As one of my all time favourite bands, and one whose commercial breakthrough came earlier in this country than most, it has been a disappointment that we have not seen more of the Scorpions in recent years. Presumably on the basis they can sell anywhere in the world, they have concentrated on overseas territories with frustratingly rare appearances here- usually as festival headliners with my most recent sightings being at the now defunct Ramblin’ Man and Stone Free.

This UK show- a solitary Wembley Arena date with no wider tour- was by my reckoning a first headlining show of their own in over 15 years. Despite eye watering prices and not liking this wretched venue, it had to be done not least as founder members Klaus Meine and Rudolf Schenker are now nearer to 80 than 70, and the crowd appeared a near sell out.

On paper there was a strong if not necessarily complementary support in Extreme, former headliners themselves here in the early nineties and given a fairly generous set of over an hour. It opened decently with a couple from ‘Pornograffiti’ in ‘Its a Monster’ and my own favourite ‘Decadence Dance’, which I was relieved to catch after the half hour queues to get in.

However I failed to warm to them- for all Nuno Bettencourt’s exemplary and very varied guitar playing, I found the set unfocused and songs dull, until his acoustic intro heralded ‘Hole Hearted’ which provided respite, followed by a flamenco-style instrumental. In common with the Scorps, they also had a huge and untypical crossover hit and one or two people stood for ‘More Than Words’.

Another disappointment – considering many suggested he should fill Freddie Mercury’s shoes in Queen and he did join Van Halen- was quite how poor a frontman the lithe Gary Cherone was. He lacked any stage presence and left most of the intros to Nuno, while there was also an awful lot of padding even in a support set.

Finally I perked up with ‘Get the Funk Out’, a classic example of the songs that packed dancefloors at rock clubs when I first started going in the early nineties. It would have been a suitable high on which to close but instead they tested the patience of fans of the headliners with one more song in ‘RISE’. I’ve always struggled a bit with Extreme but after rave reviews of their new album ‘Six’ wanted to give them another chance. I’m afraid they did little to alter my original opinion.

The Scorpions stage show was impressive, the type with lighting and video backdrops that can not only fill a cavernous venue like this, but almost requires one. They opened with the acoustic intro to ‘Coming Home’, and Klaus Meine coming round the side of the stage to sing before the band emerged and burst into the fast and furious second half of the song. They then moved forward in time with ‘Gas in the Tank’, rather underwhelming it has to be said; unlike last year’s ‘Rock Believer’ tour which never reached these shores, it proved a token selection from the last album.

Instead we had the tried and tested staples of every Scorps show since time immemorial in ‘Make it Real’ with Mathias Jabs’ trademark rapid fire guitar flourishes, ‘The Zoo’ to a backdrop of the New York City night scene that inspired the song and Klaus throwing out drumsticks, and the instrumental ‘Coast to Coast’, somehow with a bigger melodic hook than most other bands vocal songs with four of them line astern on the walkway.

However a rare sighting of ‘I’m Leaving You’- at first I thought Klaus in his heavy accent was introducing a song I’d never heard of called ‘I Believe In You’!- was a reminder that this was a show to mark the 40th anniversary of ‘Love At First Sting’. Back then it was the first album of theirs I bought on release and, pace those who name ‘Blackout’ or indeed the (unrepresented) Uli Jon Roth years, for my money is easily their best album, the timeless riffery of ‘Bad Boys Running Wild’ being a case in point.

It was a treat to hear all but one song from the album as some not played for years, if ever, got a live airing. Klaus spoke of how ‘Crossfire’ was written (years before ‘Wind Of Change’) about the vulnerability Germans felt during the Cold War and Mikkey Dee successfully emulated Herman Rarebell’s military style drumming on the original. However ‘The Same Thrill’ remains the low point of both the album and the set.

Klaus’ voice sounded in reasonable shape if a little thinner than of old, while he was a touch frailer in his movements, and doubtless appreciated a change of pace in the beautiful ‘Send Me an Angel’, and ‘Wind Of Change’ with the partially rewritten lyrics flashed on the screen to reflect the sad events in Eastern Europe recently, a far cry from the optimistic times the original was written in.

As well as Klaus’ famous whistling, there was also a first solo of the night from Rudolf and ‘Tease Me Please Me’ then picked up the pace again, though there were moments such as the guitar work out between Mathias and his guitar tech Ingo (the title ‘Delicate Dance’ a neat symmetry with one of Extreme’s songs), and Mikkey’s drum solo, to give the senior members a rest.

However Rudolf’s energy remains remarkable and he was charging onto the walkway and back during ‘Blackout’, head swathed in bandage and goggles and wielding a rocket style guitar, before playing a very melodic lead guitar break during ‘Big City Nights’, complete with audience participation, which was as classic as ever and for me is the song that most epitomises the Scorpions.

No surprises neither with those songs, nor the encores though fittingly it was a pair of contrasting classics from ‘Love At First Sting’. When The Scorps obituary is finally written their mastery of rock ballads will always be mentioned and ‘Still Loving You’ was as emotive as ever, Rudolf (whether he likes it or not!) reminiscent of brother Michael as, crouched over his Flying V, he played the solo with immaculate technique. The whole crowd was then rocking out to ‘Rock You Like A Hurricane’ before being showered in confetti.

If it was to be the last time in the UK- given they only seem to come here every five to six years- then to misquote another of their songs, they were going out with a bang. It was a timely reminder how big a part of my musical life the Scorpions have been for over 40 years and it was telling that in the days after the show, the vintage material from the band once referred to in Kerrang! as ‘German gargantuawatt gladiators’ was the first thing I turned to in my CD collection.

Review and Photos by Andy Nathan

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Power Plays w/c 9 December 2024

In this sequence we play ‘The Best of 2024′ GRTR! reviewer selections

Featured Albums w/c 9 December 2024

09:00-12:00 The Best of 2024 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003-2024 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2024 (Singer Songwriter)