Why Status Quo legend will be on the level at Harrogate Theatre in new tour of hits and memories

Then again, fans of Status Quo’s Francis Rossi looking forward to the arrival of his Tunes and Chat tour at Harrogate Theatre in a few weeks’ time may already know that story.

For this isn’t the first time the rock guitarist, singer and songwriter has taken his decades of memories of life at the top of the rock tree to audiences.

The difference now is there will be a lot more of those incredible Status Quo songs which hit the charts over a 50-year period.

"When I did the I Talk Too Much tour based on my book, people liked the tunes as well as the stories, so I’ve added more to the new tour.

"I’ve never been fashionable and neither have Status Quo but that means we’ve survived.

"John Peel came to apologise to us once in the early Seventies.

"He told me and Rick (Parfitt) that he had been anti-Status Quo until he’d seen as playing live, then he liked us.”

Bolstered by that reputation as a phenomenal heads-down, no-nonsense blues-rock live band, the flared jeans and long-haired foursome of Francis, Rick, Alan and John went on to have more than 60 hit singles in the UK and nearly as many hit albums.

Down Down, Caroline, Rockin' All Over the World, Whatever You Want...Quo were derided by the cooler critics throughout the 70s as a one trick pony, then dismissed as lightweight in the 80s when they opted for more variety in their sound.

Looking back, even early albums such as Piledriver, On the Level and Hello” now sound anything but one-dimensional.

"I’ve always called us pop-rock,” said Francis who says he enjoys coming to Harrogate, well, he got a good parking space last time!

"All the genres of music – rock, country, blues,pop – they are all so close together in notes and chords. If Iike it, I do it.”

Francis Rossi: Tunes and Chat, Saturday, May 20, Harrogate Theatre.

Tickets: www.harrogatetheatre.co.uk