Part 4: Sheffield to Ipswich

On then to the town of seriously tasty fledge, Sheffield, to play the City hall. We rocked as per usual, but there were too many people pushing and shoving in front of the stage, not so clever. I keep saying it, this is from all of us, have a drink, get happy, but don't lose the plot, you spoil it for loads of others, it's really selfish, and someone is one day going to get seriously hurt. Anyway, here endeth the sermon... Day off at home gardening, then Margate, not a good gig, stage very small, DIRE sound , someone reviewed the gig on the Message board, yes, we do read it sometimes, and wrote I was a nobody. Thanks pal.. We all met Matt's family, the lovely Val and girls Grace, whom I hadn't seen since she was 3 months old (she's 15) and Rose. Hi girlsxx What lovely people. On the gig, even Francis, who remains pretty positive about things porked the Jeremy (answers on a postcard for that one). Worst of the tour by a mile in my opinion. Nothing wrong with billy, just the room. So Southend was next, and we didn't hold out much hope it would be any better, shows how wrong you can be.. The stage had a rake on it. I'm not continuing the gardening theme, a rake means there is a slight incline, with the front being lower than the back, which if you're a little shall we say, gone, can be very very weird. Lots of people who'd never seen Quo before, I saw a few with their hair standing on end when we kicked off! There were 2 guys near me who spent each song holding their ears, and then clapping at the end of them, the verb to move springs to mind... a little bizarre ladies and gentlemen. A very enjoyable evening, not great, but ok. Ipswich was next, the Regent, with the usual backstage facilities you'd expect from a place purpose built (I think) as a cinema. Crap. Pokey unventilated rooms, deathtrap flights of stairs, dingy, bread the wrong size, etc, but in true Spinal Tap fashion we rose above it, this one maybe we were a little close to the billy, or they were too close to us, it's a bit off putting when you're in one of the greatest bands in the world, and people have got their handbags/programmes/children on the front of the stage! Still, no complaints. By the way, we've dropped ITAN from the set for a while, cue cheers from the HARDCORE, who actually don't realise that without songs like that there wouldn't be a Status Quo to go and be HARDCORE about. I'm not knocking the HARDCORE by the way, just making a point...and it does make a change, that I grant you... We didn't do Cambridge, because as you may know, Rick got ill. It happened very quickly, and we'd like to apologise to all of you who were disappointed, especially those of you who'd come from abroad. All right, I was actually so coked out and drunk, and couldn't be bothered to do the gig, and as you know we don't give a toss about you punters, you can all shove it up your arses. That's the answer to the twathead who wrote on the Message board that we were probably too out of it to play. We HATE to cancel a show, I think it's been rescheduled, look forward to seeing you all then... Mine's a cod and soda, Go Away! XXX PS"What do you think of the Renault 5?" "Not guilty!"

All photography on this page by Barry J. Colquhoun © 2000

To the UK 2000 Tourlog: Part one    Part two     Part three

To the Oz 2000 Tourlog: Part one     Part two    Part three    Part four