EXCLUSIVE
MUSIC legends Status Quo are on their final ever tour after seven decades of rockin’ all over the world – but frontman Francis Rossi doesn’t want to make a big fuss like he did the last time he tried to wind-up the band 40 years ago.
Quo are currently in the midst of a gruelling 42-date summer tour around Europe of which Rossi, 75, had privately confessed to friends would be their last tour.
But now after playing an astonishing 1,400 concerts, he has admitted publically it is unlikely they will ever play live again following the tour’s conclusion.
And to fans dismay he has even ruled out reforming for special one-off festival gigs.
Rossi said: “I don’t think we will go out on tour again after this, I just don’t want to announce it per se. But I am 75, so if I go out in 2026 I will be 76, that means Andrew (Bown – keyboard player) will be 79 and Rhino (bass player John Edwards) will be 72. Surely that’s not possible?
“Although I am very fit, an hour and forty five minutes, I can’t see how we can do that no matter how fit we are.”
In 1984 Quo played what was supposed to be their last-ever show at Milton Keynes Bowl before 50,000 heartbroken fans at the culmination of their mammoth End of the Road tour.
But they were back on stage 13 months later for a career-defining Live Aid performance that sparked a reformed line-up to return the following year.
But it now their final ever show will be at Vivary Park in Taunton, Somerset, on August Saturday 23rd before 10,000 fans.
Francis, speaking to Quo fanclub magazine From The Makers Of, added: “I love the idea of a one-off and how it sounds but we would have to go into rehearsals for two weeks, and what it would cost us in time, effort and money. The idea when you hear someone say they are just doing a one-off you think, “yeah right!”. You have to prepare. It’s highly unlikely, but knowing our agent and knowing this business, that’s why I don’t want to say to people this is it.
“But I can’t see us doing anymore and I can’t see me accepting the idea of doing a one-off. It would make me so jumpy to just go out and do one f**ing show and then someone would say ‘it’s pointless just doing one show’ and then I’m back on the treadmill again.”
Quo began life in 1962 whilst Rossi and original bass player Alan Lancaster were at school and achieved massive success in the 1970s with their classic four-piece line-up augmented by rhythm guitarist Rick Parfitt and drummer John Coghlan.
Coghlan quit in 1982 and Lancaster, who died in 2021, was axed two years following the End of the Road Tour.
The Quo have continued to perform worldwide, despite the death of Parfitt, aged 68, on Christmas Eve in 2016 whilst Rossi has enjoyed success fronting a show called Tunes and Chat with fellow guitarist Andy Brook. That will be rebooted as An Evening of Francis Rossi’s Songs from the Status Quo Songbook and More, which will hit the road next April.
Rossi added: “I want to do more Tunes and Chat before I die if possible. I enjoy it so f**ing much and it’s obviously less strain on the body. It’s not as intense as walking out with Quo where we only really get respite during In The Army Now.”
Status Quo have had over 50 chart hits including 22 Top 10 singles in the UK, spent over 500 weeks in the album charts and sold 118 million records worldwide.
