Concert Report by Teri Michael Schenker / Temple of Rock at Yoshi's, Oakland, CA, U.S.A. April 2, 2015 Added on 04/03/2015
First Show
Second Show
Concert Report by Patrick Michael Schenker / Temple of Rock at Yoshi's, Oakland, CA, U.S.A. April 2, 2015 Added on 04/05/2015 & 04/19/2015
Concert Report by Theo Michael Schenker / Temple of Rock at Yoshi's, Oakland, CA, U.S.A. April 2, 2015 Added on 04/06/2015
2nd Performance - Yoshi's Oakland, CA April 2, 2015
Hello from America.
First of all, I'd like to compliment you on running the best, informative and up to date Michael Schenker site on the internet. Great job.
For some reason, I felt inspired to review the recent performance of Michael Schenker's Temple Of Rock in Oakland, CA on April 2, 2015 after reading the latest tour reviews on your excellent site. My wife and I attended the second performance of the evening and had a nice dinner at the restaurant before we caught the show. It was the first time for my wife to witness one of the greatest guitarists ever so I anticipated a special evening for both of us. Yoshifs is a very small concert venue so the performance couldnft be more intimate. Because this was the second performance of the evening, there was no opening act and Michael Schenker and crew hit the stage just roughly about 10:45 PM. Opening with Doctor Doctor, the crowd roared and the band played a brilliant version of the UFO classic.
I wasn't too familiar with the new songs but I do remember quite a few classics were played such as Lights Out, Love Drive, Coast To Coast and Shoot Shoot. They also performed Armed And Ready and Victim Of Illusion. The band sounded very good but I mustfve listened to the versions of the latter two songs on my copy of One Night At Budokan too much because, with all due respect, Herman Rarebell just wasnft the driving force that Cozy Powell or even Simon Philipps were, and the songs felt a little flat. Francis Buchholz was solid and Wayne Findlay was his ever reliable self as usual. I give a lot of credit to Doogie White as he did his best to interact with the crowd and keep the energy level high as it seemed the crowd response to certain songs ranged from ecstatic to uncharacteristically tepid. He was in fine form and seemed to have no problems on the UFO and MSG classics. The last time I saw Doogie White in concert was when he sang for Rainbow and played in nearby Palo Alto. I remember being impressed with the way he sang the Graham Bonnet and Joe Lynn Turner songs.
Michael's solo spot during Rock Bottom was a highlight and my wife noted to me how impressive she thought his playing was during that particular solo. The crowd roared with approval and it seemed the band was finished for the evening. Michael and Doogie had a brief conversation on stage and decided to play one more song to end the set which turned out to be Blackout. Personally, I could do without Rock You Like A Hurricane and Blackout but I suppose they have to perform them since the former rhythm section of the Scorpions are in the band. I think it is a good idea to have Wayne play the solos on those two songs but I still scratch my head thinking about it. Michael doesn't even play on the original versions of those songs so I donft see the point in performing them because the crowd was clearly there for Michael Schenker, not Herman Rarebell or Francis Buchholz. Along with the Love Drive songs, they performed 5 Scorpions songs! I would much prefer to hear Into The Arena or Attack Of The Mad Axeman which both seemed glaringly absent from the set. With Michael's vast and impressive back catalog, there are so many other better songs to choose from, but I'm just nitpicking. Michael was in fine form and really played well. The interaction between the band members on stage gave the impression that everyone was enjoying themselves with many smiles all around.
Overall, an excellent performance and Michael will return to The Bay Area later this year in San Jose!=
