I går spilte Quo den første konserten på Frantic Four turneen. Her er en rapport,
skrevet av Simon N, medlem av iorr.org:
Hello,
I vaguely recall seeing the modern-day Quo almost 20 years ago and the fact that that was the only time
that I saw them tells you all you need to know about how I felt about that version of the band.
However, even a casual 'greatest hits merchant' like me knows that they were a bit more special back in
their early 70's incarnation: that was when they were a four-piece with Alan Lancaster on bass and John
Coghlan on drums, and had really found their sound. Well, that version of the band (the 'Frantic Four') is
back together for a limited run of shows and I was lucky to get a ticket to the first show of the reunited
Quo: they last played together 30 years ago!
When the curtain goes up the band look stunned by the racket that is all for them! As is always the way,
the band look smaller than you thought they would but they don't waste any time and launch into
"Junior's Wailing": in fact, the first four songs have bassist Lancaster singing. The setlist is album tracks
mainly- the kind of stuff that fans would choose. The only apparent rustiness is from drummer John
Coghlan who takes a little while too look at ease. I believe that the advances in stage gear over the last
30 years (in-ear monitors for example) haven't been absorbed easily. Fair enough...
As far as Parfitt and Rossi go, they are a bit of a surprise in that the former absolutely is relentless in
providing the rythmn: he strums like a mofo at times which gives the ponytail-less Rossi leave to play
some terrific lead stuff. Who knew?
It is obvious as the show goes on that Mr. Coghlan is feeling at home, with more 'deliberate' fills and
the odd smile and laugh with his band-mates. Rossi had said that they had rehearsed for 5 weeks or
so and had gotten rid of most of the @#$%&-ups but then they decided to put them all back in again
because that's how they sounded way back when!
As it happens, the first mistake came after an intro and everyone turned to look at the drum-riser.
However Rossi then realised, "Oh shit, the *drummer* is right...I hate it when that happens...trust
me to make the first mistake, hah-hah!", and after a guffaw we are off and running again.
The 90 minutes-plus encore flew by and then it was the final bow and the Frantic Four shuffled off,
leaving a baying and ecstatic audience. Job done!
1.Junior's Wailing
2.Backwater / Just Take Me
3.Is There a Better Way
4.In My Chair
5.Blue Eyed Lady
6.Little Lady / Most of the Time
7.April, Spring, Summer and Wednesdays
8.Railroad
9.Oh Baby
10.Forty-five Hundred Times / Rain
11.Big Fat Mama
12.Down Down
13.Roadhouse Blues
Encore:
14.Don't Waste My Time
15.Bye Bye Johnny
http://www.iorr.org/talk/read.php?1,1788864
Junior's Wailing:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZQlbT6R1po