• 10th - Francis interview on This Morning (ITV)
• 25th - Richie interview on "Saturday with John Toal" (BBC Radio Ulster)
• 26th - "Status Quo at the BBC" special on Sounds of the 70s with Johnnie Walker (BBC Radio 2)
• 28th - Quo concert at The Botanic Gardens, Belfast
• 30th - Quo concert at Kelvingrove Bandstand and Amphitheatre, Glasgow
• 31st - Quo concert at Kelvingrove Bandstand and Amphitheatre, Glasgow (sold out)

10th - Francis interview on This Morning (ITV)

Francis was interviewed on This Morning on 10th May. He looked well and seemed in good form, talking about his physical preparation for the upcoming tour as well as various other topics. The full interview can be seen on YouTube.

25th - Richie interview on "Saturday with John Toal" (BBC Radio Ulster)

Richie was interviewed by John Toal on BBC Radio Ulster on 25th May. The interview centred on Richie's amazing story of going from fan to band member and he sounded very upbeat about the upcoming tour. Snippets of "Whatever You Want", "Rain", "Get Out Of My Head" (Richie's song from the "Backbone" album) and "Caroline" (Richie's favourite Quo song) were played during the course of the interview.

26th - "Status Quo at the BBC" special on Sounds of the 70s with Johnnie Walker (BBC Radio 2)

In celebration of Francis Rossi's looming 75th birthday, BBC Radio 2 aired a "Status Quo at the BBC" special on Sounds of the 70s with Johnnie Walker on 26th May.

The special show included snippets of BBC interviews from as far back as the 1960s as well as commentary from others (e.g. John Peel). Tackling the story in roughly chronological order, the show featured "Pictures of Matchstick Men", "Paper Plane", "Caroline", "Down Down", "Rockin' All Over The World", "Rock 'n' Roll', "In The Army Now", "Living On An Island", "Again and Again" (Aquostic), "When You Walk In The Room" and "And It's Better Now" (Aquostic).

28th - Quo concert at The Botanic Gardens, Belfast

The first gig of the "SQ24" tour took place in the Botanic Gardens in Belfast on 28th May.

The big crowd thankfully didn't suffer too badly from the weather and Laurence Jones did a good job as support to warm them up. The new set offered few surprises but went down well (even if the crowd-pleasing "Paper Plane" had to be cut from the encore to meet the venue's 10.30pm noise curfew).

The setlist from this gig follows.

• Caroline
• Rain
• Little Lady
• Softer Ride
• Beginning of the End
• Hold You Back
• What You're Proposing / Down the Dustpipe / Something 'bout You Baby I Like / Wild Side Of Life / Rollin' Home / Railroad / Again and Again / Mystery Song
• The Oriental
• In My Chair
• Cut Me Some Slack
• In the Army Now
• Roll Over Lay Down
• Down Down
• Whatever You Want
• Rockin' All Over the World
• Burning Bridges (Paper Plane was on the setlist but omitted due to curfew)

Some professional photos from this gig can be seen here.

30th - Quo concert at Kelvingrove Bandstand and Amphitheatre, Glasgow

The SQ24 tour continued with back-to-back gigs at Kelvingrove Bandstand and Amphitheatre in Glasgow, on 30th and 31st May. The Scottish weather was kind for both nights and Laurence Jones again acted as support. The second night was sold out.

The setlist was the same as for the Belfast gig, but a little shorter thanks to "In My Chair" and "Cut Me Some Slack" both being dropped.

A decent review of the 30th May gig can be found here.