Status Quo

> Blickling Hall

Status Quo may be celebrating their 40th anniversary as among Britain's favourite and most enduring rock bands but they are having no mid-life crisis if Saturday's open-air Blickling Hall show is anything to go by.

From the opening chords of perennial show opener Caroline to the farewells of Bye Bye Johnny, Quo, and frontman Francis Rossi in particular, had the audience in the palm of their hands.

From the lad playing air guitar on his dad's shoulders to balding fiftysomethings head-banging away to Down Down, it was a classic Quo show pleaser all the way.

Having been to countless Quo shows over the years, this was the first time I had persuaded my wife and two youngsters to come along, and they were bouncing with the best of them to party tracks such as Hold You Back and Break the Rules.

They're veterans of some 2000 gigs, reckons Rossi, but the band's enthusiasm is clearly undiminished by it. Despite still using the same battered old guitars they started with, frontmen Rossi and Rick Parfitt form a still dynamic, if slightly slower, duo.

Add in Rhino Edwards on bass and Andy Brown on keyboards, harmonica and sometimes guitar and newcomer Matt Letley on drums, and the recipe for success still exists.

The heavy rock brigade will have been pleased still to hear Forty- five Hundred Times, Rain, Down Down, Gerundula and Roll Over Lay Down, while the more popular Something Bout You Baby I Like, Again Again and Whatever You Want were there alongside recent tracks from the Heavy Traffic album such as All Stand Up, Solid Gold and Creepin' Up On You.

Ending with their most famous hit, which is as true today as 28 years ago when it was released, Quo are still Rockin' All Over The World, and will be for many years to come.