I have expressed my opinion about Uli Jon Roth many times as well as my preference for the Scorpions era during the time when he joined the legendary band. I never miss the opportunity to see him live as the largely Scorpions set he has been performing in recent years is something that brings back memories of the early 80’s when I bought the hypercolossal “Tokyo Tapes” and really adored it.
Soundtruck who took on the support role made an excellent impression on me being a very tight band with a massive and solid sound. Being very well rehearsed and with tracks mostly from their first as they said but also a brand new one, they fully justified the good name they have maintained for several years now. Their forty minute set satisfied I think the whole audience.
Roth and his band make magic every time they take the stage and this was evident at Fuzz since the first moment and the first notes of “All Night Long”. We enjoyed an excellent set from Roth’s Scorpions days with the exception of the amazing “Don’t Tell The Wind”, a track by Uli’s late younger brother Zeno Roth who passed away in 2018 and Bob Dylan’s “All Along The Watchtower”. The performance of the gems of that era was literally moving with “Fly To The Rainbow”, We ‘ll Burn The Sky”, “In Trance”, “Pictured Life” and almost everything else being received by the audience with a rousing ovation. Somewhere towards the end of “Dark Lady” which closed the regular set the band presented a meddley of various musical themes as well as a drum solo of perhaps greater length than usual, with the best moment for me being the historic Japanese song “Kojo No Tsuki” which the Scorpions literally made their own in “Tokyo Tapes”.
An encore followed with “All Along The Watchtower” while the finale was magical with “Yellow Raven” causing emotion to everyone, as well as the 105 minutes that the set lasted.
Despite an excellent performance by Uli Jon Roth and his band, the date of March 2, 2024, will not remain indelible in my memory, I’ve seen the above before and will probably see it again. Indelible will be July 6, 2009 when I was blessed to see Roth on stage with the Scorpions at Karaiskaki Stadium, if only for 20 or so magical and unforgettable minutes.
Setlist: All Night Long, Longing For Fire, Sun In My Hand, The Sails Of Charon, Don’t Tell The Wind, We’ll Burn The Sky, In Trance, Fly To The Rainbow, Pictured Life, Catch Your Train, Polar Nights, Dark Lady/meddley/drum solo, All Along The Watchtower, Yellow Raven.
Dimitris Kazantzis
Photos: Peter Papapetros
