Scorpions Farewell Tour – Scorpions Istanbul Concert Review, October 2010

And once again, I was rocked like a hurricane! 2 years after I saw the band live in Istanbul, they rocked us once more.

Scorpions are a hard-rock band formed in 1965. And they have been rocking ever since. Unfortunately, the band decided to retire, so this concert was the part of their 3-year, around-the-world farewell tour. From what I saw, they so didn’t need to say retire as they looked like they at least had a decade of fun live concerts in them and their last album Sting in the Tail (2010) does sound like it was made by a band in their late 20s and early 30s, not rockers in their late 40s/50s/early 60s. But maybe they did want to leave at the top and as much as I am gonna miss their energy, I can respect that. There is also the fact that rock concerts can be tiring. At 26, I spent the whole Sunday (the day after the concert) being lazy. Well, walking numerous bus stops to the venue, standing up for hours, trying to find a good spot between thousands of people, dancing, head-banging and singing like crazy does this to you.  But the concert – the show, was worth the every level of exhaustion.

Here is a partial list of the songs they played (I almost always forget a few afterwards, so sorry about that): Sting in the Tail (the song from the 2010 album Sting in the Tail as you can imagine. This was the opening number), Dynamite, Big City Lights, Tease Me Please Me, Wind of Change (I mean, duh!), Raised on Rock (also from Sting in the Tail, a very fast and rockin’ number),  The BeSt Is Yet to Come (Sting in the Tail), Holiday, Loving You Sunday Morning. They made one comeback after pretending to leave (my voice chords still feel the pain) and they sang Still Loving You and Rock You Like A Hurricane.

The show itself was your typical, rockin’ classic: the guitaristS running up to each other, playing together with fun moves, stepping up to the drummer’s platform, the drummer stepping up, the essential drum solo and the guitar solos…The songs got louder, faster, harder and longer than their original versions, Klaus integrated our vocals into the songs and we had one hell of a good time. One of my favorite bits was the drum solo.  Because the band had prepared this fun set of video stints (starring the drummer), showing him in the funniest and craziest of situations and ending up In a Scorpions album cover image. And talk about customization: while the band was singing Big City Lights, the video images behind them showed big city lights, and Istanbul was written all over the screen…

The members are Klaus Meine (vocals), Matthias Jabs, Rudolf Schenker, Pawe? M?ciwoda, James Kottak (drums) . The youngest members are James Kottak – the drummer (born in 1962, joined the band in 1996) andPawe? M?ciwoda (born in 1967, joined the band in 2003). Oldest members are Klaus Meine and guitarist Rudolf Schenker, both German, born in 1948 and are founding members.

I went to see the band with 3 friends (one about my age, 2 of them about 5 years older) and unfortunately for them, they didn’t have as much fun as I did. One liked Ozzy Osbourne’s drummer better than Kottak (I can’t know, didn’t go to see Ozzy live) but for me, if you are comparing drummers, you can’t get more challenging than Rick Allen, the one-armed drummer of Def Leppard. Another friend was complaining they didn’t play enough hit songs and one wasn’t all that happy about the guitarist’s stints and the band’s wardrobe in general. I had gone to the concert after listening to the last album and being in love with it. They played my absolute Scorpion favorites Rock You Like a Hurricane (it was also their comeback and closing song at the 2008 concert) and Tease Me Please Me. I loved how they played Raised on Rock from the new album, as it totally reflects my views on rock. And I love how guitarists and band members interact with each other- it is a rock classic. And while a man in tight leather pants walking in the streets in broad daylight would raise both my eyebrows, it is so rocknroll and it so fits a rock concert! In a way, I felt I was the oldest member of the group, because I was so at home with what the band members did and enjoyed every minute of it. I am such a rock-head. I live and breathe it and give me a rock concert hangover any day…

I’ll be reviewing the last album shortly but let me just quote from the song Raised on Rock:

“I was born in a hurricane
Nothing to lose and everything to gain
Ran before I walked
Reaching for the top
Out of control just like a runaway train

I never walked on the narrow path
I always wanted what I didn’t have
All was not enough
Riding lady luck
Driving in the fast lane and just stepped on the gas

Cause I was raised on rock
My dad was howling but my heart was a rolling stone
Yeah I was raised on rock
My mama said I had a devil to scratch my soul
And I was raised on rock”

P.S. It was so unfair for them to play The Best is Yet to Come, totally rock and be on the verge of retiring! That stung!