Concert Report by Bastian B. MSG at Underground, Cologne, Germany April 3, 2006 ("Rockpalst" TV Series Recording Broadcast in Germany on May 15, 2006) Added on 05/15/2006
I just finished watching the Rockpalast TV show. They started with mentioning the return of legendary Michael Schenker and then they showed 45 minutes of Doomfoxx which I didn't like at all. So I had to wait until 1.15 a.m. and there were only 45 minutes left for MSG. It all began with an spoken introduction by Michael himself. The TV guys didn't show the songs in the same order as the band played them. The running order looked like this:
Ready to Rock
Love Trade
Shadow Lady
Lights Out
Interview with Michael
Dust to Dust
Only you can rock me
Doctor Doctor
Interview with Michael
Rock Bottom
They left out "Assault Attack", "Let it roll", "Into the Arena" and "Attack of the Mad Axeman" which the band played according to Rev's setlist. Michael's playing was at least as superb as at the two gigs I have seen on this tour. Probably even a bit better. The guitar work on "Love Trade" was just sensational. Unbelievable! And the last part of the "Rock Bottom" solo left my mouth wide open. The camera work was pretty good and the director managed to focus on Michael most of the time. As expected, they cut away from him during some solos to show Pete or Rev, but it wasn't bad at all and much better than the "World Wide Live" DVD. I hope that the whole show will be out on DVD one day.
Some things Michael mentioned during the interview:
Just minutes before his first Rockpalast show in Hamburg in 1981, the singer of his sister's band came to him full of blood and told him that he and Barbara had a car accident. He somehow managed to focus on his show.
Rudolf and Klaus Meine were in attendance at the 1981 gig.
He is very satisfied with the new album. "Tales" and "Dreams and Expressions" are the two albums he can listen to all the time. They contain so many ideas that he never gets bored.
He sent Rudolf an email recently in which he told him that he should be happy that Michael left the Scorpions. Otherwise they wouldn't have been as successful, because Michael would have acted as the dominant musical force.
He reiterated that his brother's goal always was to have the best band and that he always wanted to be one of the best guitarists. He described Rudolf as a soccer player and himself as a tennis player. He also mentioned that when he at age 15 told his girlfriend that he wanted to be one of the best guitar players in the world, she bent over laughing.
When the interviewer asked him if it was a struggle to attract new people to his music, he said that he is satisfied because he has always been doing what he wanted.