Named “Britain’s most underrated rock band” by The Guardian, Status Quo have an insanely impressive career spanning back to their formation in 1962. They released many of their major hits throughout the 1970s before announcing their breakup in 1984.
But this didn’t last for long, as they reformed just a year later to perform at Wembley Stadium during Live Aid in 1985. After watching one of the UK’s most treasured rock bands at The Piece Hall, Halifax, it was evident to me why this break was only short. Frontman Francis Rossi’s encouraging shouts to the audience were met with cheers from thousands of loyal fans, as the 75 year old had everyone in the palm of his hand for the entirety of their two hour set.
After a drizzly train ride from Manchester to Halifax, I was shocked by the crowds of people on the streets of the town waiting to get into The Piece Hall, many of whom were wearing Status Quo t-shirts. While I was aware of the band’s history and popularity, I didn’t realise they had such a cult following. It may be clear by now that I am not an avid fan of the band myself, but as someone who hosts a radio show named ‘Rockin’ All Over The World’, it only felt right to go and see them live on what Rossi has insisted is their last tour.
After finally tackling the queues, we caught the last couple of songs by support act The Alarm. Mike Peters stood on stage in a black and red vest with ‘The Alarm’ on it, black cargos, a black beanie and huge tinted glasses: the ultimate rock star get up. We were able to hear him close his set with their most well-known song ‘Sixty Eight Guns’. The song was inspired by a book Peters had read about gangs in Glasgow in the 1960s and contains some intense lyrics:
“Living in the backstreets
That's our home from home
The painted walls are all we've ever known
The guns forever, that's our battle cry
It is the flag that we fly so high
For every day they'll try and drag us down
I cry with anger, I have done no crime, no”
The crowd had been riled up and during the break between support act and headliner, I could tell some were getting restless. The time arrived through, and out came the band, Rossi swaggering to the front as if it was still 1980. Status Quo opened with the well-known hit ‘Caroline’ before playing a bit of back and forth with the audience upon greeting us.
“Helloooo!”
“Helloooo!”
“How are ya?”
“Bloody soaking!”
It had started chucking it down with rain but, as must be expected in a Northern town, many came prepared with waterproof coats, ponchos and umbrellas which weren’t the most practical. The band only embraced this, going into the aptly named ‘Rain’, which was sung by their bassist John ‘Rhino’ Edwards.
With so many songs to pack into just two hours on stage, Rossi shared with us that he was worried about over-running the 11pm curfew because he talks too much and he had already planned for a longer set than usual! We were being treated well that night in Halifax. So, to avoid any problems and to play as many songs as possible, the band went into a mega medley of an insanely impressive eight songs back to back. While spectacular, this made me realise that many of the band’s songs sound similar and rather formulaic. I found myself thinking they were going into ‘Rockin’ All Over The World’ several times during the night, but this very well may be a personal problem.
I will say, I recognised many of the songs leading up to the encore; tracks such as ‘The Oriental’, ‘In The Army Now’ and ‘Whatever You Want’ were crowd favourites, with Rossi smirking on stage, clearly impressed by the volume of the fans. The band’s rhythm guitarist, Richie Malone, was a standout performer throughout the show. With big shoes to fill in the place of Status Quo’s previous guitarist Rick Parfitt who passed away in 2016, Malone brought new life to many songs and worked well with Rossi to do so.
‘Rockin’ All Over The World’ finally came around before the encore, and it prompted the loudest singalong of the night. The entirety of The Piece Hall joined in before, as promised, the band went into their elongated triple song encore which is usually limited to one. They performed ‘Don’t Waste My Time’ and ‘Paper Plane’ before closing with ‘Burning Bridges (On and Off and On Again)’. Before leaving the stage, Rossi shared “it’s brilliant to be here.”
It always is brilliant to be at The Piece Hall. I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again: it is one of the best venues for live music currently! Status Quo brought a fantastic night to Halifax and I can firmly say that, while sometimes repetitive, their songs were stuck in my head for days after and got a brilliant reception from the crowd.
“A record-breaking 180,000 tickets have been sold across the 34-date TK Maxx presents Live at The Piece Hall series with headline shows from the likes of Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds, Jess Glynne, Nile Rodgers and CHIC, Fatboy Slim, Bryan Adams, Sheryl Crow plus many more.”
