I waited till I'd seen the full run of UK gigs before I wrote a review, mainly for the
reason that I tend to talk in superlatives and I didn't want to leave myself with nothing
left to say (as if!).
So... here ya go.
I'm reviewing the three gigs, but on four different levels -
1. Michael Schenker himself
2. The Michael Schenker Group (the whole band)
3. The individual gigs
4. The fan reaction.
1. Michael Schenker himself, well.... what can I say. There were many of us who never thought we'd see the day when this amazing guitarist, whose music has meant so much to us through the years would be up there on stage, firing on all one-hundred-and-eighty, taking us to the same place where he himself goes when he's playing.
OK, so I'd read the reviews of the American and European gigs but until you actually see
it for yourself you don't quite believe it. From the minute he walked onstage at Bradford
and acknowledged the crowd, he was smiling and relaxed and we thought 'hey up, this feels
good' - and it was good! Lots of special moments, intricate solos, passionate melodies,
blazing fingerwork - and all carried out with good grace, and good rapport with the fans
and the rest of the band. All the energy was positive energy. I can't talk about all the
amps'n'valves and stuff - you know that - but I know I know he was back ON and it was
wonderful - 'awesome' in the true sense of the word. And his interaction with the fans
added a special dimension to his performance, because his warmth was radiated right back
to him, and seemed to energise him even more.
2. MSG - The band. MSG goes against the normal pattern of bands - usually the singer is
the frontman. The loyal 20-year-plus fan interest in MSG has always focussed on Michael's
guitarwork. I know there are plenty of Schenker fans who judge an MSG album or gig purely
on Michael's performance, and tend to push the band's contribution to one side. OK, well I
suppose that's one way of judging it, but I don't think the contribution these other fellas make is any less important just because their name isn't over the door. It's a full stage of musicians - and I think those people who go just to watch and listen to Michael (watchable and listenable-to as he is!) are doing the rest of the band a bit of an injustice if they think it's only about Michael. Of course Michael is the leading character, but if there was no need, visually, for a full-stage band, Michael could just use a sound-card/backing track kind of thing. But no, these fellas are the G in MSG. Chris did a fine job at all the gigs, both on the UFO and MSG songs. To my ears he sounded stronger vocally at Dudley and Camden than at Bradford, but on the first night I was standing right in front of Michael's monitors, so didn't get to hear him properly. Wayne
on keys and guitar is a bit of a dark horse, half-hidden behind the keyboards - but he
contributes greatly to the band musically, and also visually too when he moves out and
does a double-act with Rev. Pete the drummer is also a very worthy contributor to the
team, and his drumming is rock solid right the way through. As for Rev, well, I hardly
noticed him, he stands so still and looks so shy. Hah! The reason I have so many photos of
Rev is cos in every single one I took of him he had some kind of action going on. Visually
he's .. well..... he's just barmy. He never stops spinning - and it's such colourful
spinning too! But he plays bass at the same time! You'd almost think he'd wandered into
the wrong gig and got up on stage with the wrong band, but no, he's playing MSG and UFO
stuff, and he's playing it pretty damn well. So yes, MSG is Michael, Chris, Pete, Wayne
and Rev. A high five to all five!
3. The individual gigs. For me, (and I have to stress that this is only my opinion) the
most exciting gig was Bradford, for the main reason that it was the first one of the
three, and the frisson of excitement was slightly more at the 'newness' of it - my first
encounter with the new-era MSG. Also, the sound balance seemed the best of the three gigs,
even though I was standing in the wrong place most of the time to hear it in a balanced
way. At Dudley I didn't even know there were sound problems until I heard the fans nearer
the back shouting for the guitar to be turned up. I thought they were just being greedy!
Anyway, it turned out they were still calling for it to be turned up even after it was got
right - so yeh, they WERE greedy! At Dudley I heard Chris much better and was impressed
with everyone's playing. Michael broke a string, but he improvised and proved (not that we
we had any doubt) that he's still thinking creatively as he's playing. I still don't tknow
which was technically the best gig - (me and that whole amp'n'valves thannngggg again) but
this one also sounded good to me! At Camden again it all sounded fine to me, and I was moving around all over the place, but it turns out Michael had problems with the monitors, the same as before. He played beautifully though, and with the fire and passion and gentleness that takes your breath away. On and On was ..wow.... it could have gone on and on all night, for me! Also, it was
great to see Tyson and Taro up there. Tyson has his own band, but this is the first time
he's played onstage with Michael. And for Taro, it was the first time he'd ever played on
stage publicly. Top fellas - baptism of fire or what! Oh Chris - I liked the
arachnophobiaccy t-shirt you wore at Camden. Nice one!
4. The fans. They went wild! At Bradford the response was electrifying. The support and
warmth that came from them was more than Michael would probably ever have hoped for. They
were so welcoming, and so happy that he was back - and back well! The signing afterwards
seemed to go on forever. At Dudley too. And at Camden I got bruises from the moshers - and
complete strangers were kissing each other. That's true - it's not me being Battttttyish,
it's really true. It's a bit of a phenomenon, and something I don't think Slipknot or
Darkness fans do. Such is the emotion that Michael evokes, and probably more so because
all his true fans know that it hasn't been at all easy for him to reach this pinnacle
again.
And you know me, I stand and yakk with everyone, and the feedback I got at all three gigs
was that this was what they'd all been waiting for - above and beyond expectations. God
bless ya, fellas.
So yeh, all in all, it aint been a bad week!