Concert Report by Sam M. MSG at Millennium Music Hall, Cardiff, U.K. May 27, 2010 Added on 05/29/2010
Hi Ritchie,
A quick update on the Schenker live front.
I watched MSG at Cardiff Millenium Music Hall last night. I arrived just in time, i had missed the support band (which were said to be quite good) and was surprised to see the venue was quite busy, it had a capacity of over 300 i would say. Having seen UFO the month previously, I was pleased to see Schenker gain a similar turnout for himself.
The setlist was almost identical content-wise to that which it has been for the last few years. The order was slightly re-jiggled with Armed and Ready opening and Ride On.. the first encore. Schenker was on blistering form, as I have come to expect having seen him three times since September, he delivers every time.
The band themselves were great as ever. Talking to Chris and Wayne later, it seemed they had a bad mix and poor sound quality, but as Chris said 'the audience made it'. This was so true. The Welsh fans loved it and MSG went down a storm. Sing-alongs and fists in the air aplenty.
Michael himself seemed to be, forgive the pun, 'In Trance', and the audience were right with him. His guitar work was insane and the band clearly enjoyed it.
An unexpected surprise was delivered, introduced as 'one of my favourites ' Gary Barden jumped enthusiastically in to Lights Out, which was superb. Gary's voice itself is clearly suffering a bit from the touring, but he gave it his all last night. Good man. This was the first time I have seen MSG with Barden perform Lights Out live. It was, of course, a staple in previous line- ups. I must say, i think I actually preferred last night's version to UFOs, whom I have seen 6 times. This was probably because of Schenker. And anyway, after all, most UFO sets are comprised 90% of Schenker penned material.
So the show was awesome, the band and Michael on top form. As per usual, Schenker did a runner at the end of the show. It is a shame there are no longer meet and greets, nevermind.
As i say the set was fairly standard, with the addition of Lights out and a slightly different order. Gypsy Lady was dropped and of 'new' Schenker ,material there was : I Want You, A Night to Remember and Ride on My Way. From UFO there was Lights Out, Rock Bottom and Dr Doctor. The standard MSG stuff comprised (in no order) Armed and Ready, Attack of the Mad Axeman, Lost Horizons, On & On (which went down particularly well), Into the Arena, Let Sleeping Dogs Lie and Are you Ready to Rock? Cry for the Nations .Forgive me for anything I have missed out.
So, a great show, a staggeringly on-form Michael and a great audience.
Also, Wayne mentioned that the MSG Japan DVD is 'awesome' and definately worth checking out. We look forward to it.