Following on from her hugely enjoyable gig at the Albert Hall last year, Suzi Quatro is currently touring the UK once again. An almost capacity-crowd packed out Brighton Dome to witness Quatro mark her half-century since first topping the UK charts with ‘Can The Can’.

The set-list is largely the same as for the Albert Hall performance, spanning the Suzi Quatro back catalogue from 1973 right up to the present day. However, there have been a couple of new albums since last April’s Albert Hall gig and we get a song apiece from each of those: her covers release, Uncovered (here represented by Quatro’s storming interpretation of Creedence Clearwater Revival’s ‘Bad Moon Rising’.) and her duet album with KT Tunstall, Face To Face (here represented by ‘Shine A Light’).

Like last year, there’s no support – just two hour-long sets of pure unadulterated Suzi with just a short break in the middle. Of course, last year’s prestigious Albert Hall gig saw a handful of special guests take the stage, too, in the form of Sweet’s Andy Scott, Slade’s Don Powell and Suzi’s own son, Richard Tuckey. But in truth, hugely enjoyable though these cameos were, no special guests are needed. Quatro’s backing band (these days incorporating female backing singers and a brass section in addition to the classic bass-drums-keyboards-guitar configuration) are absolutely shit-hot.

The first half sees the various phases of Quatro’s fifty-year solo career well-represented, as are the different sides of her on-stage musical persona. From the big glam-era hits like ‘Daytona Demon’ and ’48 Crash’; to the emotive balladry of ‘Can I Be Your Girl?’ from early ‘80s Unreleased Emotion album; to songs from the two critically-acclaimed albums written with son, Richard, No Control and The Devil In Me; to a blistering cover of Neil Young’s ‘Rockin’ In The Free World’.

Now back on stage in her trademark leather jumpsuit, there’s another blast of her more recent material in the second half, including the magnificent ‘Motor City Riders’ celebrating Quatro’s Detroit heritage, as well as more Chinn/Chapman-penned hits and a stomping version of ‘Glycerine Queen’ from Quatro’s first album which is then followed by a pumping extended bass solo.

Soon it’s time for the two songs absolutely everyone has been waiting all night for: ‘Can The Can’ and ‘Devil Gate Drive’. And Suzi implores us all to get up on our feet for these. Sadly, we also know this incredible show is drawing to a close but there’s still time for a joyful, life-affirming communal sing-along to ‘Can’t Give Me Love’ followed by an incendiary rendition of Chuck Berry’s ‘Sweet Little Rock n Roller’. For her final encore Suzi puts down her bass and takes a stool to give us a spellbinding rendition of the Eagles ‘Desperado’.

An incredible show. An incredible fifty years.

Setlist:

The Wild One
I May Be Too Young
Daytona Demon
Tear Me Apart
Shine a Light
Stumblin’ In
48 Crash
No Soul/No Control
The Devil In Me
Slow Down
Rockin’ in the Free World
Can I Be Your Girl?
Motor City Riders
I Sold My Soul Today
Bad Moon Rising
She’s in Love With You
Overload
Too Big
Glycerine Queen
Can the Can
Devil Gate Drive
If You Can’t Give Me Love
Sweet Little Rock & Roller
Desperado

My book ‘Suzi Quatro In The 1970s’ published by Sonicbond is available here

Related posts:

Live review: Suzi Quatro at the Royal Albert Hall 20/4/22

‘Suzi Quatro In The 1970s’ by Darren Johnson

‘Suzi Quatro in the 1970s’ by Darren Johnson – reviews round-up