With the Cardiff show cancelled due to the presence of RAAC in St David’s Hall, Brighton Dome is now the opening show of this rare, short UK tour. Suzi Quatro has been rock ‘n’ rolling for nearly 60 years and with the success of 2019’s excellent Suzi Q documentary, she has gained many new fans and reignited the flame of passion in gig goers who were teenagers when she burst into the UK public’s consciousness way back in 1973 with ‘Can The Can’.
There’s no support act tonight, just two electrifying one-hour sets in the company of a unique trailblazer and true legend. The lights went down and an off-stage MC introduced “Miss Suzi Quatro”. The band assembled, followed by Suzi, in sparkly jeans, black T shirt and a studded denim jacket, and we were off with a rocking rendition of ‘The Wild One’ from 1974’s ‘Quatro’ LP.
Suzi and her super-tight band rocked out on more fan favourite 70s album tracks and the first hit single of the night, ‘Daytona Demon’. She brought us up to date with ‘Shine A Light’ from her recent collaboration album with KT Tunstall. This was much slower tempo with a country rock feel and was followed by her telling us how she missed an alarm call and had to be interviewed by breakfast TV via Zoom.
Guitarist Tim Smith had been delivering superb licks and was rewarded with a duet with Suzi on ‘Stumblin’ In’, the duet with Smokie’s Chris Norman that finally broke her in America, Yes, it’s a bit cheesy, but it’s a catchy earworm that saw Suzi leading a singalong with the audience. Things stepped up with pounding drums and fists punching the air from the superbly syncopated backing vocalists to introduce Suzi’s homage to the male menopause, ‘48 Crash’. This was followed by the even heavier ‘No Soul, No Control, co-written by Suzi’s son Richard Tuckey. The three-piece horn section blasted out over the guitar power chords as Suzi wailed and the backing singers grooved.
There were many references and dedications to her family throughout and the first set closed with Suzi, alone at the piano, giving us a few bars of Beethoven’s ‘Für Elise’ (as a thank you for the piano lessons her parents paid for) before delivering a poignant, and superbly played, ‘Can I Be Your Girl’.
For the second set, the band returned to the stage and began to play as Suzi appeared in her trademark black leather catsuit. ‘Motor City Riders’ had a strong rock‘n’roll start and the sound resembled early Ike and Tina Turner. There’s an Iron Maiden metal grind feel to ‘I Sold My Soul Today’ as Suzi wailed, with her bass slung low. She informed us that Creedence Clearwater Revival recorded ‘Suzi Q’ so she was going to play their ‘Bad Moon Rising’, which was a faithful cover. Afterwards, she called the sound guy over and playfully bopped him on the head with her mic for a faux pas on the bass volume.
The music paused as Suzi shared a monologue detailing her life’s incredible achievements: from playing with her sisters in The Pleasure Seekers (her mum wanted them to be named The Five Chickadees), getting her first UK number one – cue a teasing excerpt of ‘Can The Can’, starring in Happy Days as Leather Tuscadero, through to numerous TV and theatre acting roles, having multiple books published and being made a Doctor of Music at Cambridge University.
Back to the music and 1978’s ‘She’s In Love With You’ was a feelgood, chugging rocker, while ‘Overload’ from the KT Tunstall album was a down and dirty foot-stomping, shoulder-rolling bovver-rock beauty. Suzi played a solo and the song really took off. ‘Too Big’ had that early 70s rock‘n’roll sound with tinkly piano and sleazy horns and was used to introduce the band, beginning with a massive cheer for backing singers, Louise Hartley and Dionne Moss (AKA The Passionettes) and well deserved applause and shouts for all band members, who were all given a brief solo spot.
Suzi got to shine on an extended drums and bass solo during ‘Glycerine Queen’, at times crouching like a panther about to pounce, before joining drummer Tim Reyland to beat out the intro to ‘Can The Can’. We were summoned out of our seats as the band played with power – a double key change propelling the song to its abrupt end and a huge cheer.
“Hey everybody, do you wanna go down to Devil Gate Drive?” Of course we did, and we all sang “Come alive, yeah!”, with fists aloft, in unison with the band. Tim Smith picked up an acoustic guitar for ‘If You Can’t Give Me Love’. This created a mass sway effect and a call and response with the crowd. Chuck Berry’s ‘Sweet Little Rock ‘n’ Roller’ became a big jam session with the line “she never gets any older” a perfect description of Suzi Quatro as she danced around the stage, whipping up the punters and still playing as she exited the stage.
The single encore saw Suzi sat on a stool with a towel around her neck, accompanied only by Jez Davies, who’d been superb on keyboards all night, for a tender rendition of The Eagles’ ‘Desperado’. There were shouts for more but that was it. She’d entertained us for two incredible hours and proved herself a force of nature, a superb entertainer and raconteur and one hell of a bass player.
Brighton Dome, Monday 13th November 2023
