May 21, 2011
What a day and night it was!
We started the day out by leaving the Twin Cities (MN) at 8:30AM and 425 miles later we arrived in the beautiful town of St. Charles IL at 4:00PM. A very special trip this was for many reasons, but mostly because this was the first time my son Tyler will have seen UFO.
On to the venue and the show. What a beautiful old theater the Arcada is, built in 1926 with a capacity of 900 and it was sold out (they were selling standing room only that day) The warm up band Mindflow started at 8:00, I believe they only played 5-6 songs. A very good band and very heavy. I'm not sure a great mix for warming up UFO with most of the crowd being in the late 40's to mid 50's. With that said they were very solid and I really enjoyed them and the crowd received them well. Just before Midflow went on stage I happened to run into all of the UFO band members. What a thrill! As always they were very very kind and I was able to get a few items signed.
OK, on to what we were all there for. To see my all time favorite band in the entire world perform.
They took the stage @ 9:00 and proceeded to give us 110% for 17 amazing songs.
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(pretty sure this was the order)
concert photo gallery 1  |
1. The Wild,
The Willing and the Innocent 2. Mother Mary 3. Saving Me 4. Let it Roll 5. I'm a Loser 6. Hell Driver 7. Venus 8. This Kids 9. Ain't No Baby 10. Only You Can Rock Me 11. Try Me 12. Too Hot to Handle 13. Love to Love 14. Lights Out ------ ENCORE------ Riders on the storm (well kind of) 15. Rock Bottom 16. Shoot Shoot 17. Doctor Doctor |
concert photo gallery 2
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Truly an amazing performance. We were sitting 4th row center; the sound was pretty decent there. Vinnie's guitar could have been a little louder but that may have been because I wasn't really fully hearing the PA from where I was sitting. With that said the mix was still damn good. Phil's vocals were VERY strong. The first thing my son Tyler told me was - WOW! I had no idea Phil's vocals were that strong and powerful. Pretty damn amazing for 63 years young. Vinnie was amazing! What a stud guitar player he is and what a great guy too. I love how he keeps most of the signature Schenker leads true and than adds the perfect Vinnie twist to them, He is truly a master of the fretboard - mind blowing. Andy Parker pounding on the drum harder and louder than ever, Paul Raymond the usual solid backing.
The most pleasant surprise was Barry Sparks on bass. I'd seen Barry with MSG in '96 and knew he was an amazing bass player, but WOW!!!!! What a true showman and amazingly talented bass player he is. He really brings the full energy to the stage and in a way reminded me of a younger Pete Way with the great showmanship and energy. He really worked the crowd.
Barry and Vinnie together are a GREAT team. If UFO ever officially replaces Pete Way, Barry Sparks gets my vote.
Phil Mogg as always with the humor & dry wit. Someone in the band or the road crew played a trick on Phil, every song on his set list had the word "bollocks" as part of the song title. This really threw him for a loop, or so it seemed. He really had a good time with it though.
When coming back on stage for the encore Barry enters the stage playing the bass line for The Doors - Riders On The storm. It didn't take long for the rest of the band to join in, including Phil singing a couple verses - very cool indeed!
All and all it was a fantastic night - another GREAT UFO performance.
A very special night for me having my son Tyler there with me. I know he enjoyed it as much as I did, somehow "this kids" ended up with great taste in music.
Always great to get mentioned on the worlds greatest UFO WEB SITE
Thanks Tristan!
Always great seeing Kate at the merch table - What a kind sweet person she is.
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