MetalTalk Home › Archive ›

BREAKING NEWS: RICK PARFITT OF STATUS QUO SUFFERS HEART ATTACK AFTER TURKEY GIG

In the early hours of Wednesday 15th June 2016, following the Status Quo gig at Expo 2016 in Antalya, Turkey, Rick Parfitt suffered a suspected heart attack.

nightwish

He is being treated in a hospital in Turkey and whilst his condition is serious, he has already demanded his customary cup of tea with two sugars and a sweetener.

The band had already agreed to perform at the Rock On Windermere charity show on Saturday 18th June to raise funds for the Cumbria Flood Appeal. Rick and the band did not want to cancel this important show and so it will go ahead with Freddie Edwards, the son of Quo bassist John “Rhino” Edwards, stepping in for Rick.

It is likely that Freddie will stay with the band to allow them to honour their commitments and not let down the fans up to and including the show on Sunday 3rd July at Gröna Lund Tivoli, in Stockholm, Sweden.

Simon Porter, the band’s manager said: “No further comment will be made at this stage until the completion of the next round of tests and assessments to be made over the next few days. We would ask you to respect the family’s privacy at this difficult time.”

Rick has a history of heart trouble and following a heart attack in 1997 he had a quadruple heart bypass, when he was told by doctors that he could die “at any time” unless he changed his lifestyle of smoking and drinking. He suffered another heart
attack in December 2011 and underwent surgery on the following day. On 1st August 2014, while on a European tour with Status Quo, he was hospitalised in Pula, Croatia, forcing the cancellation of six shows on the tour.

Hella Rock Festival

This isn’t the first time that Freddie Edwards has substituted for Parfitt having previously done so at the band’s Clumber Park show in August 2014 after Rick was hospitalised in Croatia. This was the first ever Quo show that Rick had missed since joining the band in 1967.

Freddie Edwards later appeared alongside Rick Parfitt and the rest of Quo on their ‘Aquostic’ album, the band’s first complexly acoustic album, and the subsequent tour.

Following a final high profile European tour, which will start in October and include UK dates in December 2016, Status Quo have announced an end to their electric tours. Named the “Last Night Of The Electrics Tour”, the band will plug back in and bring their thunderous electric live show back to the nation’s venues for the last time.

Packed with hits, both new and old, taken from that unbelievable back catalogue, if you love Status Quo, you need to be there; if you’ve never before seen this truly legendary act play a full full-throttle no-nonsense electric set, you need to be there!

These final electric tour dates will truly be the end of an era as Status Quo turn their back on constantly touring their fabled electric live set. Since first charting in 1967 the band have become a truly iconic and massively influential rock act. The world of music will not be the same once the dust has settled from The Last Night Of The Electrics Tour.

You Can See Status Quo Live here:
Saturday 18th June – Rock on Windermere, Bowness on Windermere
Saturday 25th June – Steinkjer Festival, Norway
Thursday 30th June – Rock i Lunden, Horsens, Denmark
Saturday 2nd July – Säsongen 2016, Sweden
Sunday 3rd July – Gröna Lund, Sweden
Saturday 9th July – Scarborough Open Air Theatre
Wednesday 13th July – Rochester Castle, Rochester
Saturday 16th July – Guitar-en-Scene, Saint-Julien-en-Genevois
Wednesday 20th July – Het Groot Festival, Leuven
Saturday 23rd July – Royal Highland Centre, Ingliston
Friday 29th July – Arena, Pula
Saturday 30th July – Domplatz, Linz
Thursday 4th August – Biberach, Marktplatz
Friday 5th August – Dicky Woodstock Festival, Steenwijkerwold
Saturday 6th August – Caldicot Castle, Monmouthshire
Thursday 11th August – Stars In Town, Schaffhausen
Friday 12th August – Lakeland Festival, Erlach
Saturday 13th August – Open Air am Marktplatz, Rankweil
Wednesday 17th August – Cap Roig Festival, Girona
Friday 19th August – Starlite, Marbella
Saturday 20th August – Tarraco Arena Plaza, Tarragona
Sunday 21st August – Plaza de Toros de Alicante
Friday 26th August – Somerset Rocks, Vivary Park, Taunton
Saturday 27th August – Parc Y Scarlets, Llanelli
Sunday 28th August – CarFest, Laverstoke Park Farm, Overton
Wednesday 12th October – Gasometer, Vienna
Thursday 13th October – Wörtherseehalle, Klagenfurt
Saturday 15th October – Hallenstadium, Zürich
Monday 17th October – Poppodium, Tilburg
Friday 28th October – SSE Arena, Belfast
Saturday 29th October – 3 Arena, Dublin
Thursday 10th November – Barclaycard Arena, Hamburg
Friday 11th November – Arena, Leipzig
Saturday 12th November – Dreiländerhalle, Passau
Monday 14th November – Max-Schmeling-Halle, Berlin
Tuesday 15th November – Messehalle, Erfurt
Thursday 17th November – Stadthalle, Rostock
Friday 18th November – Nordseehalle, Emden
Saturday 19th November – Lanxess Arena, Köln
Monday 21st November – Jahrhunderthalle, Frankfurt
Tuesday 22nd November – Brosearena, Bamberg
Thursday 24th November – König-Pilsener-Arena, Oberhausen
Friday 25th November – Swiss Life Arena, Hannover
Saturday 26th November – Stadthalle, Magdeburg
Tuesday 29th November – Porsche Arena, Stuttgart
Wednesday 30th November – Olympiahalle, München

Tickets for UK and Irish dates are available by clicking here.

Sleeve Notes

Sign up for the MetalTalk Newsletter, an occasional roundup of the best Heavy Metal News, features and pictures curated by our global MetalTalk team.

More in Heavy Metal

Comments

Search MetalTalk

MetalTalk Venues

MetalTalk Venues - The Devil's Dog Digbeth
MetalTalk Venues – The Green Rooms Live Music and Rehearsal
The Patriot, Crumlin - The Home Of Rock
Interview: Christian Kimmett, the man responsible for getting the bands in at Bannerman's Bar
Cart & Horses, London. Birthplace Of Iron Maiden
The Giffard Arms, Wolverhampton

New Metal News