The rift within the band first came to light October 22nd at the California Ballroom in Modesto, Calif., where promoter Rob McLaughlin had to deal with a venue full of fans who were waiting for UFO to take the stage. McLaughlin told POLLSTAR, "They were supposed to go on at 9:30 and at 10:00, after everyone's getting ready to riot, we get a phone call from [Schenker's rep] saying they thought they had the day off and they were 150 miles away." He said the crowd was told that Schenker had a vehicle breakdown and there would either be a rescheduling or refunds. McLaughlin has since begun refunding tickets, saying he wouldn't want to reschedule. "I think there's enough history here to tell us it wouldn't be a good idea," he said. And two days after the Modesto incident, a Sacramento club-owner also got the Schenker shaft. Mark Earl, owner of The Boardwalk, said, once again, the band, the crew and everybody showed up for the UFO concert except for Schenker. "Apparently, he was having some problems with the lead singer of the band, Phil Mogg, and Michael just decided that he was no longer gonna play with UFO and kind of left everybody hanging with, basically, a sold-out show," Earl told POLLSTAR. He said the rest of the band members were "pretty much devastated when the call came in that Michael was, in fact, not gonna be here."
A show Earl had with UFO for the next night in Reno also was cancelled and he is refunding tickets. Earl said he plans to sue Schenker. "He just elected not to play and that's a breach of contract. I would imagine that he'd be liable for damages which are substantial, not just here but for the other promoters as well."
Looking over the previously sent POLLSTAR article, I don't think it would be fair to post that without commenting on McLaughlin's statement that "I think there's enough history here to tell us it wouldn't be a good idea" to reschedule UFO. I wouldn't want anybody to take that as saying that UFO has a long history of flaking off. In 17 years of going to UFO concerts, I only personally know of two cancellations: Exeter U., 1985, when the promoter skipped town, and this year, Aug. 6 when Phil's voice went out -- for which he apologized profusely onstage during the re-scheduled show!! Since I truly believe there will be UFO in the future, I wouldn't want anyone thinking the band is unreliable just because one of its members was...
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