T.K MAXX PRESENTS... SCARBOROUGH OAT - STATUS QUO // OPEN AIR THEATRE, SCARBOROUGH
Still ‘Rocking All Over The World’ – Status Quo Start Scarborough’s Open Air Theatre Season For 2024
★★★★☆ (4/5)
STATUS QUO PERFORMING AT SCARBOROUGH’S OPEN AIR THEATRE
PHOTOCREDIT: JOHN HAYHURST
Great to be back in Scarborough for the start of the season at the fabulous Open Air Theatre, and this year is already heading for their biggest yet with advanced sales already surpassing previous records. Something that Francis Rossi said from the stage – “How we love to play here, it is one of our favourite places to play in the UK” it felt very genuine and heartfelt. Certainly, echoed by myself as it’s only a 40 min drive from my house, so I will hopefully be returning in only a couple of weeks for Simple Minds!
First on the bill tonight is Mike Peters from The Alarm, he put in one of the most emotional performances I’ve seen him do, and under the circumstances of his Chronic Lymphocytic Leukaemia returning 2 months ago, and him being on his Chemo treatment and starting to lose his hair again, he was covered up as much as possible. The shades and hat cannot disguise that amazing voice and he powered on through all The Alarm classics (‘68 Guns’, ‘Rain in the Summertime’ etc.) on his own with a guitar and some backing tapes triggered by his foot pedals.
Maybe it was because we had just received the news of Rugby League hero Rob Burrows passing at 41 that there was a resonance to what Peters is fighting and this made it even more emotive, but there wasn’t a dry eye in the house when he was singing about “Love, Hope and Strength”, the Quo faithful giving him a huge reception and a standing ovation when he had finished.
Yes we all know that Status Quo are no longer the frantic four and Rossi is the last man standing, but for every person that says “Its not like the old days” there are 2 more people wanting to hear these old classics played live, and if Francis Rossi is still at the helm, then why not? Tonight is an almost clinical display of their ‘rock a boogie’ and the show here is sold out, with families bringing their older kids to watch a band that they loved in their teens. Gone is the denim, replaced with clean white shirts, black trousers and white trainers (Black North Face fleece jacket for Rossi). This is SQ now, a revitalised band but still with rock’n’roll heartbeat chords that don’t change or let up over the course of the next hour or so.
‘Caroline’ of course is the classic starting tune, it is like a klaxon to start the headbanging, there are 2 mopheads in the front row seriously giving it their all, however, most of us are lacking in the follicle department, so lots of nodding bald heads everywhere.
They have so many tunes that they have to fit a couple of medleys in, one which covers ‘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’. It’s a work of art, although potentially plays to those that say their records all sound the same.
Francis Rossi has time for a chat in-between the first few songs and loves taking the mickey out of the deaf signing guy by putting the odd swear word in and seeing what he does with that. He also has a little solo spot in the lead up to ‘Down Down’ where the band basically leave him to it.
Throughout this run through of some of the most famous rock and boogie classics from the 70’s, they didn’t let up once, it was almost mechanical how they skip from one track to the next particularly during the medleys.
More than enough classic tunes like ‘Whatever You Want’, ‘In The Army Now’ and ‘Roll Over Lay Down’ keep the momentum going and the fans enthralled, and it was the John Fogerty penned ‘Rockin All Over The World’ that is probably their biggest known record that brought the show to an end.
No ‘Paper Plane’ though, the one usual track missing from the setlist, as the encore was ‘Burning Bridges’ but the Quo machine keeps rockin’ and rollin’ into 2024 – who knows when this will end?
As opening shows go, it was a great way to kickstart the season at Scarborough, showcasing this fantastic open air venue with some sunshine and a full house of classic rock fans watching this legendary British band.
