Artists: Suzi Quatro
Venue: London: London Palladium
Date: 13th November 2024
"For the second half she caused an uproar by coming on in her trademark all leather jumpsuit."
On almost the exact anniversary of her gig at the Palladium last year (which was the fiftieth anniversary of ‘Can The Can’) Suzi Quatro came back to the Palladium with no less energy and enthusiasm from anyone involved. It’s a very similar set to last time, but until I referred to my notes I absolutely didn’t notice. Suzi made the show as fresh as if she just composed the songs yesterday. The audience clearly appreciate the heritage of the songs and everything they meant to them when we were growing up, making this Suzi Q gig a homecoming.
Bob Harris of ‘The Old Grey Whistle Test’ was there to introduce Suzi and set the scene, putting her stellar career into context with memories from a person who could say they were there when she started out. When Suzi hits the stage the crowd went wild! And what else to set the party mood, but ‘The Wild One’. It is Suzi’s quintessential song. We were treated later in the set to video of her in her teenage years, and, even then, her irrepressible fire burst out like a firecracker (totally explaining why Mickie Most picked her up for a solo career in London at such a tender age). Cue ‘I May Be Too Young’! It is not hard to see why she picks London for important anniversaries, as being a million selling artist in London in the seventies must have been quite a ride! ‘Daytona Demon’ channeled the powerful sexual energy of her early career taking off like a skyrocket. Tonight she’s just as much of a dynamo as she ever was, shaking her tush at the audience to wolf whistles right at the beginning of ‘Tear Me Apart’!
At this point Suzi paused to talk to the audience, finding out that more than half the audience have seen her before, but at least a third were seeing her for the first time. Her music is, of course, new to some people and she plays us an extract of ‘Stumblin’ In’ the Techno version, a hit recently charting all over the world. I have to say it goes together so well, in a way I would not have expected. I probably have limited capacity for a Techno beat, however, so, mercifully, we got a superb live duet from Suzi and her guitarist Tim Smith where both voices sound amazing. The mega hit ‘48 Crash’ followed and we get the first trademark Suzi Q scream of the night. Once heard, never forgotten.
Suzi is very family orientated and talked about her album with her son ‘No Control’. In dedicating the next song to her mother she recalled how she still hears her in her head. She joked that her mother used to say “Susan, you are an angel!” And then mock innocently followed with a question for the audience “Why are you not convinced?” “Mama, Here’s ‘The Devil In Me’”. In introducing ‘I Sold My Soul Today’ she said “This is a song about a woman who fell in love with the wrong man. Mine is singing soprano now. Sorry Mama!” Powerful vocals and heavy bass followed. Suzi was headbanging, God give me whatever she’s having!
Suzi credited her husband with the idea of her QSP album with Andy Scott of The Sweet and Don Powell of Slade which was particularly successful in Australia. “That was his second good idea, the first one was marrying me”. ‘Slow Down’ is the track she chose from that covers album. Suzi’s voice is finer than ever and she did a sort of tremolo effect with her voice in that tune like a bird which was totally new to me. After a rousing version of ‘Rockin’ In The Free World’ she dismissed her band (yes she is all powerful on stage) and invited the audience to have an intimate moment with her, recalling her parents with ‘Can I Be Your Girl?’. “I think about them every day”. Naked, her voice was note perfect, but still had that raspy Rock ‘n’ Roll quality we love.
Suzi had a new denim and leather suit for the first half, with a diamanté diamond on her upper sleeve. For the second half she caused an uproar by coming on in her trademark all leather jumpsuit. We had a whistle stop tour through her career, including an image with the Fonz, Henry Winkler with whom she said she is still friends. The first song of the second half was ‘Motorcity Riders’ in honour of her home town Detroit. We got more of her trademark scream and this being new material this underlined how consistently she has championed Rock music across her career. She says she never does a cover live unless she has recorded it and, by way of example, did the Creedence Clearwater River cover ‘Bad Moon Rising’.
Following a little history of her first band with her sisters, The Pleasure Seekers, and how she made it to London, she explained how she arrived with 25 songs on tape and Mickie Most fast forwarded through them all except for ‘Ain’t Ya Somethin’ Honey’. It was great to hear her play it live! A final round up of her career in TV, radio, and as a writer and poet, led to a stomping version of ‘She’s In Love With You’. The young lovers in the seat in front of me made out to this song right the way through! For ‘Shine A Light’, the recent single with KT Tunstall, she got the audience singing like they meant it and swaying with their mobile phones like glow worms on command. She introduced her band for ‘Too Big’ and played a drum duet, laughing her head off while doing it! She got everyone on their feet dancing for ‘Can The Can’, high kicking her way through it. The energy, high from the beginning, reached fever pitch as everyone in the audience forgot everything in the moment for ‘Devil Gate Drive’. For ‘If You Can’t Give Me Love’, my favourite song, that I remember singing on repeat as a little girl, the audience participation showed that I was not the only one.
The encore were very personal songs for Suzi; ‘Sweet Little Rock ‘n’ Roller’ (“What I was, what I am and what I always will be”) and ‘Desperado’ that she sang on a stool to further cement her bond with her audience. As she parted she shouted “This is a song about the man who is the reason I do what I do” - a video version of recent song ‘Singing With Angels’ about Elvis played as the audience left.
Some people are born entertainers that can rouse an audience, even in the middle of a cost of living crisis after a budget which gives little hope for things getting any better. Suzi Q is one of those. You don’t stay at the top of the charts for this long without having something special and her talent shone out tonight once again for all to see.
Review & Photos: Dawn Osborne
Gallery: All photos © Dawn Osborne (used with kind permission)
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