MUSIC legend Francis Rossi has opened up about what he enjoys about performing, the drive that keeps him going and why he’s decided to bring his new tour to Warrington.
Francis Rossi is a music legend, perhaps best known for being the co-founder and lead vocalist of Status Quo.
The 75-year-old has been a professional musician since the age of 16 and has no intention of slowing down.
“I think that’s partly being an insecure show off,” he said.
“I think that’s like a lot of people in showbiz. There’s something [about performing] that validates my life.
“I do enjoy music, I enjoy playing music but that doesn’t mean I get arty farty about it. It’s just something that ever since I was very, very young does something to me.
“It’s a form of escapism. Even if you think you have a bad gig, you get the chance to try it again tomorrow.”
Despite the fact that he has been performing for the majority of his life, Francis explained that he still looks forward to every gig, and that the anticipation keeps him going.
“[I’ve realised] whether it’s getting older or life itself, these days it’s a lot of looking forward to,” he said.
“So, I realized that my life does that for me – I do the thing, I do the sound check, I eat this, I do that, I meet people, I enjoy it, it gets to a peak, I get on the bus, I go to sleep, I look forward to doing it again.
“There is something in me that just loves to keep going. It’s never satisfied. It’s worse than any drug I ever took, or drinking.
“I’ll be long dead before I get fed up with it because I do believe it’s the insecure little show off in me that’s like a kid sucking his thumb. I enjoy it immensely.”
Francis will be embarking on a 34-date tour of the UK, performing a more stripped back version of some of his greatest hits.
Included on the set list will be songs that have never been played in this format before, which Francis has enjoyed experimenting with.
“With this gig, because its myself and another player so two acoustics in a sense, you can’t go into lead guitar in the same way,” he said.
“There isn’t a bass drums and this whole noise to support it. This has to be a lot more considered and so you rely very much more on the actual song itself.
“In the bigger gigs, you can’t quite feel that because of the enormity of the size, and the sound of the band amplifies through ridiculously big sound systems.
“It’s nothing musical kind of about it, it’s just f*****g noise. Whereas in this one, you have to put the melody into it, and I find that people are really enjoying it almost as much as I am.”
The show will also allow fans to hear stories from the 75-year-old’s incredible career, which allows Francis to feel kept on his toes as he did when Status Quo began.
“I don’t know is what stories I’m going to tell because there’s no script on stories,” he said.
“I know what the tunes is going to be when I had then we get it running together, but my main problem is what the f**k do I talk about.
“I think one of the things that the older bands that started in the early 60s, what we learned to do is to die to die in front of an audience – what it’s like to play in front of people that really don’t want you to be there.
“I don’t know if that happens anymore to bands, but it definitely happened to us in the early 60s and through the early 70s too, that you may played to an audience that’s just looking at you going ‘I hate you’. You can see it.
“You just have to keep going, so I’m continually flying by the seat at my pants.”
Francis will be returning to Parr Hall as part of his new tour on April 19 for one night only.
“I loved being in Parr Hall, So I wanted to go and do it again,” he said.
“There are very nice people that run Parr Hall, the crew are very, very nice people.
“There are just some places where you get the feeling of ‘yeah, I like it here’.”
Tickets to see Francis Rossi at Parr Hall are on sale now, including a limited number of VIP passes that include a pre-show meet-and-greet and the chance to have one of your items signed.
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