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(from scrapbook 3, page 31)

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STATUS QUO at Sarfend! Oh What! "Yes it definitely was the right setting for Quo's last gig before their departure to the USA. As Francis Rossi said himself: "This is the only place people don't take the piss out the way we talk."

The Kursaal was full and easily sold out and there was no sign of tension backstage, the band were busying themselves trying on their new denims.

"O" opened the evening and there was no doubt that they went down well with the Quolites. A few minutes before Quo appeared, the promoter walked on and announced that there was a phone call threatening a bomb on the front entrance of the venue "and you can leave if you wish". By now the audience didn't care and were making as much noise as they could to get the band on stage.

The lights went down and the band stepped on stage to one of the most deafening receptions I've heard in my life. They opened the set with "Rock Me Baby" and already the heads were swaying.

The group's PA and lighting were literally being shaken apart due to the thousands of stomping feet. Security men looked amazed and confused, desperately trying to keep everything under control. Status ran through the same set that they used on their British tour featuring such standards as "Claudine" (sic), "Someone's Learning", "Railroad" and new ones like "Backwater Junction" (sic).

It didn't matter what they played, there seemed to be a magical quality about that twelve bar and the kids were frantic. Quo ending the night with two encores including "Johnny B. Goode".

If their American audiences give out a fraction of the feedback of their British counter parts, the group needn't worry. - PETE MAKOWSKI.

Image caption: STATUS QUO: needn't worry about America