibly sad. So it’s very refreshing for the four of us to be sitting around a table again, it really is. 

So is this all about closure or can we realistically hope for more? 

Rossi : Like Rick just said, it’s nice to be back together again – apart from him over there [Lancaster], of course. If it goes well… who can say? That’s the crazy thing about this business. Two years ago this would have been completely impossible. The next step is to see how the tickets really sell. It’s no good us wanting to do something – the demand must be there. And if that’s proven? 

Rossi : Well, then we’re game. I certainly am. 

Parfitt : If the gigs in March are as successful as we’re hoping, then… dare I say it… 

Rossi : Dare, dare! 

Parfitt : Then there could be a world tour [from the Frantic Four] in 2013. Australia wants us. 

Rossi : The Germans are interested. But at the end of the day, it’s not about whether or not we want to do it. The business reasons have to work. 

Lancaster : We’re just the prawns in the tempura. 

Parfitt [splutters with laughter]: I like that! But yeah, if none of us dies in the meantime then that could well be on the agenda. 

Rossi : Then we’d have to have two buses – one for us and one for them. 

Parfitt : No, fuck that, we’ll have one each. If we’re gonna get big again, let’s do things properly. 

Could that extend to an album? 

Rossi : Possibly, yeah. Nuff has got a mile of tunes. 

Lancaster : The way forward might be to do an EP. 

That seems to be the new business model. 

Lancaster : Exactly. That way you have quality control and time. If your three EPs are well received then you can match them up for an album. Nobody wants to hear anything that’s 50 per cent crap. 

Rossi [amazed]: Fucking hell, Nuff just got serious. 

On behalf of Classic Rock readers everywhere, welcome back guys – we hope it lasts. 

Rossi: Well, it’s early days. 

Coghlan : We haven’t even decided who’ll go out on stage first. 

Parfitt : Oh, we have! 

Rossi : Gladly… you two [Lancaster and Coghlan] walk out our first. That’ll suit me just fine. 

Parfitt : The bottom line is that none of us know what’s gonna happen, or where this will take us. But I’m sure it’s going to be fun finding out.

The original version of this feature appeared in Classic Rock 182, in February 2013. The Frantic Four played 26 shows across Europe on their reunion tour, but didn't get to Australia. No studio recordings emerged.  

Dave Ling was a co-founder of Classic Rock magazine. His words have appeared in a variety of music publications, including RAW, Kerrang!, Metal Hammer, Prog, Rock Candy, Fireworks and Sounds. Dave’s life was shaped in 1974 through the purchase of a copy of Sweet’s album ‘Sweet Fanny Adams’, along with early gig experiences from Status Quo, Rush, Iron Maiden, AC/DC, Yes and Queen. As a lifelong season ticket holder of Crystal Palace FC, he is completely incapable of uttering the word ‘Br***ton’.

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Money latest: Morrisons shoppers are going to notice two changes in stores

Morrisons has launched two major changes for shoppers – with stores offering travel money and trolleys now featuring advertisements. Read this and all the latest consumer and personal finance news below - and leave your thoughts in the box.

Thursday 25 April 2024 19:51, UK

• Halifax hikes mortgage rates - as entire market moves upwards
• Renters' Reform Bill signed off - but with indefinite delay to no-fault evictions ban
• Morrisons rolls out bureau de change and trolley adverts

Essential reads

• The world of dark tourism - what is it, is it ethical, and where can you go?
• Money Problem : I have a mortgage offer - will it change now rates are rising?
• Savings Guide : Why locking into fixed-rate bond could be wise move
• 'More important than a will': What are lasting power of attorneys and how much do they cost?
• Cheap Eats : Michelin chef's secret lasagne tip - and expensive ingredient you shouldn't use

Ask a question or make a comment

Halifax has become the latest major lender to up mortgage rates.

They are putting up a range of deals by 0.2%.

BM Solutions also announced increases today.

It follows similar moves by TSB, NatWest, Virgin, Barclays, Accord, Leeds Building Society, HSBC and Coventry last week.

Lenders are responding to swap rates - which dictate how much it costs to lend money - rising on the back of higher than expected US inflation data, and concerns this could delay interest rate cuts there. 

US trends often materialise elsewhere - though many economists are still expecting a base rate cut from 5.25% to 5% in the UK in June.

This is what average mortgage rates look like as of today...

Justin Moy, managing director of EHF Mortgages, told Newspage: "Yet more bad news for mortgage borrowers, as two of the biggest lenders announce increases to their fixed-rate products. 

"As mortgage rates creep up and past 5% even for those with the largest deposits, we seem to be lacking a clear strategy of the government or the Bank of England on how rates will eventually fall. 

"Even 2% inflation may not be enough to reverse the recent trends in rates."

Morrisons has launched two major changes for shoppers – with stores now offering travel money and trolleys featuring advertisements.

Announcing their bureau de change service, Morrisons said customers could exchange currencies in select stores or could place their money orders online at Morrisonstravelmoney.com.

Using the online service means customers can either click and collect their cash in certain Morrisons stores or at any of Eurochange's 240 branches. Alternatively, they can go for home delivery.

Services director at Morrisons, Jamie Winter, said the service "will provide our customers with easy access to a wide range of currencies at competitive exchange rates".

So far, stores in the following areas have travel money kiosks:

• Basingstoke

In other news, the supermarket chain rolled out a new trolley advertising across 300 stores in a partnership with Retail Media Group.

A sweetener used in drinks, sauces, savoury and sweet foods and chewing gum can cause serious damage to people's health, according to a new study.

Neotame, a "relatively new" sweetener, could damage the intestine by causing damage to healthy bacteria in the gut, according to the study, leading it to become diseased and attack the gut wall.

The study by Anglia Ruskin University (ARU), published in the journal Frontiers in Nutrition, found the negative effect of neotame "has the potential to influence a range of gut functions resulting in poor gut health", potentially impacting metabolic and inflammatory diseases, neuropathic pain, and neurological conditions.

The illnesses this could lead to include irritable bowel disease or insulin resistance.

Read the full story here ...

As we reported yesterday, a pilot programme is coming into force in Venice today that means visitors have to pay a €5 (£4.28) charge to enter the city.

Authorities say the pilot programme is designed to discourage tourists and thin the crowds that throng the canals during peak holiday season, making the city more liveable for residents.

Pictures have been emerging this morning of people queueing to register for a QR code that will allow them to enter after they have paid the charge - and officials carrying out checks on people inside the city.

People found to be contravening the rules can be fined up to €300 (£257).

As detailed in our story , the move has been met with anger among some in the city.

Venice is the first city in the world to introduce a payment system for tourists - but comments from its most senior tourist official suggested it may become a more common practice for major tourist hotspots in Europe.

Simone Venturini revealed the pilot programme was being closely watched by other places suffering from mass tourism - including other Italian art cities and hugely popular weekend-break destinations Barcelona and Amsterdam.

More than 160,000 people switched to Nationwide from other providers at the end of 2023, when the building society was offering a huge cash switching incentive.

According to figures from the Current Account Switch Service (CASS), Nationwide had a net gain of 163,363 account switchers between October and December, after leavers were taken into account.

It was the highest quarterly gain since the same period in 2022, when 111,941 switched to Nationwide.

The building society launched a £200 switching bonus for new joiners in September last year - the biggest giveaway on offer at the time. It withdrew the offer just before Christmas.

The latest CASS figures, which show Nationwide had 196,260 total gains before accounting for leavers, suggesting it could have spent up to £39m on nabbing customers from other providers in the last three months of the year.

Barclays and Lloyds Bank saw more modest net gains of 12,823 and 5,800 respectively, while the rest of the UK's big banks reported net losses.

NatWest and Halifax fared worst, losing over 40,000 more switchers each than they gained.

This week saw the last remaining switching offer on the market withdrawn.

Sainsbury's is having technical issues again - with shoppers taking to social media to say their deliveries have been delayed or cancelled.

The supermarket has been replying to customers saying: "I'm really sorry about the tech issues this morning. 

"We're aware of the situation and are working to sort it as quickly as possible. In the meantime, we'd advise you place a new order for a future date."

Customer Andrew Savage wrote: "Order has not been delivered and no confirmation email this morning."

Another, John B Sheffield, said: "So angry! Just got through to your customer line after 40 min WAIT. 

"Tells me NO DELIVERIES TODAY! tech problem? I've NO FOOD IN! ANGRY!"

In a statement to Sky News, a Sainsbury's spokesperson says: "A small technical issue affected some groceries online orders this morning. 

"We have contacted these customers directly to apologise for the inconvenience." 

In another update at 10am, the supermarket said that the issue has been resolved. 

Responding to customers on X, Sainsbury's also offered those affected e-vouchers and details on how to rebook their orders.

It comes a month after the supermarket had to cancel almost all deliveries on a Saturday in mid-March due to another technical issue.

By Daniel Binns, business reporter

A potential $38.8bn (£31bn) takeover of UK-based mining company  Anglo American  has sent its shares soaring - and helped the FTSE 100 hit yet another record high this morning.

The attempted mega-merger, by larger Australian rival BHP, is currently being reviewed by Anglo American's board.

The deal, if it goes through, would create the world's biggest copper mining company - and comes as the price of the metal continues to climb amid soaring demand.

Anglo American's shares have surged as high as 13% this morning as news of the negotiations emerged.

The announcement also helped spur the FTSE 100 to a new intraday (during the day) high of 8,098 points.

The index, of the London Stock Exchange's 100 most valuable companies, has hit a string of records this week, including  an all-time closing high of 8,044 points  on Tuesday.

The score is based on a calculation of the total value of the shares on the index.

Also moving the markets are a string of company results which were published earlier on Thursday.

Among those issuing updates to investors was drugsmaker AstraZeneca. Its stock is up more than 5% after the firm reported quarterly profit and revenue above market estimates.

Unilever is also up 5% following similar better-than-expected quarterly figures.

Another good performer is  Barclays  - despite reporting a 12% fall in profits for the first three months of 2024. Its shares are up more than 4%.

That's because its quarterly figures are slightly better than expected, and the bank has said it expects its fortunes to improve later this year.

Meanwhile, as tensions in the Middle East continue, the price of a barrel of Brent crude oil continues to hover at a price of around $88 (£70).

This morning £1 buys $1.25 US or €1.16, similar to yesterday.

Every week we get experts to answer your Money Problems - usually on a Monday, but today we have a short, bonus addition in light of multiple lenders raising mortgage rates this week on fears an interest rate cut could be delayed to a little later this year (note: many economists still think it will come in summer).

A few readers have got in touch with questions similar to this one...

My remortgage is due to complete on 1 May. I already have an offer but with rates going up, is there any way at all my offer rate could increase? Saz681

We asked David Hollingworth, director at L&C Mortgages, to answer this one...

It's great news that you are already set up with a mortgage offer, Saz - ready to make a smooth switch to a new deal and/or lender, once the current one ends.  

It does take time to set up a new mortgage so shopping around the market a good few months ahead will help you put everything in place and avoid slipping onto a high variable rate.

Fixed rates have been nudging up slightly but you have already got a formal offer in place so shouldn't worry.  

Applying for a mortgage will generally secure that rate and the lender will then carry out any further checks to issue the mortgage offer.  

The offer will be valid for a specified period, often for up to six months. Rates are always shifting for new customers but you can rest easy that your rate should be safe and sound for your switch in May.

This feature is not intended as financial advice - the aim is to give an overview of the things you should think about. Submit your dilemma or consumer dispute, leaving your name and where in the country you are, by emailing [email protected] with the subject line "Money blog". Alternatively, WhatsApp us  here .

By Ollie Cooper , Money team

Interest in a phenomenon known as "dark tourism" has been steadily rising in recent years - but what is it?

To find out, we've spoken with tourism academic  Dr Hayley Stainton  and renowned dark tourist and author Dr Peter Hohenhaus, who runs a  dark tourism website .

What is it?

In general, dark tourism involves travelling to sites connected to death or disaster.

"Dark tourism has been around for as long as we have been travelling to places associated with death," Dr Stainton says. 

However, the term wasn't officially coined until 1996 by John Lennon, a professor of tourism at Glasgow Caledonian University, in Scotland.

"Not everyone is familiar with the term," says Dr Stainton, "[but] many people have been a dark tourist at some time or another, whether intentional or not."

Some examples of the most famous sites

• Auschwitz concentration camp, Poland
• 9/11 Memorial and Museum in New York, US
• Chernobyl, Ukraine 
• Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan
• Choeung Ek "killing fields" and the Tuol Sleng genocide museum at the former S-21 prison in Phnom Penh, Cambodia 

Areas with a degree of infamy, like Alcatraz, are extremely popular spots that also fall under the "dark tourism" umbrella. 

How popular is it?

Dr Hohenhaus and Dr Stainton say they have noticed a rise in its popularity. 

"Tourists are looking for more unique and unusual experiences," Dr Stainton says. 

"This has seen a move away from the more traditional 'sun, sea and sand' type holidays to a variety of different tourism forms, which includes dark tourism."

Dr Hohenhaus adds: "Maybe people want to connect to more recent and hence more personally relevant history - that is definitely the case with myself."

He goes on: "I think I've learned more about the world through dark tourism than through all of my formal education or my previous academic career."

Is it ethical?

This is the big question associated with dark tourism. 

Dr Stainton says that while problems do arise, the stigma around the practice is often misguided. 

"People don't visit sites like the killing fields in Cambodia or the site of Chernobyl for 'fun' - they visit for the educational experience, as dark tourism is often also a form of educational tourism," she says.

Problems arise when tourists are not respectful to those who may have been impacted.

"For instance, taking inappropriate photos or laughing and joking when others may be in a state of mourning."

Notorious examples include people taking selfies outside Grenfell Tower and at Auschwitz. 

"It is therefore imperative that dark tourists are considerate of those around them and respectful at all times," Dr Stainton says.

"As long as you are not just after a cheap sensationalist thrill - take dark tourism seriously and do it right, and it can be an immensely enriching thing to engage in."  Dr Hohenhaus

Where could you go? 

These are Dr Hohenhaus' recommendations:

• Ijen crater in Indonesia - where at night you can see the fabled blue flames of the sulphur mines next to the volcano crater lake;
• The Polygon, the former Semipalatinsk nuclear weapons test site of the USSR, now in Kazakhstan;
• The Goli Otok former prison island off the coast of Croatia;
• The Murambi memorial to the Rwandan genocide - which Dr Hohenhaus says is "certainly the very darkest place I have ever been";
• Majdanek concentration camp memorial near Lublin, eastern Poland.

What do you think of dark tourism? Is it misunderstood, educational or abhorrent?  Let us know in the comments section...

John Lewis will be sharing its job interview questions online in an attempt to find the "best talent".

The retail chain hopes that allowing candidates to view questions before an interview will allow prospective employees to "really demonstrate what they can do" and prepare, the Financial Times reports.

John Lewis talent acquisition lead Lorna Bullett told Sky News that interviews can feel daunting and "nerves can seriously impact performance".

She added the company want "the right people" from a variety of backgrounds and with "the best talent" to join.

"It makes absolute business sense to find ways of helping candidates to really demonstrate what they can do," she said.

Ms Bullett added that the process will be "no less rigorous".

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  THE ULTIMATE GIGOGRAPHY & LIVETAPES ARCHIVE compiled by Thommy Franck

        Latest additions & corrections: 17-4-2024   [New QUO and Rhino 2024 Tourdates]

     O FFICIAL SITE      BOB YOUNG     GERMAN FORUM    MESSAGEBOARD    COLLECTORS PAGE    JOHN COGHLAN      FTMO FANCLUB       QUOPEDIA     G I GLISTI ST     RHINO'S TOURLOG

• Early Gigs 1962 - 1967
• Picturesque Matchstickable Tour
• Spare Parts Tour
• Ma Kelly's Greasy Spoon Tour
• Dog Of Two Heads Tour
• Piledriver Tour
• Hello! Tour
• On The Level Tour
• Blue For You Tour
• Rockin'all Over The World Tour
• If You Can't Stand The Heat Tour
• Never Too Late Tour
• 20th Anniversary Tour
• End Of The Road Tour
• Live Aid Concert 1985
• Quo's Back Summer Tour
• In The Army Now Tour
• Ain't Complaining Tour
• Perfect Remedy Tour
• The Summer Festival Tour 1990
• 25th Anniversary Tour
• Rock'Til you Drop Tour
• Live Alive Quo Tour
• Just For The Record Tour
• Thirsty Work Tour
• Summer Festival Tour 1995
• Don't Stop Tour
• Can't Stop Tour
• Whatever You Want Best Of..Tour
• It's Good to Tour 1998
• The Pub Tour
• Under The Influence Tour
• Night Of The Proms Tour 1999
• Famous In The Last Century Tour
• Never Say Never Tour
• Heavy Traffic Tour
• XS All Areas Tour
• The Party Ain't Over Yet Tour
• Just Doin' It...Live! Tour
• Search Of The 4th Chord Tour
• Pictures 40 Years of Hits Tour
• Pictures Exposed Tour
• Quid Pro Quo Tour 2010/11
• Quofestive 2011 UK Tour
• Quid Pro Quo 2012 Tour
• Quofestive 2012 UK Tour
• Made In Britain Tour
• Frantic Four Reunion Tour
• The Bula Quo Tour
• Aquostic Live Tour 2014/15
• Status Quo Live Tour 2014/15
• Accept No Substitute Tour
• The Last Night of....Tour 2016/17
• Aquostic - It Rocks Tour 2016/17
• Plugged In Tour 2017/18
• Back on Tour 2019
• Backbone Tour 2020
• Out Out Quoing Tour 2022
• Status Quo Live 2024
• The Solo Live-Projects
• The BBC Radio Sessions
• The Radio Interviews
• New STATUS QUO Books
• Gigography Feedback
• Famous Last Words

THE PUB PROMOTION TOUR 1999

29/03/  UK, London - Ruskin Arm | 60' min. AUD Quality: 3+ 30/03/  UK, Bristol - The Fleece & Firkin | 60' min. AUD Quality: 3 31/03/  UK, Cannock - Stumble Inn 01/04/  UK, Retford - The Market Hotel 06/04/  UK, Glasgow - Solid Rock Cafe 07/04/  UK, Manchester - The Star & Garter 08/04/  UK, Skelton - Hollybush Hotel 09/04/  UK, Leeds - The Duchess | 60' min. AUD Quality: 2 10/04/  UK, Ipswich - The Railway 11/04/  UK, Hove - The Brunswick 22/04/  HOLLAND, Amsterdam - Hilversum Studios | 30' min. FM Quality: 5 22/04/  HOLLAND, Amsterdam - Sleep Inn Arena (21h) 

25/04/  GERMANY, Hamburg - Cafe Keese Reeperbahn 26/04/  GERMANY, Berlin - Miles Club 27/04/  GERMANY, München - Bongo Bar |   60' min. AUD Quality: 4 28/04/  GERMANY, Frankfurt - Nachtleben |  60' min. FM Quality: 5 29/04/  GERMANY, Köln - Prime Club 30/04/  GERMANY, Leipzig - Midlife 17/06/  GERMANY, Baden Baden, Ernst Becker TV Studio | 60' min. TV Quality: 4+

*FACTS FROM THE ROAD

29.03.1999 - t he "Under The Influence Pub Tour" dates were announced in The Sun newspaper on Friday March 12th. Their competition received some 10,523 entries, so these entries were split into regions of the UK in order that as many areas would be covered as possible, and pubs on the shortlist were considered according to their suitability for the gigs. Quo are due to play a 60 minute set commencing at 8:00pm at each of the lucky pubs.The first of Quo's ten pub gigs turned into more of a daylong event than a gig, both for the band and the lucky few at the pub. Early arrival at this large East End pub was rewarded by some unusual access to Quo promotion. First off, Quo arrived at about 3pm - in ubiquitous stretch white limo, make no mistake, the rock stars had arrived in East Ham!

They were greeted by a number of familiar Quo fans, locals and members of the press. The promotion for this first gig was very well organised by David Walker and his team. An extensive photo shoot outside the pub followed, the whole band then just Rick and Francis, before the band headed into the Ruskin's back room (where the gig would later take place) for a series of TV & Radio interviews.

10.04.1999 - in Germany's biggest newspaper "BILD" is a competition called "Gewinnen Sie Status Quo für Ihre Party" ("Win Status Quo for your party"). You have to name Quo's biggest hit. The winner could turn up with 100 friends to one of the 5 german club-shows in Hamburg 25.4 - Berlin 26.4. - Munich 27.4. - Frankfurt 28.4. and Cologne 29.4. (additional show in Leipzig added later) The performance at Frankurts Disco "Nachtleben" is broadcasted live by german radiostation HR3.

17.06.1999 -   Status Quo live in german TV studio of Baden-Baden where they played a stunning 70-minutes performance in front of 300 people. The show "Ohne Filter pur" is a long-standing german concert series and featured a lot of well-known artists and bands. Quo's TV-performance was filmed and later broadcasted in Germany.