REVIEW

Music DVD Review: Scorpions - Live at Wacken Open Air 2006

Written by Paul Roy
Published May 18, 2008
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Roth stays out for three songs, and then the Scorps turn full circle to their most recent song of the night, "Love 'Em Or Leave 'Em" from 2004's Unbreakable. Things really heat up midway through the show, when Klaus Meine welcomes Rudy Schenker's baby brother Michael to the stage to help perform four songs in a row from their seminal 1979 album, Lovedrive. Six of that album's eight songs would be played this night, and for good reason - it is arguably their best album.

Things only got better from there, as the band tears through some killer performances of a few of their biggest hits including "No One Like You", "Big City Nights", and "Still Loving You". The highlight of the night had to be the first set closing finale, where Michael Schenker and Uli Jon Roth lent their guitar skills to some epic performances of "In Trance" and "Bolero". Roth laid down some amazing guitar solos during both songs, and since Rudy Schenker could not really compete with him in that category, he entertained the crowd with some crazy wardrobe changes, as well as the most impressive handstand I have ever seen performed on stage at a heavy metal concert.

I meant no slight towards Rudy in the guitar skills compartment, it's just that Roth and his brother Michael are in a league of their own, and his partner Matthias Jabs is also one of the more underrated metal guitarists in the business. I didn't even realized that the "Still Loving You" guitar solo was Rudy's, and it is certainly one of the Scorpions' best.

OK, so we have this incredible and historic concert performance from the Scorpions captured on this video, so it should have easily been one of the best concert DVDs of the year right? Well, not so fast. The producer and video editor for this project certainly saw to it that this would not be the case. This DVD may have some of the worst camera work and video editing for a big-budget concert DVD I have ever seen. I'm talking Iron Maiden bad, my friends.

You'd think that when Uli Jon Roth is on stage soloing over a song he hasn't played with the Scorpions in decades, that a camera would actually focus on him for more than two seconds every two minutes. Michael Schenker soloing over his big brother's power chords during one of their Lovedrive classics? Think anybody'd want to see that? NAAAHHH! Show some more shots of the audience or the drum kit during all the famous guitar solos. It was almost laughable. Make that cryable - if there was such a word.

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Music DVD Review: Scorpions - Live at Wacken Open Air 2006
Published: May 18, 2008
Type: Review
Section: Music
Filed Under: Music: Hard Rock, Music: Metal, Music: Rock, Music: Video
Writer: Paul Roy
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