Big Small Fish Presents: Status Quo Live at the Villa Marina

About the Show
We are thrilled to announce that Status Quo will be appearing in concert on the Isle of Man this summer, courtesy of Big Small Fish.
STATUS QUO, who have sold more than 118 million world-wide records, will be performing in the Villa Marina Royal Hall on Wednesday 7th July.
Supported by Sawbones
Booking Information
Wednesday 7th July
Royal Hall, Villa Marina
Tickets £45
Doors open 7pm
Quo Facts
- STATUS QUO’S total world-wide record sales exceed 118 million units.
- QUO have recorded 64 British hit singles - more than any other band - 22 of which have hit the Top Ten. The first hit was ‘PICTURES OF MATCHSTICK MEN’ which reached Number 7 in January 1968.
- FRANCIS ROSSI and RICK PARFITT are the only original members in the current QUO line up. Keyboard player ANDREW BOWN joined in 1976, JOHN ‘RHINO’ EDWARDS (bass) joined in 1986 and MATT LETLEY (drums) arrived in May 2000.
- QUO have made 106 appearances on BBC TV’s ‘Top of the Pops’ - More than any other group.
- QUO have spent in excess of seven and a half years (415 weeks) in the British Singles Chart - The eleventh highest ever.
- QUO have had more hit albums (33) in the British Albums Chart than any other band apart from The Rolling Stones.
- QUO’S 1990 ‘ROCKIN’ ALL OVER THE YEARS’ album sold over 1.1 million units in Great Britain, attaining triple platinum sales status. The album spent over six months in the British Albums Chart, including ten weeks in the Top 10. World-wide sales exceed seven million.
- In 1981 QUO became one of the first recipients of the coveted SILVER CLEF AWARD, presented annually by the Nordoff Robbins Music Therapy Trust for outstanding services to British music.
- In 1982 QUO became the first contemporary band to play to Royalty when they performed a sell out charity show attended by HRH PRINCE CHARLES at the NEC in Birmingham. All proceeds were donated to the ‘Prince’s Trust’ - The first major fund raising event for the charity.
- In 1985 QUO opened LIVE AID with the song which was to become the event’s anthem ‘ROCKIN’ ALL OVER THE WORLD’.
- In 1988 QUO played a record breaking series of fourteen sell out shows to over 300, 000 people at the giant Olympic Stadium in Moscow.
- 1990 also saw QUO appearing at the massive Knebworth charity show. Broadcast to a world-wide TV audience of 200 million people, the event raised over £6 million for the Music Therapy Trust.
- September 21st 1991 saw QUO enter the Guinness Book of Records when they successfully completed their most ambitious project ever by playing four British shows in 11 hours and 11 minutes. The ‘ROCK ‘TIL YOU DROP’ event saw QUO play sell out shows at Sheffield Arena, Glasgow SE&CC, Birmingham NEC and Wembley Arena.
- ‘ROCK ‘TIL YOU DROP’ raised £2,000,000 for children’s charities. The marathon event took a year to organise and involved four stages, 60 drums, 200 amplifiers, 62 guitars, 165 cymbals, 12 miles of cable, 50 cameras, 2000,000 watts of power, 25000 lights, 250 crew, 8 helicopters, 5 jets, 20 limousines and 16 police escorts.
- QUO'S RICK PARFITT and FRANCIS ROSSI saw double during 1991 when they unveiled waxworks of themselves at Madame Tussauds Rock Circus wax museum. The waxworks are now included in the exhibition’s ‘Rock Legends Hall of Fame’.
- 1991 also saw QUO presented with the most prestigious award in British music when they were awarded the BRITS AWARD for ‘OUTSTANDING CONTRIBUTION TO THE BRITISH MUSIC INDUSTRY’. The band collected the award by ripping off their dinner jackets to reveal jeans and T-shirts hidden underneath. Britain’s biggest selling daily newspaper The Sun described the stunt as ‘the highlight of the entire show’.
- QUO made it a double celebration later in 1991 when HSH Prince Albert of Monaco presented the band with the ‘OUTSTANDING CONTRIBUTION TO THE ROCK INDUSTRY’ award at the World Music Awards in Monte Carlo.
- In August 1992 QUO headlined the Radio One 25th Anniversary Celebrations, playing to 125,000 people at the PARTY IN THE PARK at Sutton Park in Birmingham.
- In 1994 STATUS QUO met up with legendary American band THE BEACH BOYS when the two groups co-headlined ‘THE FAREWELL PARTY’ in Berlin - A massive open air show, attended by some 300,000 people, hosted by the Allied Forces of Great Britain, The USA and France to celebrate the withdrawal of troops from Berlin.
- In their 39 year history, it is estimated that QUO have played over 6000 live shows to a total audience in excess of 25 million people. In doing so, the band has travelled some four million miles and spent 23 years away from home.
- In March 1999 QUO released the ‘UNDER THE INFLUENCE’ album. After playing to some two million people during 1998, the band promoted the launch in typical Quo style by embarking on a series of 10 UK pub gigs which saw them performing to just a couple of hundred people each night. The pubs were nominated in a competition held in The Sun newspaper which attracted over 10,000 entries. The UK pub gigs were followed by similar promotional shows in Amsterdam and Germany.
- June 1999 saw QUO opening two massive gigs at the Olympic Stadiums in Seoul, South Korea and Munich, Germany within just two days as part of the MICHAEL JACKSON & FRIENDS charity shows in aid of the children of Kosovo.
- QUO’S first new album of original material for over three years ‘HEAVY TRAFFIC’ was released in September 2002. The album was launched with a special media gig on the flight deck of the world’s most famous aircraft carrier HMS ARK ROYAL. To coincide with the release, a major new 90 minute, ‘warts ‘n all’ TV documentary of Quo’s life on the road, produced and directed by award winning film maker Jane Treays, was premiered on C4 in the UK.
- QUO’S first single from the album ‘JAM SIDE DOWN’ entered the UK Top Twenty at Number 17, an achievement which resulted in Quo becoming the first band to record Top Twenty hits across five decades.
- 2005 was the band’s 40th year.
- In October and November 2005 two great British institutions joined forces when QUO appeared in a major storyline on the legendary UK TV show Coronation Street – itself 42 years old. The shows attracted over 12m viewers.
- QUO now hold the record for more hit singles than any other band, both international and British, in UK chart history, in November 2005 they were presented with certificates commemorating this milestone by the Guinness British Book of Hit Singles & Albums.
- In November 2005 the band were voted Best Festival Feel Good Act by the UK Festival Awards 2005
- September 2007 saw the release of the band’s latest studio album, “In Search Of The Fourth Chord”, which became Quo’s 33rd hit album when it entered the UK album charts at number 15.
- 2008 marks the 40th anniversary of Status Quo’s first hit single ‘Pictures Of Matchstick Men’.
- 3 November saw the release across a range of formats of the ‘Pictures…40 Years of Hits’ retrospective album on UMTV. An enormous success, the album is certified Gold and becomes the band’s 37th chart album and also their 29th to reach the Top Twenty – which puts them ahead of The Beatles
- In December the band were voted the hardest-working band of the year by the PRS, performing more arena dates than Take That! The Winter ‘Pictures: 40 Years Of Hits’ tour is a great success, though some of the 32 dates have to be rescheduled to 2009 due to Matt’s illness
- Rick and Francis are recognised for their services to Music and Charity by the award of an OBE in the New Year Honours List
- In December the band were voted the hardest-working band of the year by the PRS, for the second year running!

