LIVE: SCORPIONS – August 30, 2022

Venue: Pine Knob Music Theatre

City: Clarkston, MI

Dates: August 30, 2022

Review and Photographs by: Todd “Toddstar” Jolicoeur (www.toddstarphotography.com)

The Scorpions are rolling across the globe on their Rock Believer tour and one of the earlier tour stops was a Thursday evening in the metro Detroit area at Clarkston, MI’s Pine Knob Music Theatre.  Kicking the show off and warming the crowd up for the legendary hard rockers was a quartet of new comers Thundermother… well, not exactly new comers, but a lot shorter in the tooth than the Scorps.  The group hit the stage and proceeded to deliver a killer set of rockers from their catalog, including the band’s latest Black And Gold.  With song after song getting the crowd ready for the headliners, you could see the band winning over the crowd riff after riff, thundering bassline and drum part, and each vocal. The band – Filippa Nässil (guitars), Guernica Mancini (vocals), Emlee Johansson (drums) and Mona Lindgren (bass) – definitely brought the thunder and left their mark at the venue and on the audience over the course of their 11-song setlist.

After the openers left and the stage was fine tuned for the Scorpions we all waited with anticipation for what was to come.  The band hit the road on time and we were off and running with “Gas in the Tank,” the first of fours tracks to be featured in the evenings setlist from their latest disc Rock Believer.  The song was a perfect intro to the evening and the collection of rockers the band were offering up.  Frontman Klaus Meine’s vocal in this track has all the energy and power of the recorded version and got us all cranked up from the first note until the last.  The set also featured the pairing of “Seventh Sun” and “Peacemaker” from the new release as well as the title track.  Digging into the older catalog, there were hits and a couple deep cuts sure to please most everyone in the packed venue.  The band essentially ignored the last thirty years of their history – what a shame as I regularly spin Eye II Eye, Humanity: Hour 1, Sting In The Tail, and Return To Forever – and pulled three songs from 1990’s Crazy World, dropping a one-two-three punch of “Send Me an Angel,” “Wind of Change,” and “Tease Me Please Me” in the middle of the set surround by the previously mentioned newer and older material, including a couple of the bands biggest hits.  Guitarists Rudolf Schenker and Matthias Jabs delivered riffs, solos, and tons of melody on songs like “The Zoo” and “Boys Running Wild” the helped bridge the front half of the set while the band worked there way to a handful of tracks the fans that packed Pine Knob came to hear.  Rhythm section Pawel Maciwoda and newest member drummer Mikkey Dee led the charge as the group pulled out “Blackout” followed by “Big City Nights” to close out this night.  Without much prompting the band was ready to deliver the final blow to the audience with “No One Like You” followed by arguably the bands biggest hit “Rock You Like a Hurricane” before sending us all into the night.  Were there songs each of us would have loved to hear? Sure… but that can be said about any concert.  Tonight’s tour stop made a continued Rock Believer out of me and had me humming all the way to my car and singing all the way home… even writing this review.

SCORPIONS SETLIST: Gas in the Tank – Make It Real – The Zoo – Coast to Coast – Seventh Sun – Peacemaker – Bad Boys Running Wild – Delicate Dance – Send Me an Angel – Wind of Change – Tease Me Please Me – Rock Believer – New Vision – Blackout – Big City Nights – No One Like You – Rock You Like a Hurricane

THUNDERMOTHER SETLIST: Whatever – The Road Is Ours – Dog From Hell – Try with Love – Back in ’76 – Black and Gold – Loud and Free – I Don’t Know You – We Fight for Rock ‘n’ Roll – Watch Out – Driving in Style

[Show as slideshow]

COMPLETE SET OF SCORPIONS PHOTOS

SCORPIONS LINKS:

OFFICIAL SITE

FACEBOOK

TWITTER

INSTAGRAM

TOUR DATES

[Show as slideshow]

COMPLETE SET OF THUNDERMOTHER PHOTOS

THUNDERMOTHER LINKS:

OFFICIAL SITE

FACEBOOK

TWITTER

INSTAGRAM

TOUR DATES

Tags: featured

Category: Live Reviews, Photo Galleries