Klaus Meine & the Scorpions live in an earlier date in 2010 (Photo: www.scorpions.com)
For most bands getting on their years, sometimes the stage show and showmanship starts to dwindle off a little- something that definitely was not the case for the longtime German band The Scorpions. The band’s nearly two-hour set showed that they still gives us the big stage show and rock spectacle that bands 20 years younger than them struggle to do.
Playing to a crowd around 10,000, The Scorpions started off with the title track from their new album, Sting in The Tail, showing off a band still in good form and running around stage with the greatest of ease despite most of its members pushing 60. Guitarist Rudolf Schenker was the most active, as he kept fans on both sides of the stage entertained.
The Scorpions spent a good part of the first half of the set on new material, such as the ballad “The Best Is Yet to Come” and the driving track “Raised on Rock.” As to be expected, the loudest reception early on came through fan favorites “The Zoo” and “Tease Me, Please Me.” The band also did a mini-intimate set at the catwalk of the stage, playing the Crazy World-era ballad “Send Me An Angel,” which got a big pop from the audience.
After a very spirited drum solo from the sole American playing with them, James Kottak (including a very unusual visual montage behind him), the band seemed to hit their stride. With the big riffs of “Big City Nights” and “No One Like You” carrying them, the band would go into bigger songs like “Rock You Like a Hurricane” and kept the fans jamming all the way to the end.
Given the Scorpions enjoyable set, and a 50-minute performance from a resurgent Cinderella (I honestly could hear “Gypsy Road” and “Shake Me” all night and be just fine), this was quite the show. If this was in fact the last time the Scorpions hit Detroit, nobody in the audience should complain about the show they put on.
