FOR many men of a certain age, the sight of Kim Wilde pouting her way through Kids in America is probably one of their naughtier childhood memories.

Sadly, Kim’s not quite what she was, but then, looking around the be-demined audience in the Echo Arena, that same thing could be said of all of us.

Poor old Roy Wood even needed a chair to play his songs, and the high notes stay resolutely out of reach, but this hardly matters when you have a back catalogue like Wood’s.

Classics like Flowers in the Rain and Blackberry Way sound as good as ever, while the donning of Santa hats ushers in the inevitable sing- along of I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day.

Ever since they walked on stage to open Live Aid with a cheery “Alright!”, Status Quo have been regarded as national treasures by some, but too often they’re also blamed for most of rock’s more embarrassing ills.

Denim waist coats, huge cocaine habits and an over- reliance on 12-bar blues. Yet last night, with a surprisingly stripped-down sound, Quo rock as hard as the best of them.

Caroline is a sure fire way to start, and it’s the tunes from Quo’s classic early seventies period that really stand out.

Great slabs of dumb rock like Paper Plane and Roll Over Lay Down sound just as heavy as any of today’s chancers, with the interplay between Francis Rossi and Rick Parfitt a joy to watch.

There are misfires, of course: The Oriental’s lyrics, about picking up Asian girls, still sounds horribly creepy, while In The Army Now remains one of the worst anti-war songs this side of The Cranberries’ Zombie.

Still, it is hard to stay mad with the Quo, and, for all their moments of Spinal Tap-esque stupidity, they make up for it with a blistering run through Down Down, followed by a triumphant Rockin’ All Over the World.

And that’s why we should love them.