Scorpions, Uli Jon Roth
London Hammersmith Apollo
18th October, 2008

Former Scorpions man UJR opened with his Sky Orchestra, featuring Mark Boals and Liz Vandall on vocals, and delivered a handful of symphonic rock numbers from Under A Dark Sky. With bandana present and correct, their take came over better than the CD (though lyrically weak on The Magic Word) and there were enough catchy refrains, guitar twiddles and wall-of-sound surges to keep the crowd happy. They were ecstatic as Scorpions opened with Hour 1 and followed with 18 songs over 110 minutes, never letting up the pace (except a gratuitous drum solo). Coming Home saw the venerable rockers all but in the stalls, Matthias Jabs led the charge on Bad Boys Running Wild, and he added vocoder to the singalong The Zoo. With a flaming big-screen backdrop, No Pain Gain raged, and Michael Schenker joined his brother for a handful of numbers including Holiday, which had arms aloft, and the storming Lovedrive. Ditto Another Piece Of Meat and Schenker’s exit after a proficient bow. The dreamy Coast To Coast led into a blazing 321 and anthemic triple-whammy of Dynamite, Blackout and Big City Nights. The encore included the sweet Still Loving You, Uli playing on He’s A Woman She’s A Man, and Michael returning for UFO’s Dr. Dr. and the closing Rock You Like A Hurricane. Which they had.