Post by rockinronnie on Mar 2, 2014 14:55:35 GMT
He has been in Status Quo for 40 years but frontman Francis Rossi admits he’s getting addicted to playing solo shows.
Before venturing out without the rest of Quo for the first time earlier this year, he told the Mail he was nervous about the prospect of performing with a different set of musicians.
But after a series of triumphant shows, including one at Birmingham’s Town Hall, the 61-year-old is now anxious for more.
‘‘It’s like drugs or alcohol – you say you’re going to have one drink, and after one drink you have three more. And that’s what I did with the solo shows,’’ he says.
So another set of solo gigs has been announced – with Birmingham Town Hall, on February 1, 2011, the first date of the tour.
‘‘I like the Town Hall, it’s excellent and I’m looking forward to going back there,’’ Francis says. ‘‘But the thing they’ve done wrong is isolate it as they built the town around it!’’
The tour coincides with the release of a Francis Rossi live solo album and DVD, recorded at London’s St Luke’s church in September.
Not that the singer is keen to hear the CD or see the DVD. He hasn’t even seen the Status Quo DVD included in current release, Live At The BBC.
‘‘I don’t listen to anything by us,’’ he reveals. ‘‘I don’t mind making new stuff but I can’t look at videos of us on stage.
‘‘That DVD that I’ve done of myself, I’ve watched a little bit of Caroline and a couple of other bits but I can’t look at it. It’s the same with any Quo footage, I can’t go there.’’
When asked the reason why, Francis refers to himself in the third person, as if it’s a different performer on stage.
“I start looking at him and say ‘you shouldn’t do this, you shouldn’t do that’.
‘‘I think I look stupid, and I’ve thought that for years. So I’ll start changing things if I think it doesn’t look cool.’’
Problem is, he may change the things that make his performance so appealing.
‘‘If there’s anything people like about me, whatever it is and I don’t know what it is, but if it’s anything to do with what I do on stage, I’m going to change the way he does things.
‘‘I’ve had this problem for years so I just don’t go there.’’
So we can rest assured it will be the usual Rossi performance tomorrow night when Status Quo play Birmingham’s LG Arena.
It will also be a fairly familiar setlist, although fan favourite Don’t Waste My Time may be included after proving popular in Francis’s solo set.
‘‘The Quo has been guilty over the past few years of having an album with a couple of good tracks on, putting them in for one or two tours, then taking them out.
‘‘Now we have The Oriental, Creeping Up On You and Beginning Of The End in and they’re really maturing to great stage songs. I had great difficulty getting everyone to go along with that. I do try and run the band as a democracy which is great on paper but in practice it’s more difficult than it looks.’’ He says that Quo songs he included in his solo shows would fit nicely into a Quo gig.
‘‘I think a lot of those songs would be great – Twenty Wild Horses, You’ll Come ‘Round, Can’t Give You More.
“I think My Little Heartbreaker is excellent, although our bass player John Edwards said to the producer at the time that he didn’t think it was Quo enough.
“I don’t understand that, it’s Quo if I wrote it and sing it and we play it. I don’t have that thing of ‘no, no, that’s not Quo’. Quo have done so many things they shouldn’t have done, I don’t see why we can’t try anything.’’
Read More bit.ly/i4CdXI
Before venturing out without the rest of Quo for the first time earlier this year, he told the Mail he was nervous about the prospect of performing with a different set of musicians.
But after a series of triumphant shows, including one at Birmingham’s Town Hall, the 61-year-old is now anxious for more.
‘‘It’s like drugs or alcohol – you say you’re going to have one drink, and after one drink you have three more. And that’s what I did with the solo shows,’’ he says.
So another set of solo gigs has been announced – with Birmingham Town Hall, on February 1, 2011, the first date of the tour.
‘‘I like the Town Hall, it’s excellent and I’m looking forward to going back there,’’ Francis says. ‘‘But the thing they’ve done wrong is isolate it as they built the town around it!’’
The tour coincides with the release of a Francis Rossi live solo album and DVD, recorded at London’s St Luke’s church in September.
Not that the singer is keen to hear the CD or see the DVD. He hasn’t even seen the Status Quo DVD included in current release, Live At The BBC.
‘‘I don’t listen to anything by us,’’ he reveals. ‘‘I don’t mind making new stuff but I can’t look at videos of us on stage.
‘‘That DVD that I’ve done of myself, I’ve watched a little bit of Caroline and a couple of other bits but I can’t look at it. It’s the same with any Quo footage, I can’t go there.’’
When asked the reason why, Francis refers to himself in the third person, as if it’s a different performer on stage.
“I start looking at him and say ‘you shouldn’t do this, you shouldn’t do that’.
‘‘I think I look stupid, and I’ve thought that for years. So I’ll start changing things if I think it doesn’t look cool.’’
Problem is, he may change the things that make his performance so appealing.
‘‘If there’s anything people like about me, whatever it is and I don’t know what it is, but if it’s anything to do with what I do on stage, I’m going to change the way he does things.
‘‘I’ve had this problem for years so I just don’t go there.’’
So we can rest assured it will be the usual Rossi performance tomorrow night when Status Quo play Birmingham’s LG Arena.
It will also be a fairly familiar setlist, although fan favourite Don’t Waste My Time may be included after proving popular in Francis’s solo set.
‘‘The Quo has been guilty over the past few years of having an album with a couple of good tracks on, putting them in for one or two tours, then taking them out.
‘‘Now we have The Oriental, Creeping Up On You and Beginning Of The End in and they’re really maturing to great stage songs. I had great difficulty getting everyone to go along with that. I do try and run the band as a democracy which is great on paper but in practice it’s more difficult than it looks.’’ He says that Quo songs he included in his solo shows would fit nicely into a Quo gig.
‘‘I think a lot of those songs would be great – Twenty Wild Horses, You’ll Come ‘Round, Can’t Give You More.
“I think My Little Heartbreaker is excellent, although our bass player John Edwards said to the producer at the time that he didn’t think it was Quo enough.
“I don’t understand that, it’s Quo if I wrote it and sing it and we play it. I don’t have that thing of ‘no, no, that’s not Quo’. Quo have done so many things they shouldn’t have done, I don’t see why we can’t try anything.’’
Read More bit.ly/i4CdXI