The Scorpions “Crazy World Tour” 2017
Allstate Arena, Rosemont, IL
Sept. 23, 2017
By Rich Kwasniewski
The Scorpions
They’ve been around for 50+ yrs.,, how many bands can say that and still sell out an arena? Not only that, play their classics with the same power and force that made them superstars to begin with. The Scorpions proved they can at the Allstate Arena in Rosemont.
Calling their current tour “Crazy World” sure seemed like the right name considering our current political climate, but forget politics and other nonsense… they came to rock! Starting their set with “Going out With A Bang” seemed a little ominous… perhaps a final tour? Hope not. “Make it Real” and “The Zoo” followed with lead singer Klaus Meine tossing dozens of drumsticks to the audience. Going back to the 70s for a bit, a medley of “Top of the Bill,” “Steamrock Fever,” “Speedy’s Coming” and “Catch Your Train” followed.
Guitarists Rudolf Schenker and Matthias Jabs powered through song after song, hamming it up like you’d expect, running around the stage in true rock guitar god style any chance they got. Rock wasn’t all the Scorps were handing out tonight… ballads such as “Send Me an Angel” and “Still Loving You” showed the power of Klaus’s voice, still an amazing thing at age 69. “Wind of Change” surely their biggest hit, had the entire audience singing along.
On drums was ex-Motorhead drummer Mikkey Dee, adding a noticeable powerful beat all night long. A special moment came during a tribute to his former and recently deceased bandmate Lemmy Kilmister… a cover of the Motorhead song “Overkill” featured various images of Lemmy on all the video screens . Drum solo?? Taken to new heights, literally, as a 5 minute solo had Mikkey rise 20 feet above the stage on a platform.
Thundering hits “Blackout” and “Big City lights” ended the set… for now… setting things up for encores. Coming back with their monster hits “No One Like You”, “Still Loving You” and “Rock You Like a Hurricane” gave you all the reasons needed to see why the Scorpions have lasted as long as they have… echoed strongly by one the first things Klaus said when the band first came out, proclaiming “I’m in a rock ‘n roll band”. So true!
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Megadeth
American Thrash/Speed Metal heroes Megadeth was the supporting act, but easily could have been the headliner tonight or any night.
Spearheaded by the unstoppable Dave Mustaine, they started their set with “Hanger 18” from the classic Rust in Peace LP. Dwarfed by gigantic video walls flashing animation and video snippets depicting drones, war and death video, Mustaine’s growling vocals and searing guitar demonstrated why they have lasted nearly 35 years now. The band performed just 2 songs from their latest album “Dystopia” – “The Threat Is Real” and the LP’s title track, preferring to stay focused on what made them heavy metal superstars.
Classic Megadeth favorites “Mechanix,” “Sweating Bullets” and “Holy Wars…The Punishment Due” continued the onslaught to everyones musical senses. Ending their hour long set with the one of their heaviest and well known songs “Symphony Of Destruction”, Mustaine, Dave Ellefson (bass) Kiko Loureiro (guitar) and Chris Adler (drums) left the stage.
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