I almost didn’t go to this show, but I took advantage of the fact that my daughter decided to spend the night at her mom’s house, and ended up at the Avalon with Jeanine. Tickets turned out to be $30.00 per person, but since we were already there, we paid up and entered.
I hadn’t seen Michael Schenker on stage since 1984, at Wolfgang’s in San Francisco, and I’d never seen him play with UFO or the Scorpions, although I have seen the Scorpions without him 3 times (in 1980 and 1982). I mention this because as we entered, we were told that he would be playing both Scorpions and UFO songs during the set.
Unfortunately, we were early enough to catch much of Dammaj’s set. They play uninspired, cliché-ridden heavy metal, and weren’t interesting to me at all. They reminded me of all of the times during the eighties when I had to sit through sets by bands like Laaz Rockit and Vicious Rumors while waiting for bands like Exodus and Slayer to play.
Michael Schenker arrived on stage looking like the world’s oldest little boy. He was wearing a blue baseball cap of some sort, backwards, which was a refreshingly non-rockstar piece of headgear. I wish I could say the same for singer Robin McAuley, who looked like he needed to fire his wardrobe consultant. The leopard print scarf and the gaudy necklace were a bit distracting and silly. I’ll stop here though, because this is in danger of becoming a fashion critique.
The band started the set off with Into The Arena and Armed & Ready, both from the first Michael Schenker Group album, released nearly 32 years ago. During the course of the set, they played many other old favorites, including a pair of Scorpions songs, Lovedrive and Another Piece of Meat. As a teenager, I really liked Another Piece of Meat, but as an adult, the song is somewhat ruined for me because of the stupid, misogynistic lyrics. It still has nostalgia value though. Robin McAuley isn’t as good a singer as Klaus Meine either, although he did a decent job. Later in the set, we were treated to a bunch of UFO songs as well, starting with Shoot Shoot, and continuing with Love To Love, Too Hot To Handle, Let It Roll, Natural Thing, and Lights Out. Then, during the 2 encores, the band played Rock Bottom (including an extended solo from Schenker) and Doctor, Doctor, as well as a pair of songs from the second MSG album, On and On, and Attack of the Mad Axeman (earlier, they also played Let Sleeping Dogs Lie, which is one of my favorite songs from that album). Robin McAuley was at his best when singing the UFO songs – I guess he’s best at channeling Phil Mogg, and not quite as good at singing the Gary Barden and Klaus Meine songs. Michael Schenker is still one of a small handful of guitarists who manage to entrance me with whatever amount of self indulgent soloing they choose to do. That said, the newer songs, which I hadn’t previously heard, weren’t that interesting. Thankfully, the bulk of the set was older material.
Here's Love To Love (somewhat marred by stupid people shouting inane things), originally uploaded by thewildwizard:
The main thing that I found irritating about the show had nothing to do with the band. During the set, I was constantly reminded that I hate audiences at rock shows, although it is a hate tempered by amusement. Case in point: the guy in front of us was so smashed that he appeared not to know where the stage was. He was facing sideways, and on several instances nearly fell over. I kept hoping that he wouldn’t puke on me. I think he fell asleep on his feet several times, only to wake up and emit tuneless warbling sounds which may or may not have been an attempt to sing along. Then, there were the drunken forty-somethings off to the left, frantically air-guitaring along to the music, looking for all the world like Beavis and Butthead’s parents. Later, when we were getting into the van to drive away, we were amused to notice the rocker dude who had parked next to us fastidiously wiping the dew from the hood of his car before getting in. Weird. In short, I didn’t have a feeling of camaraderie with my fellow audience members at all. Jeanine put it succinctly: It’s because we don’t drink. Because of this, I often feel like a sociologist at some inexplicable tribal ritual. At least it was a tribal ritual with good music.
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