The Ultimate Gig List - Notes

These notes accompany the year-by-year listing of Quo concerts. They are designed to highlight important gigs in Quo's history as well as posing questions about gigs we are unsure about or need provenance for. I welcome any suggestions for additions or corrections to these notes, so please feel free to send me an email.

26-03-1966 - the poster scan shows The Spectres in a support slot on March 26th, 1966, the headline act being Mark Roman & The Javelins.


1966/1967 - there is some evidence to suggest that The Spectres played a week-long residency at The Blue Disco Club in Ryde on the Isle Of Wight. This would have been sometime in 1966 or 1967, so does anyone have more details?

14-02-1968 - Quo appeared on a large bill with the likes of The Herd and Simon Dupree & The Big Sound for the "Disc & Music Echo’s Valentine Night Ball" on (unsurprisingly) February 14th, 1968.

16-02-1968 - the start of an era, Quo's first headlining gig as "Status Quo". There may be previous Radio 1 sessions so these earlier dates are sought.

18-02-1968 - a very nice early piece of paper memorabilia, this programme from Golders Green Hippodrome comes from 18th February 1968 when Quo supported Simon Dupree & The Big Sound (this programme was sold by Rockmem-Online in 2014).


02-03-1968 - an early advert for a Quo gig at the Moresk Hall in Truro on 2nd March 1968. Apparently Quo didn't turn up to the show, having got stuck in snow in Devon! (This gem of information was found on the Queen in Cornwall site.)


09-03-1968 - an incredibly rare early poster for Quo's gig at St Mary's University College in Twickenham on 9th March 1968.


11-03-1968 - an early advert for a Quo gig at the Orchid Ballroom in Purley on 11th March 1968. Not a bad night out for five shillings!


14-03-1968 - there is evidence to support this gig taking place on 14th March, but the excellent Ready Steady Gone website (by Roger Smith) indicates a definite date of 15th March for this show.

18-03-1968 - the flyer scan shows a Monday night gig on the 18th March at The Pavilion in Bath. The show is clearly from a very early part of Quo's career and the only years that this date falls on a Monday are 1968 and 1974. Since the admission price is in pre-decimal currency, this cannot be from 1974. As such, this is a very rare example of an early flyer for a Quo gig.
23-03-1968 - this very rare copy of an early contract for a gig by "The Status Quo" shows a 175 pound deal to play at the California Ballroom in Dunstable on 23rd March 1968.


05-04-1968 - Quo's first major break, a support slot with Sixties crooner Gene Pitney.

07-04-1968 - another of the nights from the Gene Pitney support tour, this time at the Coventry Theatre on 7th April 1968 with "special guest stars" Amen Corner. Note that there are two performances on the same night.


10-04-1968 - for this show at Manchester's Odeon, Gene Pitney topped an impressive bill which also included Don Partridge, Simon Dupree & The Big Sound, Lucas & The Mike Cotton Sound, Quo, and Amen Corner.

11-04-1968 - a rare concert poster from Quo's support tour Gene Pitney. This poster comes from the show at Wolverhampton's Gaumont Theatre and also on the bill were Don Partridge, Tony Shannon, and Simon Dupree and the Big Sound.


23-04-1968 - advert and ticket from another night on the Gene Pitney tour, in Gloucester on 23rd April 1968.


24-04-1968 - another night on the Gene Pitney tour, this time in Portsmouth on 24th April 1968. This date has been incorrectly listed as Plymouth for many years in this listing, but the recent publication of some pages from Roy Lynes's diary from 1968 (on Alan Lancaster's Facebook page) have revealed that it was in fact at Portsmouth. This is backed up by gig date sites for other acts on the bill, such as Simon Dupree And The Big Sound.


25-04-1968 - another night on the Gene Pitney tour, this time in Birmingham on 25th April 1968.


30-04-1968 - another night believed to be from the Gene Pitney tour, this time in Bedford on 30th April 1968.


02-05-1968 - a nice early colour poster from the Gene Pitney tour, from Stockton on Tees on 2nd May 1968.


12-05-1968 - this very rare ticket is from one of the first "Poll Winners Concerts" run by New Musical Express magazine. The amazing line-up included The Rolling Stones, Cream, The Herd, Quo and Amen Corner.


26-05-1968 - this lovely early advert is for Quo's gig at the Foseco Sports and Social Club in Tamworth on May 26th 1968. The "Scene" event comes with a warning: "Don't be late, it starts at eight"!


09-06-1968 - Quo played at Elms Court in Botley, near Oxford, on Sunday 9th June, 1968. This date is supported by an article in the Oxford Mail, which says: "Their concert at Elms Court, Botley, on Sunday, June 9, 1968, was sparsely attended - and didn't rank even one line in the Oxford Mail. In fact, had it not been for Jeff Samways, the audience of about 30 would have been halved. Mr Samways, of Finmore Close, Abingdon, tells me: "I hired a small coach and took along about 15 of my friends from Fitzharrys School. It was a good night. Status Quo were in flash clothes - yellow and red, with bell-bottomed trousers." The ticket, which he has kept as a memento, shows that it cost 10 shillings to get in. After the gig, the group signed their names on the back of it - they include Francis Rossi and Rick Parfitt, who remain with the band today."

11-06-1968 - a great find and addition to the gig listing is the show at the Casino de Knokke in Belgium on 11th June 1968. This date comes courtesy of the Belgian Memoire Rock 60/70 website, as does this amazing early photo of the band in action.


23-06-1968 - according to an article on The Imperial Ballroom in Nelson on the Lanky Beat website, Quo played their first gig at this venue on 23rd June 1968.

27-06-1968 - a piece of Quo history in the shape of a stunning early ticket from a gig at the Cavern in Liverpool on June 27th, 1968.


03-07-1968 - a return to Minehead, this time at the Regal Ballroom. Note the glorious entrance fee of eight shillings and sixpence!


05-07-1968 - another great early poster, for Quo's gig at the Railway Institute in York on 5th July 1968 as part of a concert in aid of the York Minster fund. The event was compered by John Peel and support bands included Alexis Korner and Fairport Convention.


13-07-1968 - a lovely early Quo poster, for their gig at the Royal Star Hotel in Maidstone on 13th July 1968 as part of the "Carnival Dance" sponsored by the mayor!


14-07-1968 - a rare flyer from The Redcar Jazz Club showing Quo's forthcoming appearance in the Windsor Ballroom of the Coatham Hotel on 14th July 1968.


24-08-1968 - Quo played at the POC venue in Weesp on 24 August 1968, for a fee of 4000 guilders (a tidy sum in 1968!). It sounds like it was quite a night for them. According to Paul Smit who worked at this venue, "the support act was the Veronica-drive-in-show with famous DJ’s Lex Harding & Jan van Veen. Quo arrived late and they had to play for 45 minutes which was normal at that time. After playing for 20 minutes, they were tired and stopped. Peter de Wit was the tour manager of organizer Paul Acket, so was the responsible man. We had an argument on stage. I grabbed the microphone and said to the audience. He is yours, because he is to blame for this action. The fans were about to get on stage. Meanwhile Peter went for Status Quo and asked them to finish the set according to the contract. Finally they did."

25-08-1968 - Quo played two "gigs" in Holland on the 25th August 1968. At 2pm in the afternoon, they did a session for Beatclub in Hengelo. In the evening, they played a live set from 8pm in the town of Hazerswoude and this confirmed gig is a great record of any early Quo setlist, with them playing the following set: Pictures of Matchstick Men, Ice In The Sun, Lucille, Gimme Some Lovin’, Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds, Gloria, Blood Hound, Black Veils Of Melancholy, Paradise Flat, When My Mind Is Not Live, and Pictures of Matchstick Men (again!).

31-08-1968 - Quo appeared on the same bill as Pink Floyd, Spencer Davis Group, Mike Stuart Span, Inez and The Racers at 'Kastival '68' in Kasterlee, Belgium on 31st August 1968. (Parts of this festival were broadcast by BRTN in the programme ‘Tienerklanken’ on 8th October.)

03-10-1968 - this incredible early photo of Quo in full 60s gear on stage at the University of Bradford Students' Union Freshers' Ball on 3rd October 1968 comes courtesy of the Special Collections at the University of Bradford. The student magazine Javelin featured this photo in the 24th October 1968 edition, with the caption "Status Quo - Sexy?" and there was also the comment that Quo had "so little talent and even less personality. They were not worth the £175 that Ents paid for them". A great early find.


12-10-1968 - this incredible fully signed postcard was collected by Ernie Scott, a well known music guy in Cornwall in the 1960s. He collected signed cards from all the acts and recorded the venue and date on the back too, so this one is clearly marked as 12th October 1968 at the Flamingo Ballroom in Redruth.


18-10-1968 - a nice early promotional poster for a Quo gig in Scarborough on 18th October 1968. Quo played a return two-night stint at the same club in December.


25-10-1968 - another very rare copy of an early contract for a gig by "The Status Quo" shows a 150 pound deal to play at the California Ballroom in Dunstable on 25th October 1968 (following their gig at the same venue on 23rd March 1968).


01-11-1968 - a nice early advert for a Quo gig, from Margate's Dreamland Ballroom on November 2nd 1968. This advert is extracted from the Isle of Thanet Gazette and comes courtesy of Suzannah Foad of the Margate Local & Family History organisation.


06-11-1968 - this gig at St Albans City Hall on 6th November 1968 is now confirmed, thanks to Paul Griggs who played in the support band, Octopus.

23-11-1968 - this amazing early flyer comes from Rotherham in 1968 and comes with a full set of Quo autographs (image from a recent EBay advertisement).


05-12-1968 - Quo appeared at the "Bournemouth College Students Union Christmas Dance" in Boscombe on 5th December 1968. They acted as support to up-and-coming Pink Floyd and other bands on the bill included Mouse & The Cats and The Room (this date is mentioned on The Room's site).

21-12-1968 - advert for Quo's gig in Boston, Lincolnshire, at the Starlight Room on 21st December 1968.


1969 - apparently, Quo played a gig at the Ferndale Workman's Hall in the Rhondda to celebrate the investiture of Prince Charles. The support band was called 'Strawberry Dust' who eventually became 'Racing Cars' and had a top ten hit in 1977 with a song called "They Shoot Horses". On the same day, other top bands played in nearby towns in the Rhondda, one of them being The Move (in Treorchy). There is also a rumour of an after-gig party including Quo at a local pub. Can anyone confirm the date of this gig? (The investiture took place on 1st July 1969.)

24-01-1969 - this unusual event was organised by Brunel University as their Student Carnival and ran through the night till 7am!

01-02-1969 - a couple of lovely early posters from The Cobweb Club in St Leonards, advertising Quo's show on 1st February 1969. Some nice provenance for this gig comes from a comment on the SMART (Seventies Music And Retro Talk) website, from Garry Mitchell: "It was indeed The Cobweb by then and The Quo were brilliant. All dressed in Mod gear with neat haircuts. Can’t remember the setlist but, apart from their two hits already mentioned [“Pictures of Matchstick Men” and “Ice in the Sun”], I definitely recall a great version of Steppenwolf’s "Born to be Wild" which I hadn’t heard before. Strobe lights flashing; standing right by the stage; the great sound, for me, it was a night to remember. I have had a soft spot for Francis Rossi and Rick Parfitt ever since although, apart from seeing them in early 1973 on the pier, have never been to another Quo concert or bought any of their stuff."


05-02-1969 - a fantastic early find, an advert for Quo's show to open the Charles Russell Hall in Erdington on 5th February 1969 (thanks to Chris Selby).


22-03-1969 - this BBC North East Wales article on "Connah's Quay in the '50s and '60s" has a post from Ron Brown who said "Wonder if many remember the Quay group I drummed for, "20th Century Vox" formerly "No Comment" in their heyday; playing with Status Quo at the Royal Lido in Prestatyn (They're still doing gigs! Quo, not Vox....)" which confirms this gig in Prestatyn (though not the exact date) as well as the support band details.

13-04-1969 - the "Record Star" show was a charity event held at the Empire Pool on 13th April 1969. Other acts included Cliff Richard, Scaffold, Joe Cocker and The Herd and the existence of this gig is confirmed via both a programme from this show and the advert scanned here.


09-05-1969 - I am grateful to Brian Ellis for providing the ticket from this one-off early Quo gig. Brian says: "I was one of the organisers of this event and to get Quo was considered quite a coup. Rush Common House was where I lived at the time and was home to around 400 scientific workers at a local research establishment. Now demolished (not by the volume I might add), it was situated in Abingdon, Oxfordshire. As all tickets were handed in at the door and later destroyed I am certain that this one is the only one remaining." What a find!


10-05-1969 - Quo appeared way down the bill at Nottingham's 1969 Pop & Blues Festival, held at Notts County Football Ground on Saturday May 10th. Headliners Fleetwood Mac were joined by some impressive support acts in the form of The Tremeloes, Marmalade, Georgie Fame, Love Sculpture, The Move, Pink Floyd, Keef Hartley, Status Quo, Duster Bennett, Dream Police and Van der Graaf Generator. This show advert shows the full bill, to be presented by the late John Peel and Ed Stewart (later of Crackerjack fame!). The UK Rock Festivals archive has an excellent page devoted to this festival, including the amazing early colour photo of Quo on stage!


28-06-1969 - according to the BBC Wiltshire Swindon Gig History page, Quo stood in for Chicken Shack at this gig in Swindon on 28th June 1969. The venue is listed as the "multi-storey car park behind Fleet Street"! A comment on another BBC Wiltshire History page, from John Bishop, reads "...the three groups that played at that concert... were The Equals, Status Quo (who replaced a group called the Chicken Shack at late notice) and The Nite People. The event was organised by Swindon Youth Council of which I was a member, as part of Swindon Youth Week. Probably every current day laws were broken on that night as over 2,000 people turned up having only sold a few hundred tickets before the event. However, the event was very successful and included the final of Miss Youth Week as well, which was won by a 19 year old, Miss Jill Vertannes."

12-07-1969 - this flyer comes from the 12-hour long festival at Nottingham Racecourse on 12th July 1969.


13-07-1969 - Quo appeared with a number of big-name acts at Wembley Stadium on 13th July, 1969. Other acts on the bill included Love Affair, Alan Price, Yes, and Don Partridge. In a remarkable coincidence, Quo would take to the same stage on the same date some 16 years later to open Live Aid!


13-09-1969 - this advert for events coming up at the Dreamland complex in Margate shows Quo playing The Ballroom on 13th September 1969.


15-11-1969 - according to the Manchester Beat site page about The Tow Bar Inn, Quo played there sometime in the late 1960s. The original town against this date in the gig listing was Eggremont, which is very close to Nethertown and The Tow Bar Inn. So it seems highly likely that this is the venue for this date.

28-11-1969 - a nice early flyer for gigs at the Town Hall in Cullen, showing "One of Britain's International Groups" coming up on 28th November.


30-01-1970 - provenance for this gig at the Royal Veterinary College in London comes from The Strawbs gig listing.

21-02-1970 - this incredibly rare ticket comes from the gig at Solihull Civic Hall on 21st February 1970. Presented by the local youth council, the gig not only included a support band but also "carnival queen selection" - all for the princely sum of ten shillings!


14-03-1970 - this is a rare poster for an "all nighter" at the Philippa Fawcett College in Streatham on 14th March 1970. Quo were joined by Brian Auger and Christine Perfect at this "Rag Dance"event.


16-05-1970 - Quo played at a festival in Düsseldorf on 16th May 1970. Other acts on the bill included Ginger Bakers Airforce, Humble Pie, Love Affair, Love Sculpture and Octopus. This information comes from Paul Griggs who played in Octopus and he also mentioned that "We all went out on a chartered flight from Gatwick and Octopus used Quo's amps, which were Marshall Stacks at the time." Thanks Paul!

02-06-1970 - according to the Black Sabbath Online site, Quo played an afternoon gig at the Extravaganza 70 festival at London's Olympia Hall on 2nd June 1970. The evening session featured Black Sabbath. Quo's appearance is confirmed with this scan of an advertisement for the Extravaganza concert series.


19-06-1970 - this amazing poster for a Quo gig in mid-Wales on 19th June 1970 was provided by Dave Powell and is a truly great find! Dave said "Quo arrived in the afternoon at my Dad’s farm and I recall playing football with them and my Mum giving them tea before they played on the back of a lorry in the barn. They have had a huge following in mid-Wales ever since and I spoke to Francis on Radio 5 Live one morning about 15 years ago and he remembered the night. There was a cartoon image of the night in their 1984 'End of the Road' tour catalogue."


10-07-1970 - again thanks to the Black Sabbath Online site, we know that Quo played an early evening slot at the opening night of the "Euro Pop A-Z Musik Festival" on 10th July 1970 at Olympia Eisstadion am Oberwiesenfeld in Germany. Other notable acts on the same night included Black Sabbath and Taste (with Rory Gallagher). The festival continued on the 11th July with the likes of Van der Graaf Generator, Atomic Rooster, Savoy Brown, Free, Steamhammer, Traffic and Deep Purple - what a line-up!

24-07-1970 - an incredible early ad for gigs at the Cricketers Inn in Southend-on-Sea, which mentions Quo appearing there on 24th July 1970. The hand-written ad clearly mentions "Down The Dustpipe" and suggests arriving early! Note that the previous week to Quo's gig was the "debut" of one David Bowie. An incredible early piece of memorabilia.


01-08-1970 - an advert for Quo's gig at the famous Belfry near Sutton Coldfield on 1st August 1970 (thanks to Chris Selby for unearthing this one).


26-08-1970 - the Marmalade Skies page for August 1970 has Quo playing in two different places on the same date, viz. 26th August. The two gigs are the Tooting Castle and Torquay's Marquay Club (at the Town Hall), so confirmation of which (if either) of these gigs actually took place is now required.

18-09-1970 - a very nice early poster from Germany, for the gig at the Ripon Barracks in one of Quo's favourite German cities, Bielefeld, on 18th September 1970.


26-09-1970 - the ticket scan shows an early Ballroom gig for Quo at the Imperial Ballroom in Nelson. The added bonus here was a disco!


10-10-1970 - another outing at The Marquee Club (with an unspecified support band), this time on 10th October 1970.


04-12-1970 - the source of this information is sure there were other Irish dates around this time, so any further information would be very useful. Apparently Francis sported dark glasses for this gig! - anyone know why?! (Thanks to Declan Quaile for providing the advert scan.)


19-12-1970 - Quo appeared with T-Rex at Brighton's Big Apple Club on 19th December 1970.


29-12-1970 - no rest for Quo towards the end of 1970, with a show in Piccadilly at Bumpers on 29th December as well as a New Years Eve show in Margate.


31-12-1970 - a nice early newspaper advert showing Quo's gig on New Years Eve 1970 at the Dreamland Ballroom in Margate. The gig is listed as running from 8pm "until 1971"!


09-01-1971 - the cutting shows a number of Quo gigs during January and February 1971, while the advert is specifically for Quo's gig at the Big Apple in Brighton on 9th January 1971.


02-02-1971 - these scans show the cover of the programme from Leon Russell's concert at the Royal Albert Hall on 2nd February 1971, along with one page dedicated to Quo inside the programme.


15-03-1971 - Quo appeared on the "New Spotlight Supershow" at Dublin's Television Club on 15th March 1971. Also on the bill were Freedom and Thin Lizzy, but Quo were hyped as the main act with the comment "The only Dublin appearance of this sensational chart topping rock group" - you can't argue with that!


27-03-1971 - Quo headlined this show at The Marquee, supported by up and coming Thin Lizzy. Before the show, Thin Lizzy's van had been broken into and Phil's guitar and Brian's drums had been stolen. Phil Lynott borrowed a bass from Status Quo to play their support set! (thanks to the excellent Thin Lizzy Guide for this gem of information.

09-04-1971 - another headline show at The Marquee, again supported by Thin Lizzy (incorrectly billed as "Thin Lizzie" on this advertisement).


16-04-1971 - another amazing early poster for a Quo gig organized by the Pickering Young Liberals, at the Milton Rooms in Malton on 16th April 1971. This poster is also autographed by the line-up at that time (image comes from an EBay advertisement).


21-05-1971 - according to The Kinks Kronikle for May 1971, Quo played as support to The Kinks (with Nine-Thirty Fly) on 21st May, during a warm-up show for the Kinks' Australian tour.

13-06-1971 - Quo appeared at "Pop and Blues Sunday" in Berlin on 13th June 1971. Other acts on the bill included Atomic Rooster, Man, Alexis Korner and Peter Thorup.


16-06-1971 - in their second gig at The Winning Post in Twickenham within the space of a week, Quo were supported by Thin Lizzy on 16th June 1971.


20-06-1971 - Quo appeared at the popular music pub, The Wake Arms, in Epping on Sunday 20th June 1971, as can be seen by this advertisement for the show.


26-06-1971 - a newspaper advert for shows at Margate's Dreamland Ballroom in late June 1971 includes Quo's gig on 26th June.


16-07-1971 - Quo played at the Hayle Rugby Club on 16th July 1971. This advert is from the club and only shows the date of "Friday 16th" - thanks to the Queen In Cornwall blog, we know the ad is for shows in 1971. The 16th was a Friday in both April and July of 1971, but we already have a confirmed Quo show for 16th April (in Malton) so this show must have been on 16th July.


25-07-1971 - Quo again appeared at the popular music pub, The Wake Arms, in Epping on Sunday 25th July 1971, as can be seen by this great archive advertisement for the show.
19-08-1971 - this nice early ad and handbill are for August gigs at Starkers Royal Ballrooms in Bournemouth in 1971. Quo appeared on the 19th, sandwiched between gigs by Canned Heat (supported by Thin Lizzie) and Fleetwood Mac.
29-08-1971 - the first major festival appearance for Quo as a rock band. The festival was headlined by T-Rex with other big name acts of the day making up the impressive bill, including The Faces, King Crimson, Rory Gallagher and Mott The Hoople.


11-09-1971 - in the October 16th edition of Billboard magazine, the "International News Reports" section includes the following comment about Quo: "The second pop show took place in Belgrade's Sport Hall on Oct. 2. Main attraction of the concert was U.K. trio Christie. Star of the first pop show held three weeks before was U.K. group Status Quo and next to come are Equals." Assuming the Quo show also took place on a Saturday, this would make the date for this concert September 11th, 1971. We have no other provenance for this show (yet).

16-10-1971 - advert for Quo's gig at Clarence's nightclub in Halifax on 16th October 1971 (this advert appeared in 'The Halifax Courier & Guardian' on Thursday 14th October). Note the curious "Up the Dustpipe" line, Chicken Shack's forthcoming appearance and an irresistable offer to girls at the discotheque! (Thanks to Dave Knight for this gem.)


23-10-1971 - ticket for Quo's gig at Leicester University students union Percy Gee building on 23rd October 1971.


15-11-1971 - a nice early ticket for Quo's gig at The Dome in Brighton on 15th November 1971.


24-11-1971 - thanks to the excellent Birmingham Music Archive and their page about the Crown Hotel's Henry's Blues House venue, a new date for the list has appeared, 24th November 1971.

01-12-1971 - the first of what would later become an annual Quo event - the December UK tour. The 1971 version kicked off in style with a gig at the renowned Marquee Club in London and the tour even included a Boxing Day gig.


04-12-1971 - a ticket for the "Dunelm Dance", a gig & disco held by Dunelm House at Durham University on 4th December 1971. This would probably have been a pretty good night out for 50p!


14-12-1971 - lucky London punters had the chance to see Quo for free, with a gig at The Greyhound on 14th December 1971.


18-12-1971 - a beautiful early hand-printed poster for Quo's gig at the Bournville Tech in Birmingham on 18th December 1971.


23-12-1971 - this fantastically rare ticket was provided by Quo cover band, Status Clone. Two of their members, Steve & Paul, were in the support band, Stomachs. The gig was the annual Torquay Boys' and Torquay Girls' Grammar schools' sixth form debating society dance (Steve being a recent ex-pupil). Note the ticket price of just 60 pence and also the dress code - "No jeans or leather jackets", heaven forbid!


05-01-1972 - nice early advert for Quo's gig at the Boathouse in Kew on 5th January 1972.


19-01-1972 - this great early music paper advert is for Quo's gig at the High Wycombe Town Hall on 19th January 1972. (The image comes from an EBay advertisement by the seller rockarc1 who has an awesome collection of adverts, posters and flyers for sale.)


20-01-1972 - this advert from Wallington Public Hall shows Quo appearing there on 20th January 1972.


22-01-1972 - this advert is for Quo's gig at the Potters Bar Youth Centre on 22nd January 1972.


23-01-1972 - this advert is for Quo's gig at the Wake Arms in Epping on 23rd January 1972.


31-01-1972 - this ticket scan is from T-Rex's gig on 31st January 1972 at Hamburg's Musikhalle, with Quo as support.


01-02-1972 - a nice early colour poster from the T-Rex gig on 1st February 1972 in Münster, with Quo as support.


05-02-1972 - this gig at Harlow's Playhouse Theatre on February 5th 1972 was the source of the live photos to be found inside the 'Piledriver' album's gatefold sleeve!

14-02-1972 - this flyer and advert show a Valentine's Night gig in Gravesend in 1972. The Lord's Club was held in the Woodville Halls at the Civic Centre.


16-02-1972 - according to this Paul Brett's Sage site, "One night, at the Floral Hall Southport, there was a power cut and the Quo couldn’t go on. We did our set and then carried on – most of the audience stayed and enjoyed it." There is, however, evidence to support the fact that Quo did play this gig (from a concert goer who said that when the band started, it was so loud that he had to leave the main hall!).

27-02-1972 - this small advert appeared in the Glasgow Evening Times on 22nd February 1972 and shows the 27th February gig coming up at Glasgow's Electric Garden.


16-03-1972 - this advert from the "Fox" at the Toby Jug in Tolworth shows Quo appearing on 16th March 1972.


17-03-1972 - this advert shows Quo appearing as support to Hawkwind at Manchester Free Trade Hall on 17th March 1972.


01-04-1972 - a nice early flyer, showing Quo's performance at the Village Roundhouse in Dagenham on 1st April 1972.


05-04-1972 - another early ticket from The Dome in Brighton on 5th April 1972. Note that the originally billed support band, Southern Comfort, did not appear and their name has been blacked out on this ticket.


06-04-1972 - an advert for Quo's gig at the Wallington Public Hall on 6th April 1972, with DJ Rick Hawkins spinning some tunes.


08-04-1972 - this nice snippet of an advertisement for gigs at the Basingstoke Haymarket Theatre has been fully autographed by the band, maybe at the gig on 8th April 1972.


23-04-1972 - an early advert and concert ticket for a Quo gig in Bletchley on 23rd April 1972. The support band was Snake Eye and members saved 10p over guests at this Youth Centre gig!


05-05-1972 - nice early advert for Quo's gig on 5th August 1972 at Avery Hill College in Eltham.


06-05-1972 - provenance for this date at Wellingborough on 6th May 1972 comes from an interview with Steve Giles who played in the support band, Dark.

10-05-1972 - this small tour supporting top glam artists of the day, Slade, would help Quo secure a deal to tour with the band in Australia in 1973. The publicity that Quo got during that tour in Australia earned them a fond place in the Aussie hearts and resulted in regular further tours down under.

11-05-1972 - this ticket comes from the second night of Quo's UK tour with Slade, in Glasgow on 11th May 1972.


22-05-1972 - Quo played at the huge three-day "2nd British Rock Meeting" held at Germersheim between May 20th and 22nd, 1972. This date was previously listed as 20th May but a gig history of the band Family suggests that Quo played on the 22nd. Other acts on the massive bill included The Doors, Pink Floyd, The Faces, Uriah Heep, Family, and The Kinks. A festival poster and other details (in German) are available here.

27-05-1972 - advert for Quo's gig at Lowestoft's South Pier on 27th May 1972. Early arrivals were rewarded by a blast from "Howard's Heavier Disco"!


29-05-1972 - one of Quo's most influential appearances. This was the festival that got Quo recognised as a class live act and cemented their change to the 12-bar rock that would prove to be their trademark for years to come. The weather was apparently terrible during the festival weekend, but the hardy souls who attended were rewarded by a truly amazing line-up, as evidenced by the promotional poster shown here (Quo were a late addition to the bill, so unfortunately did not make it onto these posters).


30-05-1972 - a nice early ticket, from Quo's support slot with popular Slade at Manchester's Free Trade Hall on 30th May 1972.


17-06-1972 - a mega-rare ticker for an unusual gig, Quo played on a farm in Nottinghamshire on 17th June 1972! This ticket was found during a cleanout according to the seller on EBay in April 2016, a great find.


23-06-1972 - ticket for a show at the CLCE Students Union, on the Scraptoft campus in Leicester on 23rd June 1972. (It seems likely that this is the same venue as the date on the 22nd June.)


24-06-1972 - this advert shows a Quo performance at the Village Roundhouse in Dagenham coming up on 24th June 1972, supported by Malaka. Notice that the next week, the same venue hosted Rory Gallagher, happy days...!


26-06-1972 - this advert for gigs at London's famous Marquee comes from "Melody Maker" (dated June 24, 1972) and includes a two-night stint from Quo on 26th and 27th June.


30-06-1972 - nice early colour ticket for Quo's gig at the Portsmouth Guildhall for a "Valedictory Ball" on 30th June.


07-07-1972 - this incredible poster is from a (very) long weekend of music in Braunschweig from 7th to 9th July, 1972. We have no information as to when Quo played during this 50-hour session and some of the other bands on this bill also played at the Würzburg festival on the 8th and 9th July (see below).


08-07-1972 - this two-day festival also featured Joe Cocker, Jeff Beck, Alexis Korner, King Crimson, Juicy Lucy, Nazareth and Golden Earring. This gorgeous poster features a very young-looking Joe Cocker, billed as the "Woodstock Giant".


11-07-1972 - nice poster from the gig at Göttingen on 11th July 1972, billed as "British Rock in Concert".


21-07-1972 - this advert for gigs at the Dreamland Ballroom in Margate shows Quo appearing on 21st July 1972 (with up and coming Argent on the week before).


22-07-1972 - the bizarrely-named Goose Fair was headlined by the Faces and also included Nazareth, Byzantium, Atomic Rooster and Marmalade along with Quo. Music press from the time suggests that this festival was cancelled, yet the "Rod Stewart" biography shows the festival as having taken place?

28-07-1972 - although this gig ("Midnight Court") at Kings Cross Cinema was cancelled, some adverts were printed in the music press of the time. The show was rescheduled for 18th August 1972. (The image comes from an EBay advertisement by the seller rockarc1 who has an awesome collection of adverts, posters and flyers for sale.)


09-08-1972 - these scans of incredibly rare posters for Torquay venues from 1972 sees Quo appearing betwixt Fairport Convention one week and Hawkind the next.


13-08-1972 - this advert for the 1972 Reading Festival shows Quo on the bill for the final day, August 13th.


18-08-1972 - originally scheduled for the 27th July, this gig ("Midnight Court") at Kings Cross Cinema was rescheduled and took place on 18th August.


19-08-1972 - this scan is of a very cool early advert for a Quo gig in Bridlington Spa on 19th August 1972. Not sure what the Popeye reference is, but imagine seeing Quo one weekend, Slade the next and ELO the next - all for under a pound each!


14-09-1972 - this scan is of another very cool early advert for a Quo gig in Cleethorpes on 14th September 1972. It features the same Popeye motif as the Bridlington gig from 19th August and the sales pitch reads "A band that are now so brilliant"!


23-09-1972 - Stewart Cruickshank describes this festival on 23rd September 1972 (he incorrectly lists the festival as the 29th September) on the Top 20 Scottish Gigs Of All Time page: "The Grangemouth Festival, held in the glare from the flares of BP's oil refinery, was Scotland's first major outdoor showcase for an eclectic mix of international rock, pop and folk music. Another outdoor show, the Festival of Progressive Music, featuring Taste, If and Black Widow, had already been held in Inverness, but Grangemouth was the blueprint for the future. It was promoted by Great Western Festivals, whose directors included the star of Zulu, Stanley Baker, who could be seen grooving to the sound of a bill which saw barnstorming sets from Status Quo (The Doors' Roadhouse Blues, anyone?), Lindisfarne (promoting their new album Dingley Dell), an explosive funk set from the anything-but Average White Band, English folk-rock from Steeleye Span and a long, labyrinthine excursion into Scottish prog-rock madness from Beggar's Opera. What set Grangemouth apart, though, were one-off appearances by the Everly Brothers, replete with soar-away harmonies for a sunny afternoon, and the mighty, rumbling rock power trio Beck, Bogert and Appice, who played a chaotic set in a rain and beer-sodden finale in which Beck removed his jacket while still playing mindbending guitar. And, yes, Billy Connolly, John Peel and Marsha Hunt were there, too. Grangemouth? It truly rocked." There are also some good recollections of the festival here.


04-10-1972 - a nice advert for Quo's gig at the Dunstable Civic Hall on 4th October 1972, supported by Byzantium.


04-11-1972 - a rather jolly advert for Quo's gig at the London's Imperial College on 4th November 1972.


21-10-1972 - nice early poster and advert for Quo's gig at the Corn Exchange in Cambridge on 21st October 1972.


02-11-1972 - press advert for the Quo gig at the Assembly Hall in Worthing on 2nd November 1972, featuring special guests Snake Eye.


12-11-1972 - this cutting shows a promotional advert for the opening of the Queens Hotel in Westcliff-on-Sea. Quo would be one of the first bands to play there, on 12th November 1972.


15-11-1972 - advert for the Quo gig at Tiffany's in Bristol on 15th November 1972. Note that the following week Nazereth are billed, presumably meaning Nazareth.


25-11-1972 - an amazing early poster for a gig at Leeds University on 25th November 1972. Note the 10% premium payable for tickets on the door, an extra 5p!


30-11-1972 - advert for the Quo concert at Manchester's Hardrock Theatre on 30th November 1972, supported by Ellis.


09-12-1972 - another very rare concert poster, this time for Quo's gig at Coventry College of Education for their 1972 Christmas Ball. The support acts were Stealers Wheel and The Armpit band, with tickets costing 60p (in advance) or 70p (on the door)!


14-12-1972 - a nice poster from Quo's show in Germersheim on 14th December 1972 as part of a short German tour in support of the "Piledriver" album.


15-12-1972 - it seems likely that the original gig listed on this date (at Farnborough Tech Student Union, as shown in the poster here) was cancelled in favour of a short tour in Germany. The ticket shows the 15th December show at Augsburg, the previous night was in Germersheim, and a couple of other German dates follow soon afterwards, so the German date seems the most likely of the two advertised shows to have taken place.


16-12-1972 - a classic Quo pose adorns this rare example of a German tour poster from 1972, from Weißenohe on 16th December.


21-12-1972 - ticket from the Sundown at Mile End in London from 21st December 1972.


22-12-1972 - Quo played at Waltham Forest Technical College on 22nd December 1972, doing a little-advertised warm-up show with their support, JSD Band, in preparation for their Rainbow show on 6th January 1973 (thanks to Graham Reed for this great information).

23-12-1972 - a lovely early ticket for Quo's show in Malvern on 23rd December 1972, with a nice festive theme!


29-12-1972 - this rare early concert poster advertises Quo's gig at Thurrock Civic Hall on 29th December 1972. The support bands were the Fusion Orchestra and Carnival (and this image comes from the Carnival website).


30-12-1972 - nice early poster for shows at Cambridge Corn Exchange, showing Quo's gig on 30th December 1972.


31-12-1972 - this amazing early flyer from the famous Greyhound in Croydon lists Quo's appearance on New Year's Eve 1972.


06-01-1973 - a couple of adverts and a ticket for the show at London's Rainbow Theatre on 6th January 1973.


14-01-1973 - a nice early handbill showing Quo's gig at the Queens Hotel in Westcliff-on-Sea on 14th January 1973. This gig was later cancelled (for reasons unknown).


22-01-1973 - Quo's first trek to Australia and New Zealand. This would become a regular trip during the 1970s and, on this their first tour, Quo played as support band to the UK glam rockers 'Slade', Caravan and Lindisfarne. Quo would return to Australia within the year.

27-01-1973 - this nice advert is for the "1st New Zealand International Rock Festival" with Quo supporting Slade at Hamilton Racecourse in Auckland. This was Quo's only venture onto New Zealand soil before their tour of Australia with the same line up, during January and February 1973.


28-01-1973 - this great early poster is for the "International Rock Festival" with Slade headlining and Quo as a component of the support, during January and February 1973. A small advert for the Royal Randwick Racecourse Show on 28th January is also shown.


29-01-1973 - this incredible early colour photo shows Quo on stage at Lang Park in Brisbane as part of the Slade, Caravan and Lindisfarne package tour.


31-01-1973 - a newspaper advert for the Subiaco Oval gig in Perth on 31st January 1973.


03-02-1973 - an advert from the Adelaide Advertiser newspaper for Quo's gig at Wayville Showgrounds in Adelaide on 3rd February 1973, as part of the nationwide Slade package tour.


04-02-1973 - the gig at Melbourne Showgrounds suffered from terribly wet weather, as a result of which the running order was changed, seeing Caravan on first, then Lindisfarne, then Slade and finally Quo. Additional support bands were Country Radio and Buffalo. A newspaper advert for this show on 4th February 1973 is shown.


05-02-1973 - the final show of the Australian tour was due to take place in Canberra on 5th February 1973, but the show was cancelled. An advert for the gig is shown here, along with a printed apology for the cancellation due to "circumstances completely beyond the control of the organisers".


03-03-1973 - flyer from an upcoming gig at Southend's Kursaal Ballroom, a regular slot for the band in the early 1970s.


12-03-1973 - ticket from Quo's gig at Manchester's Free Trade Hall on 12th March 1973, supported by Byzantium. 65p for a ticket to watch Quo from the balcony, bargain!


14-03-1973 - ticket from the show at City Hall in Sheffield on 14th March 1973. Supported by Byzantium, this was probably a decent night out for 75p!


21-03-1973 - ticket from the show at Green's Playhouse on 21st March 1973, again supported by Byzantium.


22-03-1973 - ticket from the show at The Caley Picture House in Edinburgh on 22nd March 1973, again supported by Byzantium. (This ticket scan was found on the extensive Edinburgh Gig Archive.)


10-04-1973 - Irish outfit 'Time Machine' acted as support for Quo's show at Dublin's National Stadium on April 10th and, according to this history of the band, this would be their first big gig.

21-04-1973 - a couple of different adverts for the show at Bracknell Sports Centre on 21st April 1973. Note the state of the art "computer" style font in use here!


27-04-1973 - provenance for this gig (and the support band) comes from the book "A Promoter's Tale: Rock At The Sharp End" by Geoff Docherty, a promoter from the Sunderland area in the 1970s. The Sunderland Locarno was described by John Peel as his all-time favourite venue and Peel contributed to the foreword in Docherty's book. John Peel was the host for this early Quo gig and he was a great supporter of Quo around this time.

01-05-1973 - this gig was recorded by the BBC and pressed onto a transcription disc in limited quantities. This is one of the rarest Quo recordings and has been heavily bootlegged, both on vinyl and CD. The gig may be found on the recent CD bootlegs "Roadhouse Blues" and "It Was Just A Good Name (and One That We All Liked)".

02-05-1973 - this Whisky A-Go-Go Show Listing indicates a five-night run for Quo in May 1973 (previously the Ultimate Gig Listing was only showing the gig on the 3rd May). The advert shows Quo as "Coming Up".


20-05-1973 - Quo's first US tour. We have dates listed from 20/05 to 29/05 inclusive but details are sketchy, so where were these gigs and who was on the bill? For this first gig, the line-up was Atlanta Rhythm Section, Status Quo, Mandrill and Savoy Brown. The May 19th issue of Billboard magazine gives details of the following gigs:
  • 25th May: Coliseum, Corpus Christi, Texas
  • 26th May: Coliseum, Odessa, Texas
  • 27th May: Coliseum, El Paso, Texas
  • 29th May: Bronco Bull, Dallas
  • 31st May: Masonic Temple, Davenport, Iowa


25-06 - 01-07-1973 - the June 16th issue of Billboard magazine shows Quo playing Katy's in Boston from June 25th to July 1st.

21-07-1973 - this flyer from Torquay Town Hall in July 1973 shows Quo's appearance on 21st July, interestingly with support from Andy Bown (of course later to become full-time Quo keyboard player).


28-07-1973 - this flyer is for a gig at Hastings Pier on 28th July 1973, again with The Andy Bown Band as support.


02-08-1973 - this great early poster is for Quo's gig in Zürich on 2nd August 1973. The poster is autographed and was part of Alan Lancaster's personal collection (the poster is for sale at Handsome Dicks Records).


25-08-1973 - another notable festival appearance for Quo, their first time at the Reading Festival. Their set appears on the Reading Festival album (also now available on CD), which also includes Andy Bown's rendition of "Long Legged Linda" (later to become a fully-fledged Quo track). The headline act was The Faces with performances also by the Sensational Alex Harvey Band, Striders, Lindisfarne and Chris Barber. Quo's set featured "Junior's Wailing", "Someone's Learning", "In My Chair", "Railroad" and "Don't Waste My Time" (which appears on the festival album discussed above). The article shown here features a spectacular shot of Quo in action, whilst the poster shows the variety of acts across the festival weekend.


05-10-1973 - ticket scan from the gig at Manchester Free Trade Hall on 5th October 1973.
08-10-1973 - as an example of the 1973 vintage set-list, drool over this one from the gig at Birmingham Town Hall: Junior's Wailing / Someone's Learning / In My Chair / Claudie / Roll Over Lay Down / Big Fat Mama / Railroad / Don't Waste My Time / Caroline / Roadhouse Blues / (Encore - Mean Girl). (My thanks to Paul Williams for this information.)

11-10-1973 - this great ticket scan from the Liverpool Stadium show on 11th October 1973 comes from the Liverpool Stadium fan site. This is ticket number 65, I wonder how many tickets were sold?


15-10-1973 - ticket scan from the Portsmouth Guildhall show on 15th October 1973.


24-10-1973 - ticket for Quo's gig at the Hamburg Musikhalle on 24th October 1973, as part of the tour supported by The Sensational Alex Harvey Band.


01-11-1973 - ticket for Quo's gig in Belgium on 1st November 1973, as part of the tour supported by The Sensational Alex Harvey Band. (Thanks to Eric Fortin for confirming this date.)


15-12-1973 - this beautiful early concert poster advertises Quo's gig at the Farnborough Tech Student Union on 15th December 1973.


1974 - this unofficial programme appeared during tours in 1974, presumably only in the UK?


06-02-1974 - Quo appeared at Hollywood's famous "Whisky A-Go-Go" club on February 6th, 1974, and their show (with support band Hot Dogs) was reviewed by Harold Bronson for Melody Maker. His review appeared in the "Caught In The Act" section of the February 16th edition of the music paper. View a copy of this great archive article by clicking here. (Many thanks to Harold Bronson for his permission to reproduce the article on this website.) This Whisky A-Go-Go Show Listing indicates a five-night run for Quo here starting on 6th February (previously the Ultimate Gig Listing was only showing the first gig, as confirmed by Bronson's review, on the 6th).

14-02 - 27-02-1974 - a number of Quo gigs in the US and Canada are listed in the February 16th issue of Billboard magazine. While some of these dates have been discounted based on better provenance for alternative cities and venues, the following gigs from this list appear to be genuine:
  • 14th, 15th & 16th February: Matrix, San Francisco, USA
  • 19th February: Jubilee Auditorium, Calgary, Canada
  • 20th February: Jubilee Auditorium, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
  • 21st February: University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada
  • 22nd February: Civic Auditorium, Fargo, USA
  • 27th February: Municipal Auditorium, Kansas City, USA


18-02-1974 - a ticket from Quo's show in support of Nazareth in Vancouver on 18th February 1974. This date was previously (incorrectly) listed here as being at the Austin City Coliseum in Austin, as a support slot to Badfinger and Tim Buckley (due to the comments in the blog of rock 'n' roll photographer Deborah Chesher), but this show was in fact cancelled.


24-02-1974 - this is a fabulous early US tour poster find, for the show at the University of Wisconsin on February 24th, 1974, where Quo featured as one of the support acts to Badfinger.


26-02-1974 - a lovely early US tour handbill, for the show in Wichita, Kansas, on February 26th, 1974, where Quo played down the bill behind Fleetwood Mac (well, not the actual Fleetwood Mac as it turned out!) and Nazareth.


05-03-1974 - this advert for the gig in Toledo on March 5th, 1974, shows Quo as support to Badfinger at The Agora for the princely sum of three bucks!


12-03-1974 - this ticket shows a gig in Northampton (Pennslyvania) on March 12th, 1974, as part of the WSAN concert series. There is conflicting evidence around this date, though. Andy Brown has posted a history of WSAN gigs at the Roxy Theater and indicates that the first WSAN concert took place on 12th March, 1973. He also notes that "The last March show in 1975 was the first appearance at The Roxy of British rockers Status Quo. Formed in 1962 by Francis Rossi and Alan Lancaster as The Scorpions but changed to The Spectres in 1963. They became The Status Quo in 1967 and Status Quo in 1969. They have had over 60 hits chart in the U.K., more than any other group. They have sold over 128 million records world wide. The Roxy show was loud, but clean. There just isn't many groups that compare to Status Quo. The groups 8th album, "On The Level" had just been released in February 1975. Why these guys have never had a big U.S. following is not the fault of Bob Ross or WSAN in the 70's. We all knew they were a lot more then "Pictures Of Matchstick Men." So maybe this gig was postponed to March 1975?


22-04-1974 - ticket from Quo's concert at the Stadthalle in Heidelberg on 22nd April 1974, with guest acts Epitaph and Stryder.


12-05-1974 - ticket from Quo's gig at the Belle Vue Kings Hall in Manchester, on 12th May 1974.


14-05-1974 - ticket from the first of two nights at Glasgow's famous Apollo Theatre, on 14th May 1974.


03-06-1974 - Quo played the Dutch Pinkpop Festival on 3rd June 1974. Some amazing black and white photos from the Quo set can be seen here while the setlist (according to Setlist.fm) was: Junior's Wailing, Backwater, Just Take Me, Claudie, Railroad, Roll Over Lay Down, Big Fat Mama, Don't Waste My Time, Roadhouse Blues, Caroline and Bye Bye Johnny.

28-06-1974 - various sources (including the festival's official website) show that Quo played at the Roskilde Festival in Denmark, from 28th to 30th June 1974. An audience of 21,500 witnessed a large bill of top name acts including Quo, The Incredible String Band, Savage Rose & Camel. The poster scan is from the 1974 festival, but it does not list Quo as one of the acts.


27-07-1974 - a nice couple of rarities from Quo's gig playing support to Rory Gallagher in Vancouver on 27th July 1974; an original ticket (thanks to Vince Ricci) and a lovely example of 1970s artwork in the handbill for the gig.


02-08-1974 - this rare poster shows Quo playing at J.J's in San Diego for two consecutive nights in August 1974. It would appear they played two sets each night, at 8pm and 11pm. The existence of the poster does not of course guarantee the gigs actually took place.


11-08-1974 - Quo appeared as part of an impressive bill at Toronto's Centre Island on 11th August 1974. The other acts included Todd Rundgren, Rory Gallagher, Dr Hook & the Medicine Show, Foot in Coldwater, Diamondback and Abraham's Children.

09-09-1974 - Quo's performance at the House of Culture in Helsinki left its mark - their incredible volume literally stripped paint off the walls and the whole venue had to be repainted! As a result, no rock groups were allowed to play at the venue for three or four years, the drought being broken by AC/DC! Quo returned to the venue on 20th March 1996. (Thanks to Raimo Kiesilä from Vantaa, Finland, for this information.)

26-10-1974 - the ticket scan shows a rare ticket from an early gig in Belgium. Although the year is not stated, there is provenance to support the fact that this gig is from 1974.


02-11-1974 - a poster for Quo's gig at Winterthur in Switzerland on 2nd November 1974. The promoter was a company called "Good News", a Quo gig's always good news!


09- and 11-12-1974 - Quo played at the Blackburn King George's Hall on either 09-12-1974 or 11-12-1974, so which date was it?

10-12-1974 - Quo were the last rock band to play at The Globe, on 10th December 1974. An excellent history of the Globe can be found here.

11-01-1975 - good evidence from this early French tour with a ticket from the Paris Olympia show on 11th January 1975.


14-01-1975 - thanks to Eric Fortin for confirming this gig and also for providing definitive dates for the French tour in January.

17-02-1975 - this great "heads down" image comes from a poster for the München gig on 17th February 1975 as part of the European leg of the "Quo" tour.


23-02-1975 - another great "heads down" poster, this time for the Köln gig on 23rd February 1975 as part of the European leg of the "Quo" tour.


01-03-1975 - ticket from an early appearance at the famous Kursaal Ballroom in Southend, from 1st March 1975. It was at this gig that the "Status Quo Live" EP tracks, including "Roll Over Lay Down", were recorded.


03-03-1975 - the image to the right is a scan of an incredibly rare original tour poster for Quo's gig at Lancaster University, as part of the self-titled "Quo" tour.


30-03-1975 - according to The Warehouse (New Orleans) concert list, Quo played as support band to Lynyrd Skynyrd on 30th March 1975. It seems strange that Quo would be in the US for this gig at the end of March then back to the UK for one show in Nottingham and then back in the US again early in April, but there's nothing to suggest that this gig was cancelled. (It actually seems more likely that the Nottingham gig never happened.)

13-04-1975 - according to The Blue Oyster Cult History Project, Quo played with Ted Nugent and Blue Oyster Cult in Grand Rapids on 13th April 1975.

14-04-1975 - according to The Blue Oyster Cult History Project, Quo played with Bob Seger and Blue Oyster Cult in Lansing on 14th April 1975 and this ticket provides good provenance.


09-05-1975 - ticket from the second of two nights at the De Montfort Hall in Leicester, on 9th May 1975.


17-05-1975 - ticket from the final night of a three-night stint at Glasgow's famous Apollo Theatre, on 17th May 1975.


24-05-1975 - a couple of tickets from Quo's gig at the Belle Vue Kings Hall in Manchester on 24th May 1975. The balcony was a snip at 50p a ticket, while the "Grand Tier" came with the grander price tag of £1.25!


29-05-1975 - poster from the show in Stockholm on 29th May 1975, the second of a four-night run in Sweden.


02-06-1975 - ticket from a single French gig in Summer 1975, at Paris's Palais des Sports on 2nd June.


05-06-1975 - ticket from the first of two nights at the Wembley Empire Pool, on 5th June 1975, supported by the Pretty Things. Note the ticket price plus booking fee amounts to two quid...


11-07-1975 - a very nice early advert from the Calderone Concert Hall in Long Island, New York, shows a sold-out show on the 11th July featuring Peter Frampton supported by Quo.


20-07-1975 - this ticket is from Longbeach Arena in California and shows the date of 20th July. Also on the bill were Mahogany Rush and Aerosmith, as the handwritten addition indicates. This is probably from 1975 since this is the only year that Quo were in the US around this time that is not already accounted for. Many gig listings for this date show ZZ Top as being on the bill also, so there is some doubt on this date still. (Thanks to Steve Smith for this information.)


25-07-1975 - this ticket is for the Aerosmith gig in San Antonio, Texas, on 25th July 1975 and Quo were support along with ZZ Top.


03-08-1975 - there is evidence to suggest that Quo played at the ‘1st Ohio River Music Festival’ at Nippert Stadium on the campus of the University of Cincinnati on August 3rd, 1975. The headline act was Aerosmith and other bands on the bill included Black Oak Arkansas, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Blue Oyster Cult, Foghat, Styx, Quo, and Mahogany Rush and the Outlaws. See Doc Lehman's blog (he gets the date wrong as 1973 as opposed to 1975) and the Blue Oyster Cult History Project entries for August 1975.

04-09-1975 - a busy two weeks in Germany would see Quo play a number of large festival shows. The show at Munich's Circus Krone venue was billed as "The Big Rock Show" and also featured Supertramp, Thin Lizzy, Randy Pie and Snafu.


06-09-1975 - billed as "The Open Air 1975 Festival", Ludwigshafen played host to an impressive line-up including Alice Cooper, Thin Lizzy, UFO, Randy Pie and Heavy Metal Kids (Supertramp and Ace were both listed but did not play).

07-09-1975 - another in "The Big Rock Show" series, Dusseldorf's sizeable Phillipshalle played host to Quo with Thin Lizzy, Snafu, Now and Ace.

16-09-1975 - a great 1975 poster for Quo's gig with Snafu in Hamburg on 16th September.


23-09-1975 - Quo's first venture to the Far East and a small tour of Japan, en route to an extensive tour of Australia once more.

17-10-1975 - ticket from the penultimate gig of the Australian tour at Perth Entertainment Centre on 17th October 1975.


05-12-1975 - a problematical French tour where promoter problems forced Quo to cancel and reschedule many of the gigs. As a result, our venue information needs to be completed.

11-12-1975 - a very pretty ticket from the gig in Paris on 11th December 1975, seemingly confirming at least this date of this troublesome French tour.


31-12-1975 - Quo were a headline act at The Great British Music Festival held at London Olympia on New Year's Eve 1975. Other big names on the bill included Thin Lizzy, Procul Harum, Bad Company and Nazareth.


04-02-1976 - a nice ticket example from the gig in Ludwigshafen on 4th February 1976. An amazing set of colour photos from this concert can be found here.


11-03-1976 - ticket from the second of three nights at Glasgow's famous Apollo Theatre, on 11th March 1976.


12-03-1976 - ticket from the final night of a three night stint at Glasgow's famous Apollo Theatre, on 12th March 1976.


25-04-1976 - the first of eight of Bill Graham's famous "Day on the Green" concerts in Oakland, California, during 1976 took place on 25th April, with Quo appearing amongst a star-studded line-up including Peter Frampton, Fleetwood Mac, and Gary Wright. The event was billed as "The British Are Back to Back" show and this is a lovely original T-shirt from the event.


24-07-1976 - a rare use of the Cardiff Castle grounds for a music festival saw Quo headline to an estimated 20,000 crowd, with other acts including Budgie, Curved Air, The Strawbs, Jackie Lynton and Hawkwind. A unique programme was also printed for this event (see the scan here, just 40p a copy!).


27/28/29-10-1976 - the Glasgow Apollo would serve as Quo's stage for recording of their first live album release, the double-album "Live!" - an effort which would become a standard in Quo's history. The packed houses for three nights at the Apollo put everything into getting themselves heard on record and the atmosphere on these recordings is superb. A wonderful set and a great venue helped ensure "Live!" became one of Quo's most respected releases.


17-11-1976 - Yet again on their way to Australia, Quo stopped off for another short tour of Japan. The second of their two dates at Tokyo's Sun Plaza Hall was recorded, to later be released as the album "Tokyo Quo". Only issued in Japan, this is the rarest Quo album and mint copies easily command £150. More recently, the vinyl album was repressed onto CD, firstly as part of the Japanese-only 4-CD set "The Great Box" and then as a standard single CD.

24-11-1976 - Perth was the first stop on the eight-night 1976 Australian tour, with the gig at the Perth Entertainment Centre on 24th November. A unique programme was designed for this tour, as shown here.


09-01-1977 - Quo won "Hard Rock" act of the year in the 1977 Daily Mirror Pop Club awards and played this special gig at Stafford's Bingley Hall. An unofficial programme on sale at the gig can be seen here.


28-01-1977 - this long tour of France, extending into February, was previously listed as being of dubious provenance. However, thanks to French fan Eric Fortin, the full list of gigs in this tour can now be provided for the first time. Additionally, bootleg recordings of the Le Mans, Cambrai and Paris shows are known to exist and this ticket scan confirms the Le Mans show.


04-02-1977 - a ticket for the gig at Vitrolles on 4th February 1977 (this date was originally listed as a gig in the city of Tours, but this ticket confirms the city as Vitrolles - thanks to Eric Fortin).


11-02-1977 - any confusion about the town in which Quo played on 11th February 1977 is cleared up by the newspaper article and ticket from Colmar (thanks to Patrick Specht for this information).


12-02-1977 - a ticket from another of the shows on the French tour, this time from Dijon's Palais des Congres on 12th February 1977.


09-04-1977 - this great poster comes from the Great Easter Rock 'n' Blues Express festival held in München on 9th April 1977. The line-up was impressive, with The Small Faces, Scorpions, Dr Feelgood, John Mayall and Harry Chapin all adding to what must have been a great day's entertainment. A ticket from the show is also shown.


19-11-1977 - ticket from the first of two nights at Cardiff's Capitol Theatre on 19th November 1977.


28-11-1977 - ticket from the second of three nights at the Glasgow Apollo on 28th November 1977.


29-11-1977 - ticket from the last of three raucous nights at the Glasgow Apollo on 29th November 1977.


08-12-1977 - ticket from the first of two nights at Leicester's Granby Halls on 8th December 1977.
15-12-1977 - the third of four consecutive nights at London's Hammersmith Odeon on 15th December 1977.


21-12-1977 - the final gig of 1977 saw Quo playing at London's Lewisham Odeon on 21st December 1977, rounding out three consecutive nights at the venue.
17-01-1978 - a nice ticket scan from the show in Poitiers on 17th January 1978, even if it is ticket number 13!


30-01-1978 - poster from the last show on the "Rockin' All Over The World" tour in Sweden from Lund on 30th January 1978.


24-02-1978 - poster from a show on the German leg of the "Rockin' All Over The World" tour - billed as the "Rockin' All Over Germany" tour - from Nürnberg on 24th February 1978.


18-07-1978 - the longest tour of Australia, to promote the "Rockin' All Over The World" album, kicked off at Newcastle Civic Theatre. The gig was unofficially recorded and released as a double-album vinyl bootleg, entitled "First Night Stand". This stands as the rarest of Quo bootlegs and, despite the very poor quality of the recording, copies can command up to £300.


02-08-1978 - ticket from the first of two nights at the Perth Entertainment Centre, on 2nd August 1978.


26-08-1978 - Quo's second appearance at the Reading Festival, following their success there in 1973, gave UK fans their only chance to see Quo on home soil during 1978. The band were spending a tax year in various foreign locations so an eager crowd welcomed them back to Reading, along with The Speedometers, Lindisfarne, Gruppo Sportivo, The Motors, Nutz, Jenny Darren and Spirit. This poster shows the line-up across the three-day festival programme.


20-01-1979 - an unused ticket from the show at Düsseldorf Philipshalle on 20th January 1979.


02-02-1979 - a regular venue on German tours, this poster is from the show at Ludwigshafen on 2nd February 1979.


17-02-1979 - a (sadly!) unused ticket for Quo's gig in Paris on 17th February 1979.


09-05-1979 - the first show of a three-night run at Wembley Arena on 9th May 1979.


10-05-1979 - the second show of a three-night run at Wembley Arena on 10th May 1979. The band would be back in London in June, this time at the Hammersmith Odeon.


25-05-1979 - the penultimate night at Edinburgh's Odeon Theatre on 25th May 1979 during a massive four-night sold out series of gigs.


05-06-1979 - ticket from the first of two nights at Sheffield City Hall on 5th June 1979.


01-07-1979 - a crowd of 20000 saw John Peel introduce Quo as the headline act of this festival in Dublin. Other acts included local favourite Christy Moore and Judas Priest.

01-03-1980 - the French and German tours scheduled for March and April were cancelled due to Rick Parfitt having back problems.

22-03-1980 - a poster for the cancelled show in Nürnberg on March 22nd, 1980. No doubt other posters were printed for other shows on this cancelled tour.


06-03-1981 - the first concert of 1981 and the first of two nights at St Austell's Coliseum, on 6th March 1981.


15-04-1981 - a nice original poster from the gig at Munich's Olympiahalle on 15th April 1981.


22-04-1981 - Quo's first visit to Italy, a market they would never make their own - Germany and France remained their heartlands.

29-04-1981 - a rare ticket for a Quo gig in Italy, this one from the Torino show on 29th April 1981.


10-05-1981 - Quo's first (and only?) visit to Portugal, after a brief stint in Spain and en-route to France again.

26-05-1981 - the first of three sell-out nights at Wembley Arena on 26th May 1981.


28-05-1981 - the last of three sell-out nights at Wembley Arena on 28th May 1981.


29-05-1981 - yet another gig at Bridlington Spa, this time on the "Never Too Late" tour on 29th May 1981 (also Francis's birthday!).


31-05-1981 - ticket from the gig at Carlisle's Market Hall on 31st May 1981, with just a couple of shows to go to finish the "Never Too Late" tour.


02-06-1981 - ticket from the first Gaumont Theatre gig in Southampton during Quo's "Never Too Late" tour on 2nd June 1981.


03-06-1981 - the second Gaumont Theatre gig in Southampton during Quo's "Never Too Late" tour would mark the end of John Coghlan's reign as drummer with the band, shortly to be replaced by Pete Kircher. "Never Too Late" was also his final studio album and John 'retired' from Quo to pursue personal interests and indulge in various less serious musical ventures, like "Diesel" and more recently the Quo cover band "State of Quo".

1982 - this cool sticker was supplied to lucky buyers of tickets for the successful "1+9+8+2" tour.


1982 - this great photo shows the band at a promotional record signing event at HMV in London for the "1+9+8+2" album.


27-04-1982 - always a popular gig, this ticket comes from the Bridlington Spa gig on 27th April 1982.


03-05-1982 - the first of a sold-out seven night run of shows at Hammersmith Odeon. These Odeon consecutive night gigs would become a feature of Quo's tours in the years to come.

14-05-1982 - as one of the first bands to play at the recently opened Arena part of the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham, Quo performed this gig on behalf of Prince Charles' charity, the Princes Trust. The gig was simulcast live on BBC television and radio (introduced by Tommy Vance) and would later spurn a number of official releases - including the video, Dutch-only vinyl LP, LP3 of the "From The Makers Of..." box set and CD. The opening song from the gig, "Caroline", was also released as a single (7" copies with catalogue number QUO10, 7" picture disc on QUOP10 and 12" singles on QUO1012).

15-05-1982 - ticket from the cancelled show at the Fair Deal in Brixton on 15th May 1982.


17-05-1982 - ticket from the Brighton gig on 17th May 1982 as part of the "1+9+8+2" tour.


28-05-1982 - this large event also included Rainbow, Judas Priest, The Scorpions and ZZ Top as well as Quo. It was filmed and later broadcast as "Rockpop In Concert" on 10/07.

21-08-1982 - Quo headlined this festival, with other noteable acts including Saxon, Hawkwind, Uriah Heep, Anvil and Gillan. The Quo set was pure 1982 vintage - Caroline, Roll Over Lay Down, Backwater, Little Lady, Don´t Drive My Car, Whatever You Want, Hold You Back, Rockin' All Over The World, Over The Edge, What You're Proposin', Dirty Water, 4500 Times, Big Fat Mama, Don´t Waste My Time, Roadhouse Blues, Rain, Down Down and Bye Bye Johnny.

26-04-1984 - the fourth night of the German leg of the "End of the Road" tour, playing Munich's Circus Krone on 26th April 1984.


04-05-1984 - the first of just two nights in Sweden on the "End of the Road" tour, playing Stockholm's Johanneshovs Isstadion on 4th May 1984.


25-05-1984 - the first UK gig of the "End of the Road" tour, a two-month stint which would see Quo take in all corners of the country (including another sold out seven night stretch at the Hammersmith Odeon) before the grand finale at Milton Keynes Bowl on 21/07.

31-05-1984 - the second of two nights on the "End of the Road" tour playing the Manchester Apollo on 31st May 1984.


07-06-1984 - the first of two nights on the "End of the Road" tour playing Trentham Gardens on 7th June 1984.


09-06-1984 - the first of two nights on the "End of the Road" tour playing Newcastle's City Hall on 9th June 1984.


10-06-1984 - the second of two nights on the "End of the Road" tour playing Newcastle's City Hall on 10th June 1984. Note that the ticket says that all official merchandise purchases come with a free gift - the gift was a sheet of stickers, each one showing a different Quo album cover. Complete sheets of these stickers are now something of a collectors item!


14-07-1984 - originally scheduled to be the last gig of the "End of the Road" tour but superseded by demand by the Milton Keynes gig the following week, this gig at the home of Crystal Palace FC saw support slots from Chas 'n' Dave, Dave Edmunds, Little Steven & His Disciples of Soul and Grand Slam (Phil Lynott's new band). An exclusive programme was available for these final two huge shows of the tour and is shown here along with a poster from this show.


21-07-1984 - the final gig of the "End of the Road" tour. To a firework finale, Quo said goodbye to their fans and their life on the road - until 1986 anyway! This gig was recorded and released on video in two parts, "End of the Road 1984" and "More from the Road 1984" - the first of these became one of the fastest selling music videos of all time. Support acts for this memorable event were Jason & The Scorchers, Gary Glitter, Marillion and Nazareth.

13-07-1985 - one of the largest music events ever held, 'Live Aid' was music's contribution to the problems of starvation and poverty in Ethiopia. Organised by Bob Geldof (ex Boomtown Rats), the event took place on both sides of the Atlantic. The UK event came from a packed Wembley Stadium and was simulcast on BBC radio and television. Quo were the opening act and "Rockin' All Over The World" became the event's anthem. Reforming specially for the event, they played "Rockin' All Over The World", "Caroline" and "Don't Waste My Time". Francis Rossi and Rick Parfitt also appeared on the Band Aid single, "Do They Know It's Christmas?"

05-07-1986 - highlights of this festival were later broadcast on television in a show called "Out In The Green".

09-07-1986 - the first of four shows for the newly reformed version of Quo, co-headlining with Queen on their "Kind of Magic Tour". The Queen set is available as an official double CD set but the Quo set is as yet only available on the bootleg "Quo's Back". All 38,000 tickets for this show sold out in an hour, setting an attendance record in Newcastle at the time. The profits went to the local Save The Children fund. Status Quo and Zeno were the support acts INXS were supposed to be on the bill as the opening act, but their tour bus broke down and they couldn't make the gig, so Quo played a longer set to compensate.

09-08-1986 - a backstage pass from the Knebworth show on 9th August 1986, as well as the programme from the Seepark Open Air Festival held in Arbon, Switzerland, from 8th to 10th August 1986. Quo appeared at the festival on 9th August 1986 as part of their "three gigs in one day" tour around Europe!


03-10-1986 - this gig was performed in a circus big top in Swindon's Faringdon Park and formed part of the week-long Swindon Arts & Music Festival. Other acts at the festival included Marti Webb, The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Cleo Laine and Johnny Dankworth. Princess Anne was guest of honour on the Saturday night, for the quiet concert, but did not attend the Quo gig on Friday 3rd. Due to technical difficulties, Quo were unable to showcase any of their new "In The Army Now" material at this show.

12-10-1986 - poster from the gig at Lund's Olympen venue on 12th October 1986, as part of the massive "In The Army Now" tour.


18-10-1986 - ticket from the gig in Oldenburg on 18th October 1986, during the early stages of the German leg of the "In The Army Now" tour.


09-11-1986 - ticket from the gig at Den Bosch Maaspoort on 9th November 1986, as part of the "In The Army Now" tour.


26-11-1986 - the first mainland UK gig of the "In The Army Now" tour, supported by Waysted. This mammoth Europe-wide tour ran from early October until Christmas Eve (culminating in another of those Hammersmith Odeon runs) and saw the "new" Quo emerge as a live entity. Coincidentally, this gig was the first at Bournemouth International Centre - a venue which would become a tour standard and even achieved the status of final gig on the tour for a number of later tours.

29-11-1986 - ticket from the gig at Royal Court in Liverpool on 29th November 1986, the third night of the UK mainland leg of the "In The Army Now" tour.


11-12-1986 - ticket and poster from the gig at Whitley Bay ice rink on 11th December 1986.


13-12-1986 - one of the most significant of all Quo gigs, in that it was my first gig! Halfway back on the floor at the NEC Arena, at the tender age of 16, this was the gig which started my Quo live experiences. The rest, as they say, is history...

15-12-1986 - ticket from the gig at Sheffield City Hall on 15th December 1986, as part of the "In The Army Now" tour.


24-12-1986 - this Christmas Eve gig was a 'special' early show - Quo played, without a support act, and during the encore of "Bye Bye Johnny" they were joined by Lemmy of Motorhead.

16-03-1987 - this flyer is for Quo's show in Toulouse in 16th March 1987, towards the end of a nine date tour.


12-07-1987 - other acts on this festival bill included: Marillion, Jimmy Cliff, Aswad, Blue Oyster Cult, Magnum, Katrina & The Waves, Barclay James Harvest and Nils Lofgren.

21-07-1987 - attended by some 70000, other acts on this festival bill included: The Beach Boys, Chuck Berry, The Blow Monkeys, Kid Creole & the Coconuts and The Pogues.

01-08-1987 - other bands at this festival were Esturion, Barricada, Angeles Del Infierno and Baron Rojo - all Spanish bands. Quo were included in this festival after Saxon and Twisted Sister failed to headline. (Thanks to Josep A. Gaspar for this information.)

29-08-1987 - Quo's only UK appearance in 1987 was at the Reading Festival - this was to become their last visit to the festival as its emphasis changed to more indie-based material in the coming years. Other acts at the festival included The Quireboys, Dumpy's Rusty Nuts, Shy, Glory, Terraplane, MGM, Lee Aaron, Bad News, Magnum and The Georgia Satellites.

03-10-1987 - Quo's controversial visit to South Africa in October 1987. The band received condemnation for playing there before the lifting of apartheid and they only played at Sun City. This cutting advertises Quo's gigs from 3rd to 11th October, 1987.


22-05-1988 - ticket from the gig in Hameln on 22nd May 1988 as part of the lengthy German leg of the "Ain't Complaining" tour.


29-06-1988 - ticket from the gig at Whitley Bay ice rink on 29th June 1988 during the short UK Summer tour.


02-07-1988 - ticket from the second gig at Birmingham's NEC Arena on 2nd July 1988 during the short UK Summer tour.


04-07-1988 - ticket from the first of two nights at Brighton Centre on 4th July 1988 during the short UK Summer tour.


06- and 07-07-1988 - these Wembley shows were recorded by the BBC and pressed as a transcription disc. Copies of this disc are sought after by collectors and command up to £150 each. The show was later broadcast on BBC Radio 1 and includes a rare live performance of "Cream of the Crop".

09-07-1988 - other acts on this festival bill included: The Pogues, Uriah Heep, T'Pau, Foreigner, Ziggy Marley, Bob Diddley & Ron Wood, Starship and Jethro Tull.

15 to 30-08-1988 - we know that Quo peformed a record 14 gigs at Moscow's Olympic Stadium between 15th and 31st August. We have 13 of these dates confirmed, so which one is missing?

18-11-1988 - this gig was previously listed as being cancelled, but new information from Frank in France has allowed this gig to become confirmed. From his diary on the 18th November, 1988, he writes: "Walk in, a not so big hall, we'll be 300 at the most; at 8.30 a Deutch group named " No Excuse" plays more or less 4 songs, average hard rock but a nice version of " With a little help..." of the Beatles, but the Joe Cocker version.Then comes on Status Quo ( number 3 ! ) it's the Ain't Complaining Tour. Rick wears a Black jacket, Francis is sober in a white shirt, and Jeff has a short on ( lucky it's warm inside ! ). They kick off with Caroline and play for a little less than two hours including the Milton Keynes medley and two other medleys, playing the wonderful Burning bridges, The Price Of Love, Bye Bye Johnny and most of their standards ... They really are having fun on stage you can see that, and so am I for the whole set ! I buy the program, a sweat shirt - I still got it ! - and drive back..." Thanks Frank!


25-11-1988 - Andy Bown started feeling ill when the venue was already open to the audience and so the gig took place - Quo played as a four piece for the first time since 1976. Support band No Exqze travelled to Malaga thinking Quo were not going to cancel the rest of the Spanish tour, but they did due to Andy's pneumonia. Indeed, the French tour to follow was also eventually cancelled. (Thanks to Josep A. Gaspar for this information.)

30-11-1988 - this "Ain't Complaining" era tour poster comes from the Barcelona show on 30th November 1988. Andy Bown's illness plagued this tour and the one to follow in France.


14-12-1988 - ticket from Paignton concert on 14th December 1988 as the "Ain't Complaining" UK tour drew to a close.


01-11-1989 - the only live dates we have provenance for are those of the UK "Perfect Remedy" tour, as listed. What was the band doing for the first 10 months of 1989?

07-12-1989 - ticket from Quo's gig at Newcastle City Hall on 7th December 1989 during the short "Perfect Remedy" Winter tour.


11-12-1989 - ticket from Quo's gig at Glasgow SECC on 11th December 1989 during the short "Perfect Remedy" Winter tour.


15-12-1989 - ticket from Quo's gig at Brighton Centre on 15th December 1989 during the short "Perfect Remedy" Winter tour.


17- and 18-12-1989 - these two NEC gigs were recorded and released as the video "Rocking All Over The Years", the first official Quo live video release since those of the "End of the Road" tour in 1984. This video includes the only official live release of "The Power of Rock" from the 'Perfect Remedy' album. The gig on 18/12 is also notable as it was my first front row for a Quo gig!

30-06-1990 - as previous recipients of the the Silver Clef Award, Quo performed amongst a star-studded bill at Knebworth Park. This gig was simulcast on BBC Radio 1 and among the other acts performing were Cliff Richard, Tears For Fears and Paul McCartney. A double-CD set emerged as well as a two part video of the event. Francis Rossi and Rick Parfitt were also interviewed prior to the start of the show by Richard Skinner for Radio 1.

28-07-1990 - a icket has surfaced for a gig in Malta on 28th July 1990, as shown here. The only previously known date in Malta was 22nd August 1998 and there is no other evidence of this 1990 Maltese show, so can anyone help to confirm that it actually took place?


10-10-1990 - to celebrate 25 years since their conception at Butlins in 1965, Quo performed a special gig back at Butlins in Minehead. The gig was open to the resident campers as well as a host of invited guests from the entertainment world, all shipped down to the camp on the specially-chartered "Quo Express" train. The gig was later released on the "Rocking Anniversary" video.


07-12-1990 - ticket from Quo's gig at South Shields on 7th December 1990 during the "Rockin' All Over The Years" tour.


01-06-1991 - Quo undertook a joint tour with Rod Stewart and Joe Cocker. The first date we have for this tour is 01/06, running through to 15/06? Did this tour take in any other countries and have we covered all the UK gigs?

07-06-1991 - this flyer comes from the fourth show in the stadium tour with Rod Stewart and Joe Cocker, at Manchester United football club's Old Trafford, on 7th June 1991.


10-08-1991 - this programme is from the Hultsfred Festival held in Sweden on 9th and 10th August 1991. Sadly, Quo did not perform at this festival due to Francis suffering a headache (probably a migraine as he revealed in 2012 that he'd been a long time migraine sufferer).


25-08-1991 - Quo played at Dop Festival in Enschede on 25th August 1991. Other acts on the bill included Golden Earring, Mother's Finest and The Scene.


21-09-1991 - originally an idea of Quo's manager, David Walker, Quo embarked upon the unenviable task of completing four UK mainland gigs within 12 hours. This epic day saw Quo perform at Sheffield Arena, Glasgow SE & CC, Birmingham NEC Arena and finally Wembley Arena within 12 hours - and put them into the Guiness Book of Records. A huge logistical exercise, the day was not without hitches, but the event raised over £250,000 for various charities. A double-video pack resulted from the day too - one volume charting the build up and planning of the day, the other a montage of footage from the four shows.


16-11-1991 - ticket from the gig at Craigavon (Lurgan) on 16th November 1991 as part of the Northern Ireland leg of the "Rock 'Til You Drop" tour.


13-12-1991 - ticket from the gig at Manchester's large G-Mex Centre on 13th December 1991 as part of the UK mainland stint of the "Rock 'Til You Drop" tour.


24-01-1992 - poster for the gig at Lund Olympen on 24th January 1992, as part of the "Rock 'Til You Drop" tour.


07-06-1992 - the first gig of the "Island" tour, taking in John Coghlan's stamping ground of the Isle of Man to begin, then onto the Channel Islands of Guernsey and Jersey and planned to finish off on the Isle of Wight. (They did finally take in the Isle of Wight on 10/11.)

20-06-1992 - as part of the "Rock 'Til You Drop" island-hopping tour phase, Quo were destined to play at Ryde's Smallbrook Stadium on 20th June 1992. This gig was cancelled but the band played on the island later in the year.


27-06-1992 - the supporting bill at the Magic Pop Festival was New Orleans Review, The Scabs, Vaction, Elliot Murphy and Les Sheriff.

14-08-1992 - the supporting bill at the Mac Queen Pop Festival was Snap, De Kreuners, Noordkaap and Dinky Toys.

16-08-1992 - guest ticket for the show in Albacete on 16th August 1992, the first of a four-night mini-tour of Spain.


29-08-1992 - ticket from the Bemd Festival in Arendonk, Belgium on 29th August 1992.


30-08-1992 - Quo assisted Radio 1 to celebrate their 25th anniversary as the headline act of "The Party In The Park". Attended by well over 100,000 fans, the day-long event featured many popular artists, including Del Amitri and Aswad, and went out on Radio 1. Quo's performance was later released on both CD and video as "Live Alive Quo" and also spawned a single, "Roadhouse Blues - Anniversary Waltz Part 25" (the 25 referring to Radio 1's anniversary).


19-10-1992 - a landmark even for Quo. Having performed to Prince Charles in 1982 for the Princes Trust, this gig was part of the "Last Tattoo", a farewell to British troops in Germany - attended by Queen Elizabeth II!! Other artists performing at this bizarre event included the Beach Boys and Quo's later collaboration with them on "Fun Fun Fun" was first discussed when they met at this concert.

03-09-1993 - while still in Radio 1's good books, Quo performed at the Radio 1 roadshow prior to an evening switch on of the world famous Blackpool Illuminations. Quo drew one of the largest crowds to date for the switching on in Talbot Square. Incidentally, what were the band doing up to September 1993?

05-12-1993 - ticket from the Glasgow show of the "Just For The Record" tour on 5th December 1993.


30-03-1994 - the world famous Royal Albert Hall was home for one night to Quo to perform again in front of HRH Prince Charles for a charity gig. The Hall was filled to capacity and the band were supported by 'Little Egypt'. This remains of one my most memorable gigs and the double CD bootleg "Princes Trust 1994" is a high-quality reminder of a fabulously atmospheric and patriotic event.

04-06-1994 - a nice colour ticket from the Esbjerg Rock Festival held on 4th June 1994. Another impressive bill for Quo to be part of, including Deep Purple, ELO, Steve Harley, Smokie, Bonnie Tyler and Suzi Quatro.


27-08-1994 - UK Summer outdoor appearances had become a rarity for Quo so this August Bank Holiday special was a treat for the UK fans who couldn't wait till December for the annual tour. The weather was gorgeous and the slight bowl of Hylands Park provided a good venue for this outdoor concert. The support band were 'Magnum' who played a long and well-received set before Quo took the stage and played through dusk into evening.


11-11-1994 - this advert shows the five gigs comprising the Swedish leg of the "Thirsty Work" in November 1994.


19-11-1994 - poster for the last night of the Swedish leg of the "Thirsty Work" tour, at Stockholm's Globe Arena on 19th November 1994.


26-11-1994 - ticket from the concert at Blackburn Arena on 26th November 1994. Those lucky enough to have "standing" tickets (like this one) were rewarded with very cold feet whilst standing on the ice rink floor (albeit boarded over!).


13-12-1994 - ticket from the concert at Plymouth Pavilions on 13th December 1994, as the UK leg of the "Thirsty Work" tour was coming to an end.


28-05-1995 - billed as the last date of the Thirsty Work tour, this football stadium gig in Northampton on 28th May 1995 was only half sold but it gave the Quo audience their first glimpse of support act 'Dear Jon', who would go on to support the band throughout the year.


08-07-1995 - ticket from the two-day Troisvierges Open Air Festival in July 1995. The second day saw the rock heavyweights taking the stage, with Quo as headline act and ably supported by Magnum and Uriah Heep.


09-07-1995 - other acts on this festival bill included: REM, Clawfinger, Bo Diddley, The Beautiful South, Paul Weller, Elton John, Silverchair, Ugly Kid Joe, Rod Stewart, George Thorogood, Vanessa Mae, Faith No More, Oasis, Megadeth, Sheryl Crow, Page & Plant, The Pogues, Warrant, Chuck Berry and Slash's Snakepit.

27-08-1995 - another Summer appearance for Quo, this time in Wales and with an extensive festival line-up. Kicked off by 'Dear Jon', the day also included 'The Manfreds', 'Suzi Quattro' and 'Dr Feelgood'. The long wait for the early birds at the front was rewarded by a full Quo set to round the day off.

20-10-1995 - we are not sure whether the German and Danish tour (running to 25/11) was in fact cancelled and, if so, the reason why.

29-11-1995 - ticket from the Sheffield Arena gig on 29th November 1995.


08-12-1995 - ticket from the Plymouth Pavilions show on 8th December 1995.


17-12-1995 - ticket from the final gig of 1995, the second of two nights at Wembley Arena on 17th December, supported by Dear Jon.


28-01-1996 - as both a promotional and reward event for FTMO members, this special members-only event was a huge success. Quo recorded a playback of the "Don't Stop" album (which was later released on video) and later played an hour-long traditional live set. All of the artists on the album appeared on stage with Quo, including Maddy Prior, Brian May and 'The Beach Boys'. The Academy was packed and, as a reward to the faithful fans, it was a great gesture from Quo's management.

07-04-1996 - ticket for Quo's appearance at the Windo Rock Festival at Oosterzele in Belgium on 7th April 1996 as part of the "Don't Stop" tour.


04-05-1996 - ticket for the concert on 4th May 1996 in Kassel. It appears that the concert was moved from another date ("neuer termin" meaning "new date") as indicated by the sticker over the original ticket.


19-05-1996 - ticket for the concert in Hamm on 19th May 1996, the last German date of the "Don't Stop" tour.


10-11-1996 - poster for the concert at Stockholm's Cirkus on 10th November 1996 as part of the "Don't Stop" tour.


26-11-1996 - Quo fell victim to a French lorry drivers dispute. After three gigs in France, Quo's gear was loaded into trucks to be shipped back to England then over to Ireland ready for this first gig in Belfast. The strikers prevented trucks loading onto ferries and so, although Quo themselves arrived in Ireland in time for the gig, their gig was stuck on the wrong side of the English Channel for a couple of days. The strike was quickly resolved and the gear managed to arrive in time for the Newry gig on 28/11.

15-12-1996 - an interesting briefing sheet from the gig at Wembley Arena on 15th December 1996. Staff were warned to expect a "middle aged, enthusiastic audience"!


04-03-1997 - after some 19 years away, Quo returned to Australia for a small tour. The small theatre-type venues ensured Quo sold-out and the packed houses revelled in their return. The success of this tour ensured that Quo would not leave it so long before going back to Oz, they went again the next year in fact.

19-03-1997 - in the market they had never managed to crack, Quo returned to the US and Canada en-route back from Australia. With just two shows in the US and one in Canada, Quo sold out easily at the small venues but there has since been no return to this market.

02-08-1997 - following Rick Parfitt's heart bypass operation in May, the show scheduled for Carrow Road on 28/06 was rescheduled to 02/08 and, as such, staged Rick's return to live work. The special circumstances ensured a good crowd and the apprehensive fans had their minds put at rest by a typically hard Parfitt performance. The support acts for the event were 'Gidea Park' (a Beach Boys tribute act) and 'Shakin Stevens'.


19-12-1997 - ticket from the Sheffield Arena show of the "Whatever You Want" UK tour on 19th December 1997.


01-08-1998 - the supporting bill for Quo at the Jazz Bilzen Festival was Ray Davies, Ten Years After, Squeeze, Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel, The Mike Flowers Pops and Clown.


22-08-1998 - Quo's first (and only) visit to Malta, to play at the Ta' Qali International Music Festival. The festival ran over three Summer weekends with Deep Purple, Iron Maiden and Quo as headline acts across the three weekends. Quo played to a small crowd of about 1000, the smallest audience across the three weekends - the small crowd could be attributed to the fact that the other two bands are more well-known in Malta and Quo's gig was also held on a hot and very dusty day. Although the festival was set to become an annual event, its lack of success meant that this was a one-off event. (Thanks to Robert for the additional information and ticket scan from this event.)


18-09-1998 - nice poster from Quo's appearance in München on 18th September 1998, supported by Roger Chapman & The Shortlist.


25-11-1998 - this gig was originally scheduled to be in Bonn on 24th November and then moved to 25th November. It was then cancelled in Bonn and moved to Köln, at the E-Werks venue on 25th November! This was a great gig for me as I scored a backstage pass (thanks to it being my birthday on the 24th)!


29-03-1999 - the first of Quo's ten-gig pub tour in the UK. Basically a different promotional tour for the "Under The Influence" album, the tour gave the local fans a chance to see the band at very close quarters. The tour received lots of press coverage and this first gig in particular attracted large numbers of media representatives. The gig was bootlegged and released as "Rockin' All Over The Pub".

07-04-1999 - ticket from the Manchester leg of the "Under The Influence" pub tour, for 7th April 1999 at The Star & Garter.


25-06-1999 - the first of two benefit concerts for Kosovo. Quo would open these gigs and the headline act was Michael Jackson. The German event was broadcast on the internet.

06-08-1999 - this poster is from the 1999 Strandfuif Festival held at JH Bunker in Glabbeek, Belgium, on the 6th and 7th August 1999. Quo had the dubious honour of being supported by, amongst others, The Seatsniffers!


08-08-1999 - this programme and ticket are from the "Into The West" festival, which took place in West Belfast from 31st July to 8th August 1999, with Quo headlining the final night, supported by Midge Ure.


30-10-1999 - in place of the traditional Christmas tour, Quo headlined the prestigious European "Night of the Proms" gigs. Performing over 30 concerts in ten cities across five countries, the band would play a set of just four songs ("Whatever You Want", "In The Army Now", "Twenty Wild Horses" and "Rockin' All Over The World") to a total audience exceeding half a million for the tour. Rick and Francis also took part in the show's closing song "Hey Jude" along with the other artists, Zucchero, Emilia, Natalie Choquette and John Miles.

27-03-2000 - similar to the launch of "Don't Stop" in 1996, fan club members were treated to a special gig on their behalf for the release of "Famous In The Last Century". A ticket from the gig on 27th March 2000 is shown here. Click here for further details of this gig.


07-06-2000 - poster from the gig at Stuttgart's Congresscentrum on 7th June 2000 as part of the "Rocking All Over Germany 2000" tour (albeit promoted using the familiar "Famous In The Last Century" image).


09-06-2000 - poster from the gig at Hessentag's Classic Rock Festival on 9th June 2000, featuring Quo, Smokie, The Searchers and Suzi Quatro - what a bill!


15-06-2000 - ticket from Quo's concert at Madrid's Sala Mecumba on 15th June 2000.


06-10-2000 - ticket from the Grimsby gig of the "Famous In The Last Century" UK tour on 6th October 2000.


28-10-2000 - to mark the start of their Australian tour, Quo performed outdoors in the middle of nowhere! The historic township of Grandchester, about 100km inland from Brisbane, saw Quo arrive majestically by train, play a short set in the midday sun, then disappear again on the train. Click here for further details of this gig.

04-11-2000 - Brisbane-local and ex Quo keyboard man Roy Lynes joined Quo on stage at the Entertainment Centre for a guest appearance on "Roll Over Beethoven". Roy had been delighted to be asked to take part in this gig and you can read more here.

11-12-2000 - ticket from Quo's concert at Nottingham's Royal Concert Hall on 11th December 2000 as the mammoth split Winter leg of the "Famous In The Last Century" tour came towards its end.


15-12-2000 - a surprise special guest appeared on stage for the traditional Wembley Arena gig, in the shape of Jackie Lynton on "Roll Over Beethoven". If you don't know who he is, dig out your copy of "Live!" and listen to the intro!

19-07-2001 - a ticket from the first of four so-called "Route of Kings" shows with the Beach Boys, at Edinburgh Castle on 19th July 2001.


20-07-2001 - a ticket from the second of the "Route of Kings" shows with the Beach Boys, at Warwick Castle on 20th July 2001.


21-07-2001 - programme from the Summer Pops concerts held at Kings Dock in Liverpool in July 2001. Quo headlined this event on 21st July.


29-01-2002 - poster for the gig in Hameln on 29th January 2002, which was postponed and actually took place on 9th May the same year.


30-07-2002 - Quo launched their new album "Heavy Traffic" with a special press and media show aboard the deck of the Ark Royal. A special feature concerning this event is available by clicking here.

24-08-2002 - ticket from Quo's one-off gig at Middlesbrough's Ormesby Hall on 24th August 2002.


05-11-2002 - ticket from Quo's gig at Brentwood Centre on 5th November 2002. Local punters had to choose between bonfire night celebrations and a gig on Quo's Heavy Traffic tour, not a tough choice!
22-02-2003 - poster for the massive shows at Neza Stadium in Mexico on 22nd and 23rd February 2003 as part of the "Heavy Traffic" tour.


23-03-2003 - ticket from the show in Tuttlingen on March 23rd 2003, as part of the German leg of the "Heavy Traffic" tour.


22-07-2003 - flyer from the first of two Channel Island gigs in July 2003, with a show on Guernsey on 22nd July 2003.


29-10-2003 - the flyer for the UK Winter tour leg of the "Riffs" tour was sent to FTMO fan club members, showing the first show at Guildford Civic Hall on 29th October 2003.


21-06-2004 - ticket from gig in Heppenheim on 21st June 2004. (The venue for this date was originally listed as Freilichtbuhne, but the ticket indicates a different venue.)


04-07-2004 - programme from Quo's appearance at the famous Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland, on 4th July 2004.


28-08-2004 - ticket from Quo's show at historic Powderham Castle, near Exeter, on 28th August 2004, supported by the ever-popluar and hardworking outfit, The Hamsters.


10-09-2004 - Quo were invited to perform at a large party marking the opening of Zurich's new airport. They were supported by the Zurich Airport Orchestra and a Beatles tribute act. Lucky it wasn't Vienna airport or they might have had second thoughts!

13-11-2004 - ticket from the gig at The Octagon in Sheffield on 13th November 2004, as part of the UK leg of the "XS All Areas" tour.


20-03-2005 - Quo made their first trip to Malaysia to play at the after-race party following the Formula 1 Grand Prix in Kuala Lumpur. Quo appeared as the headline act and were preceded by a number of local Asian acts. The crowd was almost exclusively locals too, so Quo were an unknown quantity to most of them. Quo played a full set though, despite the small crowd of only about 500 people, the hot humid conditions and the lack of familiarity of their material. More details of this event, including media coverage and access to photographic and video materials, can be found by clicking here.

22-06-2005 - a poster for the show in Weilburg on 22nd June 2005 featuring Jethro Tull as support.


17-07-2005 - Quo headlined the third and final day of Guilfest 2005. Headline acts for the first two days were The Pogues and Paul Weller, whilst Quo were joined on the BBC Radio 2 Main Stage on Sunday by Daniel Bedingfield, Lulu, Marillion, Chas & Dave, The Zombies and the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain! Notable appearances on the other stages during the day included Rhino's son's band Toothpaste Factory (on the "Surrey Advertiser Stage" at 3:30pm) and regular Quo support band Hurricane Party (in the Rock Sound Cave).

05-08-2005 - a ticket for the after-race gig at Newmarket Racecourse, held on 5th August 2005.


20-12-2005 - unused ticket from the cancelled show at Aberdeen Exhibition Centre on 20th December 2005.


13-05-2006 - ticket from the penultimate gig of the 2006 Australian "Double Trouble" tour with Deep Purple, in Newcastle on 13th May 2006.


10-06-2006 - Quo were third on the bill at the annual "Rock Under The Bridge" festival in 2006, partly because they needed to get back to the UK for the Silverstone gig the next day. Deep Purple headlined the event, with other acts on the bill including Lis Sørensen, Gnags, TV2, Kim Larsen & Kjukken, Zididada, SP Just Frost, Ida Corr, Magtens Korridorer, Bikstok Røgsystem and Saybia.

22-10-2006 - ticket for the sold-out gig in Paris on 22nd October 2006.


12-11-2006 - this flyer for the "Just Doin' It" tour of the UK in November and December 2006 was sent out to FTMO fan club members, with the tour kicking off on 12th November in Cambridge.


05-07-2008 - this poster shows Quo playing at the Akademik Stadium in Sofia, Bulgaria, on 5th July 2008. This gig did not take place, as Quo played in Serbia on this date, so maybe this gig was scheduled and then replaced by the Serbian gig after being advertised?


26-10-2008 - ticket from one of the cancelled UK shows of the "Pictures" tour, from Portsmouth Guildhall on 26th October.


15-11-2008 - a nice poster from the show in Grenoble on 15th November 2008 as part of the "Pictures" tour.


08-02-2009 - ticket from Quo's final show on Irish soil during the February 2009 mini tour, from Dublin's Olympia on 8th February.


10-06-2009 - poster from Quo's gig with Deep Purple at Dortmund's Westfalenhalle on 10th June 2009.


10-09-2009 - poster from Quo's gig for Gibraltar National Day on 10th September at Ocean Village.


17-10-2009 - poster from Quo's one-off gig in France on 17th October at the Casino de Paris as part of the "Pictures" tour.


12-11-2009 - Quo slotted in a private show between the Bristol and Llandudno shows with a charity performance at The Roundhouse, London, on 12th November. The evening was the 10th anniversary benefit dinner for the organization Shine and according to their website, it was a great night. "Egged on by Channel 4's Jon Snow, guests pledged an astonishing £537,000 to SHINE projects in just 25 minutes before enjoying a barnstorming concert from rock legends Status Quo". "With the business of the evening concluded, the stage rapidly transformed into a full-blown rock concert, courtesy of a truly barnstorming performance by the legendary Status Quo. The band, who waived their performance fee for the event, treated guests to their most famous hits in one of the most memorable SHINE concerts in recent years (certainly no others have prompted quite so many displays of air guitar prowess). Once The Mighty Quo had retired backstage, the crowd was kept on their feet by top DJ Dan Lywood right up until the final moments of the event. All in all, it was quite a night." As a matter of interest, Quo used the 'B' backline (the reserve Marshalls, etc) and all sound and lighting was provided by the venue and 'Shine'. The band's own production gear was travelling to the next UK gig whilst they were performing in London.

11-03-2010 - a ticket from the second show of the 2010 Australian tour, at the Brisbane Convention Centre on 11th March.


25-08-2010 - a poster from the German leg of the "Pictures Exposed" 2010 tour, at the Hanau Amphitheater on 25th August.


10-10-2011 - poster from Quo's sold out show at the Paris L'Olympia on October 10th as part of a five-night mini-tour.


26-11-2011 - Quo played a private gig for the employees of the Pall-Ex group of companies on 26th November 2011. Pall-Ex members ADD Express, Premier Logistics and Gibbs Transport were all recognised award winners at the pallet distribution giant’s annual dinner dance attended by nearly 400 guests at the Lancaster London Hotel. At the event, where guests were entertained by Quo and comedienne Vicki Stone, ADD Express received the award for Depot of the Year. The award for Outstanding Contribution to the Network went to Premier Logistics and the Special Achievement award was won by Gibbs Transport. Pall-Ex chief executive Hilary Devey (of "Dragon's Den" fame), who also spoke on the night, commented: “This event is designed to say thank you to the membership for their extremely hard work and achievements over the past year. I would like to again congratulate the winners and runners up in each category, and thank the entire membership that continually helps to make Pall-Ex the leading network that is today.” Additionally, over £2000 was raised on the night for Pall-Ex’s chosen charity, the Princess Royal Trust for Carers.

24-03-2012 - Quo played a private gig for the staff and business partners of the Electric Partners group on 24th March 2012, making this their first live show of 2012. The event marked the 75th anniversary of the company and around 2000 enjoyed Quo's hour-long set in the ballroom of the Swissotel in Neuss, near Düsseldorf. Some excellent photos of the band in action (along with a review of the gig in German) can be found here.

23-06-2012 - nice colour poster from the Brenzpark Open Air show in Heidenheim held on 23rd June 2012.


25-08-2012 - advert from the Tawe Fest at Singleton Park in Swansea over the August Bank Holiday weekend in 2012. Quo headlined on the 25th August, with other acts including Wishbone Ash and Bad Influence.


17-10-2012 - poster from a rare Quo visit to Romania, with the gig in the nation's capital, Bucharest, on 17th October 2012.


06-06-2013 - poster from the Sweden Rock festival, held over four days from 5-8 June, 2013. Quo headlined on the second night.


13-09-2013 - before playing to a sold-out Hallenstadion on the 14th September, Quo played a private gig at the same venue in Zurich on the 13th, to help the Swiss Helbling Group celebrate their fiftieth anniversary. Francis took part in a brief interview before Quo's performance too, some snippets from that interview can be seen in this YouTube clip.

12-07-2014 - a nice colour poster for Quo's gig at Scarborough's Open Air Theatre on 12th July 2014. <