Concert Review : Status Quo/Roy Wood - SECC, Glasgow

If it's December then it must be time for Quo at the SECC. But equally, it's also time for numerous plays of I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day as well so it was more than opportune that the support was provided by the legend that is Roy Wood.

Wood has to be one of the finest songwriters this country has ever produced and putting aside his brief involvement in the establishment of the Electric Light Orchestra his work as the mainman in both The Move and Wizzard along with his solo efforts gives him a eclectic back catalogue to be proud of.

He was a name on my list of artists I'd love to see in a live setting but his touring in the past couple of decades has been somewhat limited and also, as far as I am aware at least, lacking in visits to Scotland. The news that he was going to be providing the support to Quo on their 2009 visit to Glasgow was met with considerable enthusiasm.

Backed by a bass, keyboards, drums, a female singer plus a four piece horn section Wood ran through a whole range of the songs that stamped his name as one for the history books. Opening with California Man (and how awesome that was!) and closing, inevitably with I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day and stopping off with I Can Hear The Grass Grow, Fire Brigade, Flowers In The Rain, Blackberry Way, Ball Park Incident, See My Baby Jive, Angel Fingers, Are You Ready To Rock along with two other numbers (at least one of which was new) had me in a position that I'd have left the SECC thoroughly satisfied by the evening's entertainment. It was certainly the first time that I can remember the already full hall on their feet singing and dancing along with a support act.

I do hope that this is a sign of Roy becoming more active, and I'd love to see a full show from him. I might get Brontosaurus then which wasn't played despite my rather loud call for same.

Of course, having been so thoroughly enraptured with Roy Wood there was a danger that Status Quo might be something of an anti-climax. Especially as I knew their set was largely unchanged from last years show - although the reintroduction of Hold You Back got a big thumbs up from me and I was looking forward to this.

Although they have made some rather foolish moves in their career (cover albums, anyone!) Quo have always remained a powerful and consistent live act. I'd also make a case that Francis Rossi is both a superlative songwriter. (And just to leave some clear blue sky between me and other Quo fanatics, I hold no nostalgia for Alan Lancaster who, with only a few exceptions, was usually responsible for the poorest songs on any Quo album.)

Despite the high level of the bar set by Roy Wood, Quo managed to match it although it wasn't without some difficulties. Some earlier gigs on the tour had to be cancelled because of issues with Rossi's voice. These weren't totally resolved and some songs were carried more by the audience than by Francis. However, and it may have been to compensate, the band clicked big time and the power coming from the stage had the air guitarists among the audience in heaven. I'm also sure they were much louder than they had been last year - and that's not a complaint.

One of the Quo songs which seems to elicit most negative comment is Burning Bridges. Being a contrarian, it's one of my favourites and I hadn't been expecting it to be played (as per setlists from earlier gigs) but there must be something about Glasgow as they played it as their first encore. (It's always seems to get played here - must be the sight of me jumping up and down during the jiggy bit that gives them a laugh!). This was in addition to the usual encore numbers, so we still got Paper Plane, Junior's Wailing and Rock And Roll Music/Bye Bye Johnny to bring the evening to a hugely entertaining close.

Quo are an undervalued gem of the British music scene, but for all those that all too easily put them down they are still capable of pulling large crowds on their annual jaunts which speaks volumes. Roll on next year!