Clipping details
(from scrapbook 2, page 49)

Clipping text

QUOTENTIAL QUO (You what, John?)

STATUS QUO
Coliseum, St Austell
By John Shearlaw

AND WHAT a comeback it was! Francis Ross was so stiff he couldn't move the morning after. John Coghlan played three numbers with red raw blisters on his hands. Alan Lancaster was nearly deaf for most of the night and Rick Parfitt could only get out: "Can't review this pile of shit, can yer?'"

Yes I can. Can, and will do... if only because the Quo haven't played a note in anger in Britain for what seems like two years (and, all things considered is nearly 18 months) and this was the first. And, even if Friday night's problems got ironed out to become Saturday's triumphs - eventually - this was the band we've been missing and waiting for... for all that time. Yeah, it was worth reviewing; and they're only going to get better as the arenas move through the country, through Europe and eventually back to the home shores for a climax in June.

So, after a week of rehearsals, St Austell it was - a rural backwater in 1979, now worthy enough to rank among the country's best stand-up punter palaces. And Quo were (theoretically) ready to hit them with all they've got. A new rig! Illuminated drum risers! Sound effects! New songs!

So, again, so what if one or two things did go wrong? With the wonderful old 'Caroline' to get the bones moving, the gig, the OCCASION, was as good as ever (and sod what the band thought). 'Roll Over Lay Down' (screech! feedback!) getting the heads moving, 'Dirty Water' getting the vocal chords moving, and 'Rain' (loved them both) providing the essence - the great bits you don't know you've been losing until you really hear them again. You know the story.

In between we had the vision of Quo moving forward; a movement that is as inexorably constant and effective as Sir John MacAlpine's fusiliers moving a mountain. Giving us 'Whatever You Want', 'Over The Edge' and 'Rock and Roll' (some change of pace there!) from the last album, and 'Something 'Bout You Baby I Like' from the new. Louder, heavier, longer. Improving all the time.

St Austell's loss - and despite it all we loved every minute of two and one quarter hours thereof - will be your gain. And for us down there, what can I say? Only that you don't know what you've got until you lose it, and we haven't lost Quo yet; even if it has been too long.

Bugger the bad bits, did you get ticket?