When I heard that Fury UK will support Michael Schenker's Temple Of Rock I was really looking forward to see the guys again. I saw them last December when they were supporting Iced Earth and they delivered a got show. The trio from Manchester did such a good job that when Iced Earth bass player Freddie Vidales decided to leave the band they asked Fury UK bassist Luke Appleton to join them. For Luke a dream came true as he's a huge fan of Jon Shaffer and Iced Earth. Before I go into details about their set, I should mention that my notes got lost, but I do my best.
The intro announced the beginning of the show and as expected it was the first encounter with Fury UK for most of the people attending. They opened up with I See Red off their current album A Way Of Life from 2010 followed by Fall From Grace. Their traditional heavy metal is spiced up with some NWoBHM elements, but it's Chris Appleton's guitar play which impressed the audience. Songs like Saviour and Athena represented their latest release while Call To Arms and Death By Lightning were taken from their 2009 release VR. But they also presented a new track called Taste The Blood which is available as a free download via the bands website or check it out here:
After the trio left the stage some hit the merchandise booth to get some Fury UK stuff and talk to the guys. Soon the equipment of Fury UK was taken off stage and it seemed to be a quick change over. But during the line check a problem showed up... A massive feedback at one side of the stage. It took the crew a while to solve it, and when they continued, the feedback was on the other side of the stage. The music they played during the change over was almost as annoying as the feedback and some fans started a hail of catcalls. At the end the crew solved the problem and after more than an hour the intro - synthie sounds - announced the beginning of the show. Then guitarist / keyboarder Wayne Findlay, former Scorpions bassist Francis Buchholz and drummer Herman Rarebell entered the stage for Into The Arena. Michael Schenker joined them and he was obviously in a splendid mood! And the musical journey continued with Armed And Ready. And it was obvious that the Temple Of Rock tour would offer songs from all stages of Michael's career. "It's gonna be dangerous here tonight - we have three live Scorpions on stage!" Doogie White said and they headed into Lovedrive and Another Piece Of Meat. I still love the old Scorpions albums and so I welcomed these tunes like everybody else. Personally I thought it sounds a bit strange with Doogie White's British accent, but well... Doogie is a great singer, no doubt about it, but I would have like to hear the other singers who did the Japan and North American shows - Michael Voss and Robin McAuley.
Michael Schenker changed his guitars, these days Dean guitars are his weapon of choice, and his leads were just amazing. If you take a look at the set list you know, this is a special tour! After a quite new track - Before The Devil Knows You're Dead - they headed into the part of the concert where Michael Schenker presented some songs from his days with U.F.O. - and the fans loved it! U.F.O. are on tour as well and so some might get the chance to compare Vinnie Moore's performance with Michael Schenker's, coz no U.F.O. show without Lights Out! One of my highlights was On And On from MSG as well as the first track of the encore - Holiday! As well as Blackout! At that time I was already at the merchandise booth - where you didn't miss a note! - and so I witnessed that at the first notes of Doctor Doctor the paramedics carried out a guy on a stretcher... they passed me when Doogie White sang "doctor, doctor please!". Hope for that guy he is well and has lots of good memories of this evening....
It was a great evening full of music, lots of classics at Michael Schenker's Temple Of Rock's set and let's hope that Michael Schenker's Temple Of Rock is coming back - perhaps next time with one of the other singers... If you missed the show, well what can I say... You really missed one of the best show - so far - in 2012!
Set list:
Into The Arena
Armed And Ready
Lovedrive (Scorpions cover)
Another Piece Of Meat (Scorpions cover)
Cry For The Nations
Let Sleeping Dogs Lie
Coast To Coast (Scorpions cover)
Assault Attack
Before The Devil Knows You're Dead
Lights Out (U.F.O. cover)
On And On
Let It Roll (U.F.O. cover)
Shoot Shoot (U.F.O. cover)
Rock You Like A Hurricane (Scorpions cover)
Rock Bottom (U.F.O. cover)
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Holiday (Scorpions cover)
Blackout (Scorpions cover)
Doctor Doctor (U.F.O. cover)