Michael Schenker Fest at Irving Plaza

Left to right, Gary Barden, Graham Bonnet, Doogie White, Robin McAuley, Michael Schenker

Perhaps Michael Schenker was a rock star child prodigy. Born in Sarstedt, Germany, he started playing guitar in 1964 at the age of nine, after his older brother Rudolf Schenker received a guitar for his birthday. At age 11, Michael played his first gig with Rudolf's band, the Scorpions, in a nightclub. When he was 14, Michael teamed with singer Klaus Meine and started a band named Copernicus. In 1970, when Michael was 15 and Klaus was 21, they joined the Scorpions. In 1972, at age 17, Michael left the Scorpions and joined the British psychedelic band UFO and turned UFO into a hard rock band. At the same time Michael was approached to audition for the Rolling Stones; reportedly that made him nervous and he never returned the call. Michael left UFO in 1978 and played on the Scorpions' breakthrough Lovedrive album. Michael was invited to jam with Aerosmith in 1979 when Joe Perry left, Ozzy Osbourne asked Michael to join his band after Randy Rhoads died in an airplane crash in 1982, Phil Lynott of Thin Lizzy and Ian Hunter of Mott the Hoople approached him in 1984, Lemmy Kilmister asked him to join Motorhead, and Whitesnake and Deep Purple approached him as well. He declined all of them. Instead, Michael has been in UFO four separate times and starting in 1979 led numerous versions of the Michael Schenker Group (MSG), the McAuley-Schenker Group, and Michael Schenker Temple of Rock, among other outfits, plus he has recorded solo acoustic material. His current project is Michael Schenker Fest, which reunites him with four of his previous singers –– Gary Barden, Graham Bonnet, Robin McAuley, Doogie White –– along with guitarist/keyboardist Steve Mann, bassist Chris Glen, and drummer Ted McKenna. Michael Schenker Fest's debut studio album, Resurrection, was released on March 2, 2018.

Headlining at Irving Plaza tonight, the Michael Schenker Fest was a retrospective that played up to Schenker's best moments so far. Although structured as a spectacular, with each of the vocalists singing a handful of songs and some songs featuring more than one singer, it really hardly mattered which vocalist was on stage or even how many were on stage. All four vocalists sounded pretty similar, and realistically, the star of the show was Schenker and his dazzling guitar work. Schenker was all smiles throughout the performance, and often played directly to the fans at the edge of the stage, several times reaching out to slap outreached hands. For two hours and 40 minutes, the "Blond Bombshell" relentlessly played clean, fluid, lyrical guitar leads with a bit of distortion, utilizing nimble fingers to get the most out of his guitars. The mostly uptempo songs showcased Schenker's technical guitar wizardry, mixing various modes on major and minor pentatonic scale runs with both picking and legato, wide vibrato, deep bends and general rock phrasing. The only way to adequately describe Schenker's superb performance was "Wow!"

Visit Michael Schenker Fest at www.michaelschenkerhimself.com.

Setlist:

1. Into the Arena (Michael Schenker Group song, performed instrumentally)
2. Let Sleeping Dogs Lie (Michael Schenker Group song, with Gary Barden on vocals)
3. Cry for the Nations (Michael Schenker Group song, with Gary Barden on vocals)
4. Attack of the Mad Axeman (Michael Schenker Group song, with Gary Barden on vocals)
5. Messin’ Around (Gary Barden on vocals)
6. Armed and Ready (Michael Schenker Group song, with Gary Barden on vocals)
7. Coast to Coast (Scorpions song, performed instrumentally)
8. Desert Song (Michael Schenker Group song, with Graham Bonnet on vocals)
9. Dancer (Michael Schenker Group song, with Graham Bonnet on vocals)
10. Night Moods (Graham Bonnet on vocals)
11. Searching for a Reason (Graham Bonnet on vocals)
12. Assault Attack (Michael Schenker Group  song, with Graham Bonnet on vocals)
13. Captain Nemo (Michael Schenker Group song, performed instrumentally)
14. Bad Boys (McAuley-Schenker Group song, with Robin McAuley on vocals)
15. Save Yourself (McAuley-Schenker Group song, with Robin McAuley on vocals)
16. Anytime (Robin McAuley on vocals)
17. Heart and Soul (Michael Schenker Fest song, with Robin McAuley on vocals)
18. Love Is Not a Game (McAuley-Schenker Group song, with Robin McAuley on vocals)
19. Searching for Freedom (performed instrumentally)
20. Live and Let Live (Doogie White on vocals)
21. Vigilante Man (Doogie White on vocals)
22. Lord of the Lost and Lonely (Doogie White on vocals)
23. Take Me to the Church (Doogie White on vocals)
24. Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead (Doogie White on vocals)
25. Warrior (Michael Schenker Fest song, with Barden, Bonnet, McAuley, and White on vocals)
26. Rock Bottom (UFO song, with Barden, Bonnet, McAuley, and White on vocals)

Encore:

1. Doctor Doctor (UFO song, with Barden, Bonnet, McAuley, and White on vocals)

Encore 2:

1. Shoot Shoot (UFO song, with Barden, Bonnet, McAuley, and White on vocals)
2. Natural Thing (UFO song, with Barden, Bonnet, McAuley, and White on vocals)
3. Lights Out (UFO song, with Barden, Bonnet, McAuley, and White on vocals)