MSG at House Of Blues, Chicago, USA

27th November 2001

First of all let me start off by saying that I have been a Michael Schenker fan for the last 16 years. I have seen him many times and even had the chance to meet and talk to him in 1991. One thing I like about going to his shows is that you never know what to expect or what he will play. The show at the House of Blues Nov. 27th was no exception. The show started around 9pm Central time with a band called T.D. Clark(or maybe that was the guitar players name?). They were ok! The instrumentals all sounded the same. I mean they were played well but it was just too much. They needed more vocal songs and they played too long. I think everyone was dying for Michael to come on. It was around 10:40 and the curtain opened to the sound of Into the Arena. They sounded great! I was a little shocked at the way Michael looked. He looked like he let himself go and now he has these God awful tatoos(see cover of new CD). He even has a tatoo of a cross or something between his eyes. He didn't make very much eye contact with the crowd at all but thats usually how it is with him. With all that said though I just wanted to say that he did not disapoint. He tore the shit out of that guitar. I really enjoyed the set list he did. He played alot of songs ive never heard him play before like Desert Song, Rock My Nights Away the 4 new tunes from Beware of Scorps. the 4 Plot songs, Ardvark Smoking a Cigar and some other gems. I was lucky enough to be sitting in the opera box right next to Michael where I was maybe 12 feet away and had no obstructed view. Overall I was very pleased and had a great time. It was great seeing Pete Way on stage again even though he was very drunk or something and could not sing very well. The energy on stage was great. I didn't care that they only played Doctor, Doctor. Hopefully UFO will do an album and they will tour next summer but as we all know anything is possible.

Ryan