Review by Andrew Bansal, live photos by Karina Diane
October 3rd 2015, The Forum, Los Angeles CA: German rock legends Scorpions are currently on their 50th anniversary world tour, and coming towards the end of its North American leg with Queensrÿche as the support act, they arrived in the Los Angeles area for a nearly sold-out gig at the Forum in Inglewood last Saturday October 3rd 2015, to bring an assortment of classics along with material from the latest album ‘Return To Forever’. Fans paid good money and turned up in huge numbers to experience the 2015 incarnation of Scorpions and be treated to a throwback to the 70s and 80s with songs that have stood the test of time. The Forum was buzzing with excitement, and the stage was set for an epic arena rock show.
Doors to this all-seated show opened at 7, and at 7:55, Queensrÿche took the stage for a 40-minute set presenting classics of their own, and the song ‘Arrow Of Time’ off of their latest Century Media Records full-length release ‘Condition Human’. The new song exudes old-school Queensrÿche elements and blended excellently in the set, in all honesty leaving a greater impact than anything on the 2013 self-titled album. Older selections like ‘The Needle Lies’, ‘Eyes Of A Stranger’, ‘Empire’ and ‘Queen Of The Reich’ garnered huge cheers from the audience. Singer Todd La Torre’s voice was resonating beautifully throughout the entire arena, and the band sounded absolutely fantastic. There were quite a few Queensrÿche fans here at this show, but doing these arenas with Scorpions has been a tremendous opportunity for them to open up to larger audiences. “Who’s the new guy? He sounds like that Myles guy from Slash’s band, said the guy sitting two seats to my left. In the band since 2012, Todd La Torre is most certainly no longer the new guy, but if this gentleman represents the average attendee at these Scorpions show, this is clearly a great tour for Queensrÿche to play an introductory set for such people. ‘I Don’t Believe In Love’ was a glaring omission from the set but understandably so, because given a longer set they would have certainly played it. As it turned out, Queensrÿche not only made a positive contribution to this show but upstaged the Scorpions in terms of the quality of performance. If you’ve never seen Queensrÿche or have been disappointed and bored by their performances with the previous singer, see them now, because this version of Queensrÿche can simply do no wrong.
Set List:
01. Anarchy-X
02. The Needle Lies
03. Walk In The Shadows
04. Jet City Woman
05. Silent Lucidity
06. Arrow Of Time
07. Eyes Of A Stranger
08. Empire
09. Queen Of The Reich
Queensrÿche photos:
At 9:10, Scorpions exploded onto the stage in signature style, and opened with a new song called ‘Going Out With A Bang’ before delving into their 50-year discography. Tunes like ‘Make It Real’ and ‘The Zoo’ got fans in the groove for a full 90 minutes of Scorpions, and the legendary instrumental ‘Coast To Coast’ was unusally early in the set. But the biggest and most pleasant surprise came immediately after, as they laid into a medley of Uli Jon Roth era 70s tunes, and it was by far the highlight of the entire set. If they had extended the medley and kept going with it the whole night by adding more and more songs from that era, hardly any true Scorpions fan would have complained.
The set was a solid representation of the band’s entire career, as the 70s gems were accompanied by the hits from the 80s and early 90s, but the impact of the performance as a whole was definitely lessened by the four songs from ‘Return To Forever’. With all due respect, none of these songs come anywhere close to the classics, came across as poor representatives of Scorpions both musically and lyrically, and proved that ‘Return To Forever’ is nothing short of a throwaway album. On the other hand, the 2010 album ‘Sting In The Tail’ boasts of some great tunes, as evident from the band’s North American tour that year, but everything from that album was inexplicably dropped from the 2015 set list.
Moving on, the 70s jam wasn’t the only medley they would do in this set as they did an acoustic segment that included ‘Always Somewhere’ and ‘Send Me An Angel’. It was hilarious to notice Rudolf Schenker’s acoustic flying V, something I’d never seen before. Klaus Meine, although singing lower for some of the fast-paced 80s hits, gave us an exhibition of his longevity and showed that he’s still got that distinct, instantly recognizable voice. He was full of energy, and the crowd simply could not get enough of him saying ‘Californiaaa!’ which he did quite a lot, much to the fans’ delight.
Despite the adundance of the new material, the weakest, most unbearable part of the set was undoubtedly the drum solo, a.k.a. ‘Kottak Attack’. It was by far the worst drum solo I had ever seen in my life, and the speech that Kottak followed it with was even more painful. Had his solo gone on any longer, it could have singlehandedly ruined the entire show, and after this show I had a new dilemma in my mind, to decide what’s worse, a Zakk Wylde guitar solo or a James Kottak drum solo.
Besides the new songs and the drum solo, the graphics displayed on the giant screens behind, below and on both sides of the drum riser were too flashy and ‘radio rock’. It also took away from the impact of the lights. The display of lyrics in giant letters was unbelievably over the top and not in a good way. Sometimes less is more, and the usage of simple camera footage or occasional pyrotechnics would have sufficed and complemented the music better. The production on the 2010 tour was far more fitting to a Scorpions show, and that of the 2015 tour is an example of production that does not enhance the show but serves as a deterrent instead.
‘Kottak Attack’ was followed by a string of the most loved Scorpions classics that brought an end to the set, with an encore performance of ‘Still Loving You’ and ‘Rock You Like A Hurricane’. Songs like ‘Bad Boys Running Wild’ and ‘Loving You Sunday Morning’ were some of the most notable omissions and should have been included. It is fair to say that even though this wasn’t a bad show by any means for first-timers as well as longtime fans, Scorpions put on a much greater live show on the 2010 tour and perhaps should have said ‘farewell’ back then, like they said they would.
Set List:
01. Going Out With A Bang
02. Make It Real
03. The Zoo
04. Coast To Coast
05. Top Of The Bill / Steamrock Fever / Speedy’s Coming / Catch Your Train
06. We Built This House
07. Delicate Dance
08. Always Somewhere / Eye Of The Storm / Send Me An Angel
09. Wind Of Change
10. Rock ‘N’ Roll Band
11. Dynamite
12. In The Line Of Fire
13. Kottak Attack
14. Blackout
15. No One Like You
16. Big City Nights
Encore:
17. Still Loving You
18. Rock You Like a Hurricane
Scorpions photos:
Remaining Tour Dates:
10/06 – Santa Barbara CA @ Santa Barbara Bowl
10/07 – Las Vegas NV @ The Joint
10/09 – Seattle WA @ ShoWare Center