Review: Status Quo, Ingliston: The songs remain the same

There really isn’t much life left in Status Quo after nearly five decades on the road and in the studio, but they still know how to deliver a good show.

Francis Rossi may have been without his long-term sidekick Rick Parfitt for this gig - he’s recovering from a heart attack - but the songs, and the sound, remained the same.

Just as Elton John celebrated his heyday at his recent Meadowbank gig, so Quo delved deep into their archive for this set list - all the crowd pleasers, and most of ‘em, from the early to mid 1970s when denim, both the clothes and the aftershave, were almost in fashion.

They started with Caroline from 1973, finished with Rockin’ All Over The world, first released in ‘77 - and pretty much camped in that decade for the rest of the night, give or take a couple of tracks.

Paper Plane, from 1972 album Piledriver, and a cover of that old chestnut The Wanderer made up the opening trio of songs by way of a warm-up before before the first medley of the night loomed large - a portion of What Your Proposing, a chunk of Down To The Dist Pipe from 1970, and a bit of of Wild Side Of Life of which Rossi exclaimed, ‘’oh, I like this one.’’

As for the rest, well, a Quo gig without Down Down, Roll Over Lay Down, or Rockin’ All Over The World, would have the fans waving their air guitars in protest.

So the Quo jukebox was spun one more time - and one last time, as this was the final city appearance for them as an electric band.

The tour comes to an end in December, and then they go acoustic - what’s the chances of a burst of Living On An Island then?

While Quo may well go unplugged for the last lap of their career, the songs too will almost certainly remain the same …

And that’s exactly what the fans want.