FRANCIS ROSSI  ‘The Grand Old Man Of Rock’   comes to Bury St Edmunds

The Status Quo legend was at the APEX in Bury St Edmunds last night,  Wednesday 29th October, and left the town rocking to the Status Quo songbook and much more.

In between the great tunes, he joked, he hit us with his stories, anecdotes, great memories of the band and mesmerised us all with his fantastic guitar skills and singing. 

Francis was ably assisted by the brilliant Andy Brooks and performing together seated in comfy chairs, playing Fender Acoustasonic guitars.

In May 1982 we first saw the Quo at the Hammersmith Odeon strangely promoted as their final final ever performance. Going home in our car we could no longer hear the engine or each other; it had been very very loud.  

Thirty three years later in April 2015 we saw their famous and wonderful Aqoustic performance at the Royal Albert Hall and then last night at the Apex Francis was at his brilliant best again, a great entertainer and a brilliant performer. 

He did tell us all that he was 55 but we know that’s not quite true as he would have been 12 when we saw him back in 1982 and he certainly wasn’t. 

With just Francis and fellow guitarist Andy  on stage this was as stripped back as a performance could get. However, this format affords the opportunity to really appreciate what a great guitarist Francis is.

We were treated to the classics and some that were maybe in Francis‘s own words his favourites rather than the fans. 

‘Pictures Of Matchstick Men’ opened proceedings taking us back to the psychedelic 60’s before we then headed into the heavy blues of ‘In My Chair’ and ‘Spinning Wheel Blues’. 

Some of the rest of the set

‘Don’t Waste My Time’ 

‘Rock ‘N Roll’

Burning Bridges (On And Off And On Again)’ 

What Your Proposing’  

‘And It’s Better Now’ 

‘Someone Show Me Home’ 

‘Twenty Wild Horses’

‘Tongue Tied’ 

As we came towards the tail end of the set Francis went for the big finish. He stated that on the first tour there were a few songs that he had avoided as they were heavier numbers, and he wasn’t sure they would work in the more acoustic setting. However, he had nothing to fear as ‘Roll Over Lay Down’ was a masterpiece. The interplay between the two guitars was spot on and Francis’s soloing was fantastic to watch, and the track was a triumph.

‘Rockin’ All Over The World’ had the crowd on their feet dancing along as all belted out the chorus. Mr Rossi’s guitar skills were again brought to the fore on the intro to ‘Down Down’ which went down a storm before ‘Caroline’ brought the set to a fitting climax.

The audience were rocking at the end with a fantastic standing ovation Francis and Andy had provided a real musical treat.