---UFO lands back in MN---
What a treat for UFO to return to MN for the second consecutive year
after missing us for 22 straight.
First off, the ticket stub states
Friday, October 16 - this is obviously incorrect as it was Saturday the
17th, a mistake the venue made when printing the tickets. Note:
see the set
list; it wasn't as shown. Rock Bottom was part of the
main set and the encore consisted of Doctor Doctor followed by Shoot
Shoot; Stop Breaking Down was not performed. Another
clarification: the concert flyer states The Tom Fuller Band but they
were not there, just the local band, Arena.
I arrived to the venue plenty early in hopes of finding some of the
band members so I could get a few photos signed. Both Paul and Vinnie
were out and about prior to the show and more than willing to sign
everything I had - very nice!
I went to the show with a group of 7 others and we were fortunate
enough to have our seats / table placed in the front row right between
Phil and Vinnie. Needless to say I couldn't ask for anything more
as far as seat location. The warm up band Arena started playing around
8:30 and played for 45-60 minutes. It didn't take long for them to tear
down and UFO was ready to rock. The usual intro track playing as the
band is about to enter the stage (as heard on Tristan's US tour page).
They opened the show with Saving Me off of their new album. A
great opening song in my opinion as the song starts with some nice
acoustic slide and nice picking by Vinnie then punches you right in the
face with heavy loud beat. Hard to complain at all with the set list I
noticed there were no songs off of Monkey Puzzle and only one from You
Are Here (Daylight). Earlier set lists from this tour had Baby
Blue on it, but not this night. I guess I did prefer Long Gone in 2008
vs Mystery Train, but still great to hear songs from that era. A huge
plus for me was having I'm A Loser back on the set list as that's my
all time favorite song. I found out later when talking to Phil that
putting that back on the list was Barry Sparks' wife's idea (Thanks
Barry's wife!). The set pretty much speaks for itself -- most all the
classics were there. I'd have to say my next favorite song after I'm A Loser was Ain't No Baby, but hell I loved them
all!
The sound from where I stood was great (I never went to the
back of the hall to see what it sounded like back there). I was
hearing
Vinnie's amps right in my face and also in direct shot of the monitors
so Phil's vocals were nice and loud and clear. Speaking of Phil's
vocals, my god his vocals are stronger than ever! How the hell
does he do it? 61 years old and belting it out better than ever. I
don't know of any other singer that's been at it for 35 + years that
still packs the punch he does. I WAS VERY IMPRESSED. Phil
was in a fantastic mood and at his quick-witted best -- A lot of
laughs! Onto Vinnie... what a stud. Sometimes you just have to
shake your head in amazement with his talent and speed. I really like
how he keeps true to most of the original Schenker leads but always
adds just the right amount of his own twist. Andy... what can you say,
does anyone play louder / harder than him? What a solid force he
and Paul are behind this great band. Rob
DeLuca very solid on bass and great to see him playing a Gibson
Thunderbird bass this time around. On occasion both Rob and Vinnie
would step out onto the front row tables to do a little jamming
-- the crowd loved that. It's very hard for me to estimate the
size of the crowd ~ 400-500ish? but all seemed to really be enjoying
the show.
After the show the entire band came out to visit and sign material for
everyone. Cannot say enough how nice they all were. It's so nice when
you meet your heroes and they turn out to be straight shooting great
people. What a nice cap off to the night meeting these
guys , including
Kate who handles the merchandising -- what a
sweetheart she is. She even remembered me from 2008 and from
seeing my face on Tristan's site.
So all I can hope for now is 3 years in a row - hope to see you in 2010.
steVe
