"I Cannae Believe It, I'm Gonna See The Quo!"

Status Quo - Cardiff International Arena - Friday, December 4th 2009

As the lights dimmed and a drone began to fill the packed hall, I suddenly felt very at home. For the first time in a decade, I was about to see Status Quo live on stage once again. I hadn't felt such excitement since the first time I saw them at Cardiff Ice Rink in 1992, at the age of twelve. This was powerful stuff.

Even back then, I felt honoured to be able to see a band that meant so much to me, that had been there all of my life (not to mention fifteen years before I was born). To think that I was still able to see them seventeen years later, weeks before my 30th birthday, was an overwhelming thought. And they hadn't even taken to the stage yet.

Last time I saw the band at Cardiff's International Arena, it was 1996 and the Can't Stop tour. I was sixteen, had front row seats, Maddy Prior from Steeleye Span jumped down to the audience and danced with M, we inadvertently started a rumour that Alan Lancaster was going to abseil through the roof while playing the bassline from You Don't Own Me, and a busty twenty-something asked if I wanted to see her tits ("I'll just go and get my friend," I replied).

Fast forward thirteen years and it's the Pictures Exposed tour. Now I'm twenty-nine, right in the middle of the arena in line with Francis Rossi's microphone stand, Roy Wood has just powered through a greatest hits set including Fire Brigade and I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day (accompanied by a sexy blonde backing singer with some adorable dance moves), Alan Lancaster is only mentioned in hushed tones, and I'm married to a busty twenty-something who doesn't tend to wait for an answer before whacking 'em out.

So why did it take so long to get here? A variety of reasons, mostly to do with my health. Whilst my love of Quo has never decreased, some years ago it simply became too impractical to see the band every Christmas. But this year, that all changed.

For starters, L finally made the move from moderate to die-hard Quo fan. As a result, I re-discovered all the albums, videos and books as if I was hearing and seeing them for the first time. Repeated daily doses of Quo will do that to you. They should make it available on prescription. Then came the televised Glastonbury performance, where the band were on top form and played some old favourites. "We'll definitely have to go and see them", I thought aloud. L agreed heartily.

Then in October, fate struck. We were visiting my mother one afternoon when Marguerita Time came on the radio. So surprised to hear Quo, any Quo, our faces lit up as if they had just walked into the room. My mother obviously had a light bulb moment, and two weeks later we were presented with two tickets as an early Christmas/birthday present. A perfect way to end the year and to celebrate the vast improvements to my health.

So, back to that drone. After what felt like an eternity of clapping and cheering, a figure walked onto the stage. Despite the shadows and darkness, it was impossible not to recognise the man's impressive blonde mop of hair and the white Telecaster around his neck. Rick Parfitt entered into a lunge and began bashing out the first bars of Caroline. Then the rest of the band got into position, the drums kicked in and the power and volume didn't stop for nearly two hours.

After a couple of songs, Francis Rossi spoke to the crowd and was clearly in a brilliant mood. Bursting into a quick blast of Love Is A Many Splendored Thing, he showed off his freshly-rested voice (two weeks of shows had been cancelled due to illness prior to the Cardiff gig, leading to a degree of uncertainty in the days beforehand which no doubt helped to create such an electric atmosphere of anticipation in the arena). At one point, Rossi accepted a cigarette from an audience member, dangled it from his mouth for a moment and then spat it out over his shoulder during the introduction to Don't Drive My Car. He was clearly loving it.

Charisma is a much-overused word these days, so much so that it's easy to forget that some people genuinely do posess and exude it in bucketloads. Rossi is a perect example. He had the crowd in the palm of his hand and had more energy and enthusiasm than a lot of performers half his age. The same applied to the rest of the band. Later in the set, during Rockin' All Over The World, Rick did the same thrust of the hips movement as he did in the original promo video. It was impossible to see him as a sixty-one-year-old man, the years fell off him and it could have been 1977 again (except there was no inflatable Alan on stage this time).

The set-list was familiar to us thanks to the recent Pictures: Live At Montreux DVD, but we didn't care. It was an all-new experience for L, so she wouldn't have minded if they had just come on stage and played the same song over and over again. But even I hadn't seen songs such as Pictures Of Matchstick Men, Ice In The Sun, Mean Girl and post-2000 material such as Beginning Of The End live before, and there were a few differences on this tour, including the addition of Hold You Back, Something 'Bout You Baby I Like and Paper Plane.

Three quarters of the way through the set, Rossi announced a slower section of the show. As Rick sang Living On An Island, many of the people in front of us sat down in their seats. We remained standing and were treated to an uninterrupted view of the band for at least three songs. It was like watching a DVD on the world's biggest screen, only much, much louder and with the added bonus of Rhino looking in my direction and matching my nodding head in time with the music. Then it was back down to rockin' business with the greatest hits that got everybody standing again.

Perhaps the best tribute to the band came from the person next to me. He was a disabled man in his sixties who had come to the show on his own to see Roy Wood, but stayed for the main attraction. For the majority of both sets, he stood with the help of his walking stick. But as Quo powered through Roll Over Lay Down, he put his stick on the floor and stood freely, before clapping and singing for all he was worth. It was like the John The Revelator scene from Blues Brothers 2000. That's the power of rock. The power of Quo.

All too soon, we were singing Bye Bye Johnny to a very appreciative Rossi and then it was all over. As we walked out onto the rain-soaked streets of Cardiff, our ears ringing from the sheer volume of it all, there was only one thing left to say; "we'll definitely have to go and see them again next year."

The set-list in full:

Caroline
Something 'Bout You Baby I Like
Rain
Don't Drive My Car
Mean Girl / Softer Ride
Beginning Of The End
Hold You Back
What You're Proposing / Down The Dustpipe / Little Lady / Red Sky / Dear John / Big Fat Mama
Pictures Of Matchstick Men / Ice In The Sun
The Oriental
Creepin' Up On You
Living On An Island
In The Army Now / Drum Solo
Roll Over Lay Down
Down Down
Whatever You Want
Rockin' All Over The World

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Paper Plane
Junior's Wailing
Rock N Roll Music / Bye Bye Johnny