Gig review: Status Quo/Chas & Dave - Glasgow

THANKS to their prophetic name, Status Quo have been the butt of their own joke for years but it seems there is still no shortage of fans willing to turn up for the same old same old again and again, seamlessly dispatched with no-messing momentum and the occasional outbreak of rudimentary guitar choreography.

Status Quo. Picture: Michael Gillen.

Status Quo/Chas & Dave

Hydro, Glasgow

**

For all its practised familiarity, their current set counters the myth that everything in their catalogue sounds the same. True, the idle Quo dabbler might struggle to distinguish the trademark chugga chugga intros to Whatever You Want and Roll Over Lay Down but, elsewhere, the electric folk riff of Hold You Back, the slightly proggy ballad In The Army Now, the cover of country standard Wild Side Of Life, the vintage rhythm’n’blues guitar and harmonica licks of Creepin’ Up On You and the gruff but groovy caveman blues of The Oriental varied the pace and rhythm of the set – just not so much that anyone could accuse Quo of mounting a dynamic display.

Although more naturally suited to the pub backroom than the state-of-the-art arena, Chas & Dave were fitting touring bedfellows – like the headliners, they are seasoned veterans who have never strayed from their unreconstructed rock’n’roll roots, adding the woogie to Quo’s boogie, while wearing their musicianship lightly so as not to spoil the novelty knees-up party. But, like Status Quo, when you’ve seen them once…

Seen on 07.12.14