Michael Schenker Group, London 2023 – Review by Dawn Osborne

Openers Night Demon are clearly in love with the NWOBHM, that period when Black Sabbath was morphing into meat and potatoes metal. It could be 1983 as they deliver Motorhead style fast pacers and the sounds of a huge storm a la Child of Babylon through the PA. The drummer is shirtless, think early Diamond Head, their bassist/vocalist could play Lemmy in a movie and their guitarist reminds me of Derek St. Homes. Indeed when they stand on boxes that shoot up so much dry ice that they cannot be seen, like some weird kind of science fiction movie, it does all look a little bit Spinal Tap. However, as the set settles down into some long Doomy epics ‘Beyond The Grave’ and their anthemic self titled track ‘Night Demon’ I begin to warm to them and get into the nostalgia. The crowd for MSG are exactly the right vintage to remember this period of metal and they love it. The frontmen climb up on the amps and jump off simultaneously to finish to rapturous applause. They are from California and it had the feel of the British scene seen through the prism of Metallica, but fair play to them, they warmed up the crowd nicely.

Michael Schenker is still touring ‘Universal’ on his 50^th Anniversary tour, but this time he has invited Robin McAuley back which enriches the Classic Rock feel. Ronnie Romero has the pipes, but brings the atmosphere of a younger singer who, while old school, is not one of the guys who was there first time around like Robin, and McAuley’s stage experience shines through from the first as he commands the audience with a quiet confidence while never outshining the main man.

The first track ‘Into The Arena’ is an instrumental with McAuley getting a big introduction in time for second track ‘Cry For The Nations’. ‘Doctor Doctor’ makes a surprisingly early entrance, but together with ‘Lights Out’ and ‘Shoot Shoot’ inject UFO crowd favourites from the off. Almost half the tracks tonight are UFO with the others from MSG albums. But it is good to get the crowd singing going early. There is a good measure of Rockin bangers where Robin can camp it up while pure Rock Guitar virtuoso solos as in ‘Red Sky’ showcase Schenker’s talent.

Michael looks fit and happy skipping to the front of the stage to machine gun the crowd, raising his Flying V up for dramatic effect and smiling and engaging with the crowd, taking the limelight, but also managing not to look like an ego maniac, introducing the rest of the band and bringing them all to the fore for a line up photo opportunity for photographers. He thanks the crowd for their enthusiastic applause after every track. He gives the impression that he knows how amazing his playing is, and will take the wild applause, but really doesn’t need it. ‘Take Me or Leave Me as I Am’ appears to be the message showing that with maturity he has truly got into his stride and is at peace with his past. There’s no mention of the Scorpions and no material from that portion of his career.

New track ‘Emergency’ from latest album ‘Universal’ is a highlight of the set with its Eastern sounding intro and haunting solo from Schenker and really suits Robin’s voice. In ‘On And On’ his voice continues to impress with its long high notes. Most of the crowd being of a certain age confine themselves to enthusiastic clapping, but there are a couple of guys, one on each side of the balcony that are going wild for every song. In ‘Let It Roll’ Michale acknowledges this by playing his solo up towards one of them who is shaking his MSG T-Shirt indefatigably like a banner at the stage. Robin’s voice sounds like a siren in ‘Armed and Ready’ and he finishes with a raw Metal scream. Next up in my favourite MSG song ‘Desert Song’ it’s a classy epic that once again McAuley does fantastic justice.

With ‘Rock Bottom’ people realise we are getting towards the end and pogoing begins to happen in the crowd. The band do an extended version with a long solo in the middle with Schenker holding his axe aloft before returning to the famous refrain. Michael holds his guitar with one hand and takes photos from a big camera with a flash with the other – and the crowd strain to be in the photos even the people on the balconies. Everyone on stage goes to the back to face the drummer for a short traditional ring around the drum solo. Teasing the audience, after saying thank you Schenker adds ‘One more?’ as they launch into ‘Too Hot To Handle’. Schenker makes a point of featuring each of the band in turn, as well as doing his own spectacular solo in the middle. We don’t get one more, but in fact get two with ‘Only You Can Rock Me’ to finish, in which Schenker delivers the most beautiful solo of the evening.

Unlike some other axe hero bands Schenker gets the balance right between the technical excellence and the party songs so that the evening hits the spot for everyone. Still looking like Peter Pan, it may be the 50^th anniversary, but it’s hard to believe, and the good news is he shows no sign of stopping. 60^th anniversary – yes please!

Dawn Osborne