About 10 days ago I saw Michael Schenker and band on tour and they played quite a few U.F.O. tracks, now it was time to see Vinnie Moore play the songs. On a Saturday night they started quite early and quite a few rock fans had arrived to see Dortmund-based band Special Guest opening up. The quintet started with Gasoline, but I can't tell you much about the rock band from Dortmund. They offered powerful rock songs, but they seem to be the kind of band playing bars... During the instrumental passages their singer seemed a bit lost, but vocally she did a good job.
After a change over it was time for Norwegian band The Wheel. The quartet focused on their self-titled album which was released last year via Cargo Records (see our review). They kicked off with "We are The Wheell from Norway!" and headed Into The Water, a hard rock track with some 70's elements. Singer Jan Erik Salvesen didn't wasted time talking, only mentioning the bands name a few times they stormed through their set which focused on songs off The Wheel. After Sparks the sound of a siren led into Cry Of The Night. Their heavy rock was spiced up with some Page-esque guitar play by Ørjan Kvalvik. After introducing the band they presented Love, a song which can be downloaded for free from Classic Rock magazine, and which features some bottle neck guitar play which made me think of Mickey Moody... If you like hard / heavy rock with a dash of 70's, then check out the Norwegians!
While the Norwegians were on stage more U.F.O. fans arrived and when the British entered the stage the venue was pretty crowded. On the Seven Deadly tour Rob de Luca (Spread Eagle, Sebastian Bach) is playing bass, joining the long time U.F.O. members on tour. Drummer Andy Parker, guitarist / Keyboarder Paul Raymond and guitarist Vinnie More entered the stage with de Luca and kicked off Mother Mary. Soon charismatic frontman Phil Mogg joined them and believe it or not, he still sounds great! "Hello Bochum!" he greeted the people in the Matrix before they offered Fight Night followed by another tune off Seven Deadly. "Thank you! Today or tomorrow night in Vegas Mayweather / Cotto fight where Mayweather gets 32 million dollars. We are doing the wrong job! Which is bringing me to Wonderland." Looks like Mr. Mogg is into boxing... The British mixed old and new songs, after Let It Roll was followed by new tracks like Mojo Town and Burn The House Down. The majority of the audience is listening to their songs for decades and so classics like Only You Can Rock Me and Love To Love were more than welcome and rocked the house. At Love To Love it dawned me that they have a local light tech, coz the stage was flooded in red light when Phil Mogg sang "misty green and blue...". On the other hand he made the logo shine in yellow light and glow in red at other times, bringing the logo to life. The next highlight was Too Hot Too Handle, Phil Mogg had asked for some assistance and the fans joined in and sang along. But something I haven't seen yet at a U.F.O. show so far - two stage divers got onto the stage and it seems that the guys were amused by the action. Two classics should follow - Lights Out and Rock Bottom - and the house was on fire. The later one had a longer instrumental passage and guitar solo, even longer than on the studio version. Usually the guys leave the stage after this one and return for an encore, but they were running out of time they just stayed on stage and played Doctor Doctor. This time no paramedics were needed - at MSG's Krefeld show paramedics carried out someone on a stretcher at this one - and as it wasn't likely they would play one more I left to catch my train. And I wasn't the only one. Anyway, it was a great evening with classic rock tunes and I hope that they will keep touring! Thanks again for a great night with U.F.O.!