It was another night that will be forever etched in our minds. This is how we could
end this review of the amazing… double attack of the Scorpions and Alice Cooper
show at the Olympic Stadium, but we choose really to open with this emphatic yet
absolutely true statement. It may now sound detrimental but once again we
experienced unique moments and realized once again that unfortunately such
legendary artists will never appear again on the music business…sad but true. For 3
hours we went back in time with all the classic anthems of these two rock giants with
Scorpions adding 4 new tracks from their fantastic new album “Rock Believer” and
Alice presenting an incredible set list with 1-2 (very pleasant) surprises. But let’s start
from the beginning…
The lower sections of OAKA were full, the upper ones had not been opened to the
public, while things were very comfortable in the arena where we were. This was the
overall scene at the Olympic Stadium at precisely 7:30 when the one and only Alice
Cooper appeared on stage with an imposing castle backdrop behind him and of course
his impeccable band. The opening number “Feed My Frankenstein” and the
continuation with “No More Mr. Nice Guy” and “Bed Of Nails” immediately set the
stadium on fire as we all saw that Alice was (again) in perfect shape! Of course,
everyone’s eyes were glued on the guitarist Nita Strauss who, apart from her looks, is
a great musician and had taken the lion’s share of the solos. Almost all the elements of
the famous Alice Cooper Show were present so the guillotine, the straitjacket, the
(dead) babies, Jason killing unsuspecting girls and Alice’s wife Sheryl participating in
her own unique way in the show were there. Alice chose a best-of set but the presence
of “House Of Fire”, “He’s Back (the man behind the mask)” and “Roses On White
Lace” were excellent (and why not surprising) additions. After 90 minutes of an
imposing show, Alice said goodbye to us with “School’s Out” (including a snippet of
“Another Brick In The Wall”).
Set List: “Feed My Frankenstein”, “No More Mr. Nice Guy”, “Bed Of Nails”,
“Hey Stoopid”, “Fallen In Love”, “Be My Lover”, “House Of Fire”, “Under My Wheels”, “He’s
Back (the man behind the mask)”, “Go To Hell”, “I’m Eighteen”, “Poison”,
“Billion Dollar Babies”, “Roses On White Lace”, “My Stars”, “Devil’s Food”,
“Steven”, “I Love The Dead”, “Dead Babies”, “Escape”, “School’s Out”
At 21:50 the lights went out and the sirens sound with the opening riff of “Gas In The
Tank” rush through the speakers of the Olympic Stadium. The cue was given and the
Scorpions are already on stage which is really impressive with the huge screen at the
back and on both sides of the stage giving another dimension to the whole show.
Although the sound was low at first, luckily the problem was rectified almost
immediately and the…triple back to back “attack” of “Make It Real”, “The Zoo” and
“Coast To Coast” had everyone on their feet. Klaus Meine remains a phenomenon of
nature with his voice maintained at very good levels, Rudolf Schenker running and
posing constantly, Matthias Jabs as always the quiet force of the band, Mikkey Dee
reminding us again how important addition is for Scorpios and Pawel Maciwoda
being a steady bassist to be reckoned with. The fact that people really enjoyed “Gas In
The Tank”, “Seventh Sun”, “Peacemaker” and “Rock Believer” proves how important
album “Rock Believer” is and the guys made the right choice by including them on
their set list. Of course, I don’t need to make special reference on the songs “Send Me
An Angel”, “Wind Of Change” (with the changed/adapted lyrics for Ukraine), “Coast
To Coast”, “Blackout”, “Still Loving You”, “Big City Nights” etc. where everuone
was singing along to every single lyric. Also, it would be a mishap if I didn’t mention
how much I enjoyed on the backdrop during Mikkey Dee’s drum solo where a
special…Rock Believer Jackpot/slot machine displayed two images of Lemmy and
the famous Ace Of Spades playing card. Well done, guys!
With the classic and much-anticipated “Rock You Like A Hurricane”, Scorpions bid
us farewell and we were truly grateful to experience another double show from two
legendary bands. We made memories again with good friends, acquaintances and two
legendary names. That’s what counts in the end. It was a night we will never forget.
Set List: “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”, “Blackout”, “Big City Nights”, “Still Loving You”, “Rock You Like A
Hurricane”
Sakis Nikas
