This summer got off to a great start. After experiencing the hottest May ever in terms of shows in Athens, the official kickoff of the summer season may not have featured massive productions with the hottest names in the industry, but it certainly buzzed with quality, energy and a lot of nostalgia.
It’s true that Gagarin 205 took a while to fill up. That didn’t stop the Athens based band Achelous, who opened the event, from delivering an outstanding performance with solid metal featuring plenty of epic/power elements, yet with a sound that made it feel not old school but thoroughly contemporary. Their roughly 50-minute set showcased a band that was very well-rehearsed on stage, consisting of very talented.
The time had come to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the release of the masterpiece titled “Virgin Killer.”
A five-minute intro, with the video wall at the back of the stage displaying stunning visuals, set the stage for what we would hear in the first part of the concert. The towering Uli Jon Roth, alone on stage and accompanied by the necessary musical backdrop, “performed” with his unique sky guitar, first two Mozart pieces, two of his own new compositions, “The Cry” and “Spirit of the Heart,” and “Sky Overture” from “Transcendental Sky Guitar,” a forty-minute instrumental that truly enchanted the audience. Shortly before the end of the first part, he presented his own paintings and photographs from his early years as a solo artist on the screen.
After a 10-minute intermission, six musicians take the stage, led by Roth, to perform “Virgin Killer” in its entirety. There’s no way I can stand here and judge the two singers, for the simple reason that even if you brought in the best singer in the world, he wouldn’t stand a chance of performing these gems even 1% as well as Klaus Meine. Niklas Turmann on vocals and bass and the singer from Portugal (sorry, I didn’t catch her name) simply did a good job. For the record, Roth sang on “Polar Nights.” What I feel I must emphasize is the emotion that filled Gagarin with the magical sounds of the Scorpions from that era. Roth’s decision to perform “Virgin Killer” playing with the white Stratocaster featured on the cover of “In Trance”—a guitar he used both during the album’s recording sessions and in his early work as Electric Sun—was truly stunning. He brought back the sky guitar for the four songs that closed this unique performance: “Sun In My Hand,” “We’ll Burn The Sky” (and Gagarin as well, I’ll add), “The Sails Of Charon,” and of course “In Trance,” which could not be missing from such a magical two-hour set.
In closing, I’ll say—as harsh as it may sound to some—that this was probably Uli Jon Roth’s best performance out of the many I’ve seen. It’s also a shame that these four Scorpions albums featuring Roth remain “hidden” from so many millions of people. Scorpions themselves didn’t touch them for many years after the success of “Love At First Sting,” and from 1996 onward, for over a decade, they played at most one song from them. Fortunately, in 2009 we experienced those unforgettable 20 minutes at Karaiskaki Stadium in Athens. But why haven’t they done a “The Early Years”-style tour all these years? That’s a question that will likely remain unanswered…
Setlist: Intro/Amadeus theme, Klaviersonate Nr. 11 In A-Dur K. 331 III Alla Turca, Der Holle Rache Kocht In Meinem Herzen, Mozart Theme, Mozart Theme, The Cry, Spirit Of The Heart, Sky Overture, Pictured Life, Catch Your Train, In Your Park, Backstage Queen, Virgin Killer, Hell-Cat, Crying Days, Polar Nights, Yellow Raven, Sun In My Hand, We’ll Burn The Sky, The Sails Of Charon, In Trance.
Dimitris Kazantzis
