Francis Rossi

On 1 May 2026 Francis Rossi will appear at Muziekgebouw Eindhoven. The British guitarist and singer from South London co-founded, in the 1960s, the band that would become Status Quo. With that project he helped shape a boogie rock built on repeating riffs, a tight tempo and a pronounced live energy. As principal songwriter, often together with Bob Young, he penned key tracks such as “Pictures of Matchstick Men,” “Down Down” and “Whatever You Want,” and took the group from small clubs to festivals and stadium tours, up to the opening minutes of Live Aid in 1985.

Alongside his work with the band, Rossi developed a solo career, documented on One Step at a Time (2010), in which he explores a more melodic, introspective tone. In the 2010s he revisited the Status Quo repertoire in acoustic form with Aquostic and, through storytelling tours and an autobiography (2019), delved into his own history. In Eindhoven he brings those strands together: songs from the Quo songbook and his own material, delivered with guitar, voice and the craftsmanship of a frontman who knows his way. Music and anecdotes intertwine, for an evening close to the core of half a century of British rock.