Quo's Francis Rossi asks 'Why would anyone want to meet me?'

Francis Rossi will be bringing his Tunes and Chat Tour to Newbury Corn Exchange on April 6. N2’s Brian Harrington recently caught up with the man from the Quo for a chat.

Status Quo have sold more than 115,000,000 singles and albums worldwide and have had 50 UK top 40 entries as opposed to just 38 for The Beatles.

Despite this Francis Rossi told me when I spoke with him recently, that he still does not believe he has created any songs that come close to rivalling the compositions of The Beatles, The Eagles or Jeff Lynne.

I asked him which of his songs he was most proud of and, after a pause for thought, he said “probably Tongue Tied” explaining that he still likes The Beatles’-style feel of the track, which appears on his 2011 album Live at St Luke’s London.

I last saw Francis in 2019 when he was touring in support of his book I Talk Too Much. I asked Francis what would be different this time.

He told me that he is finding it hard to narrow down the tunes element enough to fit the allotted time.

He went on to explain that he always aims to give audiences the best value possible and that he has a natural tendency to try to pack as much in as he can. He added that there are VIP tickets to the shows, “though I don’t really understand why anyone would want to meet me”.

His humility is in no way feigned and he told me that when one of his sons told him that he was bringing his new girlfriend to one of the shows he immediately rushed off to see how ticket sales were going for that venue because he didn’t want him to be disappointed by a poor attendance.

Francis Rossi is a superb raconteur and a musician capable of much more than the three-chord wonder label he is so often given.

On the success of Quo he admitted “we’ve done OK for what we are”.

If you miss him at the Corn Exchange on April 6, he will be at The Stables, Milton Keynes, on April 7 and Wyvern Theatre, Swindon, on April 15.