In the summer of 1984 my two favorite albums were Love at First Sting by Scorpions and the self-titled debut from Bon Jovi. Word got out that the two bands would be touring together and playing the iconic Castle Farms outdoor music venue in the northern lower peninsula of Michigan. I had a pal who was a couple years older than me, and plans were made at the local swimming hole/Tarzan-rope into the Thunder Bay River that we would go to the concert. I couldn’t wait to get home and talk my parents into springing for the $14 ticket, but my heavy metal dreams were squashed when the trip was vetoed due to the almost certain fact that I wasn’t really old enough to throw the devil horns unsupervised. Decades passed while I saw opportunities to see Scorpions come and go, hindered further by my disinterest in the albums that followed that classic era.

Time has a funny way of making things right, and those four Scorpions albums from `79-’84 have been in regular rotation as the decades passed, increasingly so in recent years, so when a Las Vegas residency was announced, we made our plans. The “Sin City Nights” were postponed twice by the Covid-19 pandemic, and opener Queensrÿche was changed to Skid Row (no complaints here) when things came together in April of 2022. The 7000-cap Zappo’s Theater in the Planet Hollywood Casino on the Las Vegas Strip has that casino-venue feel with carpet, nice seats, and ushers wearing suits. It’s a bit more multiplex movie theater than rock venue. This ain’t Harpo’s in Detroit, after all, but no one was complaining as Judas Priest, KISS, and Warrant played over the PA. We found ourselves in the Gold Circle, a small section right in front of the stage, excited and ready.

At 7:59pm sharp the lights went down and “Blitzkrieg Bop” by Ramones came over the PA. A back-lit Skid Row LED banner fired up and the band ran out to the opening chords of “Slave to the Grind,” the title track of their second album. Sound at the Zappo’s Theater was exceptional, even right in front of the stage. New singer Erik Grönwall, fresh off the plane from Sweden and fresh off the stage from their version of American Idol, and just six shows in, perfectly emulated Sebastian Bach in swagger and pitch, while original members - guitarists Dave “Snake” Sabo and bassist Rachel Bolan – along with eye-lined long-time guitarist Scotti Hill, backed him up with wide-eyed metal faces, smiles, and Les Pauls at 11. The nine-song set was what you’d hope; chock-full of hits and long-time setlist mainstays. 45 minutes of elevated energy and distortion, power-ballad high-notes, and sleazy New Jersey heavy metal.

The Scorpions took the stage to “Gas in the Tank,” the opening song from their fantastic new album Rock Believer. Lead singer Klaus Meine isn’t exactly running around like he was on World Wide Live (Remember this previous Pencil Storm article?), and at 73 he’s lost some of the power behind his voice, but he did a fine job leading the band through nearly 90 minutes of German heavy metal and rock & roll. Original member Rudolph Schenker, who founded the Scorpions years before I was born, and long time lead guitarist Matthias Jabs held down the sides, swaying side to side as the power chords ripped, Gibson Explorers and Flying V’s in perfect synchronization.

The new album was well represented with four songs, including the title-track single and Iron Maiden-ish (in feel and name) “Seventh Sun.” Highlights for me were “Coast to Coast,” sadly the only song from Lovedrive, and “Make it Real” from Animal Magnetism, but “Bad Boys Running Wild” and “No One Like You” were right up there. Drummer Mikkey Dee (formerly of Motörhead) and bassist Pawel Maciwoda kept the beats driving, and even the drum-bass solo “New Vision” wasn’t overdone. The screens turned yellow and blue as the ballad “Wind of Change” (with a piped-in, painfully obvious lip-sych whistle intro, and an acoustic Flying V) that celebrated the then-imminent collapse of the Berlin wall breathed some new life with lyrics redone to reflect the war in the Ukraine.

Rock and Roll nostalgia is not in short supply these days, and some of the bands who peaked in the ‘80s bring it better than others. While the Scorpions heyday may be three and a half decades behind them, they’ve proven that they still have some gas in the tank. The significant presence of new album songs in the setlist – and especially that the new material didn’t drag the show down – is a testament to their commitment to keeping it fresh, their devotion to their craft, and the strength of the new album elevates them to more than a nostalgia act. I’m not sure how much more touring they’ll be able to do, they’ve got a big European run this spring and I would guess more US dates coming, but there’s no regrets flying to the cesspool of humanity that is Las Vegas and taking in this show, checking off a bucket-list item that dates back to `84.

Jeremy Porter lives near Detroit and fronts the rock and roll band Jeremy Porter And The Tucos. Follow them on Facebook to read his road blog about their adventures on the dive-bar circuit.
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Twitter: @jeremyportermi | Instagram: @onetogive & @jeremyportermusic

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