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Live review by Ains of the BGGP Forum

The band kicked off with Lovedrive and what a cracking opening number it was too, one of me fave tracks and it was played superbly.

Then for next couple of hours we were treated to some of the finest Scorpions tracks written over their successful career. Coast To Coast, Blackout, He's A Woman She's A Man, Big City Lights, Bad Boys Running Wild, The Zoo etc etc too may to list but all played with bags of punch and energy. A couple of stand out tracks for me ... apart from ALL of them were Holiday, absolutely superb ... I nearly wet meesel, awesome harmony vocals from Phil and Paul and fantastic musicianship all round. Dark Lady another fave of mine and again with some awesome harmony work but this time from Phil and Colin on guitar and Colin taking the main vocal. We'll Burn The Sky was played to perfection too, they took the roof off and that room deserved to be packed for these lads.

One of the BEST nights I've had in aaaaaaaaaaaaaaages, I grinned all night as they played a selection of Scorps classics and it was great looking around to see everyones heads nodding along to the music. Great sound too, real punchy and clear, Georges drums sounded superb and he played a blinder, tight as a gnats chuff all night. I must say I think he was playing some cheapy shite drum kit like with a DW badge on it, I knew it was a cheapy kit cos it had black fittings on it, no expensive chrome to be seen anywhere

Paul did a superb job on bass too, always loved this guys playing in Shovelmouth, an excellent player and often overlooked. Not only can he rip it up on bass but his backing vocals were spot on, complimented Phil's really well, tremendous voice !!
Colin kept it all locked in with some great rhythm guitar and some tasty lead breaks too. Got to say never seen Colin grin so much when he's playing, not so much to the crowd but to himself. He gets to play some really tasty stuff in this band, from real chunky grooves that just draw you in to some nice intricate clean picking and you can tell he's just getting in the zone playing this stuff. One minute concentrating like mad the next just a huge smile and grinning from ear to ear ... loved it.

And Phil Thorrell, what can I say ? a legend on the NE scene with his jaw dropping guitar skills, tough job covering two such amazing players like Uli Jon Roth and Matthias Jabs AND having to sing as well ?? FFS ?? hahaha who else would take on that job ? Got to say he totally nailed it, what hit me was how strong Phil's voice was, he was belting it out last night and it sounded fantastic on both rockers and ballads. Top job without a doubt, cracking performance vocally and the guitar work was insane too, great playing superb tone.

Sign of a good gig for me is that after it, you're itching to see the band AGAIN ..... that's how i felt last night, all me faves were played and a couple of later tracks i wasn't familiar with and I could have listened to then all again .... a great encore would have been the first two sets again lol !.

 

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