Having their fiftieth anniversary tour on going since last year, German arena rockers Scorpions finally had the opportunity to perform down under for one exclusive show at the beautiful Palais Theatre in Melbourne.
Many Aussie fans from all the states came to witness this private, once in a lifetime concert they thought would never happen.
With no support opening the night the Scorpions commenced with a one-hundred-minute set, adding a mixture of fresh material off their latest record “Return to Forever”, along with plenty of classics such as “Blackout”, “Love At First Sting”, “Animal Magnetism” and more. Immediately after Going Out with a Bang the Scorpions had to wait before moving onto the next song just to hear and acknowledge the extended cheers of their Aussie devotees.
Guitarists Rudolf Schenker and Matthias Jabs had plenty of quality to go around through their fine collection of Flying V’s and Explorer guitars in both electric and acoustic form. With songs like Eye of the Storm to Wind of Change, Jabs and Schenker put every ounce of perfection into their performance in their roles as stringmen.
Frontman Klaus Meine not only gave one hell of a vocal performance, for someone close to his seventies, he also threw out a number of Mikkey Dee’s drumsticks to fans in the first few rows. With his vocals being in such great condition, Meine’s presence was also responsible for the formidable force that emulated charisma through Scorpions’s persona.
Ex-Motörhead drummer Mikkey Dee and Pawel Maciwoda worked together as good as any bassist/drummer duo in a live show. With Dee now touring full time with Scorpions, the band added in a tribute to the late, great, Lemmy by performing the first half of Overkill along with a drum solo performed by Dee. Towards the end of his moment in the spotlight, the band’s projector and stage displayed all of the album covers from their entire studio discography.
Throughout the entire set, there wasn’t a moment that felt dull in any way, shape or form. In fact, the one thing that seemed to have been orchestrating Scorpions from start to finish was their audience. There were even a few moments where two fans somehow managed to ephemerally get on onstage before getting dragged off to the site, with the exception of one young fan at the end of the band’s epic encore of Rock You Like A Hurricane.
Scorpions may be “long in the tooth”, but their age isn’t getting the best of them. For a group to be going over fifty years strong, they proved at that show that they still have the energy and won’t be stopping anytime soon.
With such an overwhelming response they received from their loving and dedicated fans, the chances are, the Scorpions may just return to Australian shores to give every city a dose of their long-running hard rock tunes again.
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