Music review: Lynyrd Skynyrd/Status Quo, Hydro, Glasgow

WAR, famine, force majeure – it seems that nothing is going to stop Status Quo delivering on the promise of their name and frontman Francis Rossi’s pledge to deliver “three chords, same old shit”.

Simplicity, straight-shooting rocknroll and patriotic flag-waving has served them handsomely over the decades but Lynyrd Skynyrd are now on the farewell trail. Picture: John Devlin

Lynyrd Skynyrd/Status Quo, Hydro, Glasgow ***

But as Rossi plugs away without his late wingman Rick Parfitt, Status Quo are currently Status Special Guests of their southern brethren Lynyrd Skynyrd. Mindful of the time constraints, Rossi kept his entertaining wittering to a minimum and the band attacked their set with a no-nonsense brawn reminiscent at its heaviest points of ZZ Top.

Something’ Bout You Baby I Like was what passed for romance in the Quo camp, while the headbanging boogie of What You’re Proposing, country standard Wild Side of Life and rock’n’roller Again and Again were all dispensed in one non-stop medley.

Parfitt was undoubtedly missed as a stage presence but the lack of jokey to-and-fro left the band free to dispatch Down Down with an almost righteous rollicking urgency before rolling out the stodgy favourites Whatever You Want and Rockin’ All Over The World.

While Status Quo chunter on, headliners Lynyrd Skynyrd are on the farewell trail. But the veteran Florida rockers were not bowing out before they’ve had as much jamming fun with their setlist as they could. Their Hydro show started auspiciously with the wry Workin’ For MCA blending Peter Key’s supple Cuban piano licks with searing southern blues riffing and the anthemic Skynyrd Nation a galvanising gospel rocker.

Skynyrd have three guitarists, whether they need them or not, and all were given ample latitude to indulge in squally solos. They strapped on their boogie shoes for I Know A Little and paid general tribute to their blues forebears on The Ballad of Curtis Loew but the flab set in soon enough on the likes of ponderous ballad Tuesday’s Gone.

Several band members looked like they could probably wrestle a bear before breakfast but the hoary Simple Man was their sensitive guy riposte and JJ Cale’s Call Me the Breeze their opportunity to display some party band showmanship.

Simplicity of sentiment, straight-shooting rock’n’roll and patriotic flag-waving has served them handsomely over the decades, and everyone in the room knew where this was ultimately heading – to the archetypal southern rocker Sweet Home Alabama and their overblown epic Freebird, dedicated to the respective memories of guitarist Ed King and original frontman Ronnie Van Zant.

FIONA SHEPHERD