Status Quo with Roy Wood and Kim Wilde

Its fair to say that Status Quo are capable of packing out arenas by themselves, however this year they decided to have a Quofest and included on the bill was the legendary Roy Wood and Kim Wilde.

Kim Wilde still has a very strong vocal ability, and Roy Wood never fails to get the crowd into the Christmas spirit.

Not many bands can say they are still going strong after forty years, however Status Quo can stake that claim and they look like they have many more years left to record and play live.



When describing a Status Quo show to someone who has never seen them, by rights Status Quo shouldn't be as popular as they are. Firstly year after year, they arrive on stage wearing the same attire, which usually consists of denim jeans and white trainers. They mainly play the same songs year in year out. They even start with the same song year after year ('Caroline') and predictably always finish with the same song ('Rockin' All Over The World') year after year.

So with that in mind this really is a band that shouldn't have lasted forty years, as any other band being so predictable would have struggled to last three years let alone over forty.

The only reasons I can think of to explain this quirk of nature is that Status Quo are quite simply a band that make their fans feel special. As well as having a distinctive sound which within the first few bars you instantly know its Status Quo. Oh and the fact that both Rick Parfitt (guitarist) and Francis Rossi (vocalist) have bucket loads of talent and charisma to keep you mesmerised to the point that they could just stand on stage and read out the telephone directory and you would walk away thinking you had been given your moneys worth.

Thankfully despite being together for over forty years, they still play with such passion and energy and genuinely never seem to take their fame for granted. As they arrived on stage in their usual stage attire against a wonderful backdrop of white amplifiers, they opened with 'Caroline' and that infectious guitar hook got the entire arena onto their feet and swaying around.



As per usual there were a couple of medleys of their greatest hits As well as the classic killer hits such as 'In The Army Now' and 'Down Down' and 'Rockin' All Over The World' and the immortal 'Whatever You Want' were all played with such precision that would have made NASA proud.

Aside from the usual hits, they managed to squeeze in some tracks from their current album 'Quid Pro Quo' which is their twenty-ninth album to date. Again for a band to have been writing for over four decades, it is incredible that they are still able to produce songs such as 'Two Way Traffic' which will guarantee that they will still be a force to be reckoned with for the next few years.

This year for a change they did an encore with Kim Wilde and Roy Wood singing 'Walking In A Winter Wonderland' and 'Santa Claus is Coming To Town' Without a doubt Status Quo are still setting the benchmark for live music.

FUTURE GIGS