Concert Report by Roy C.
MSG at Mean Fiddler, London, UK
May 21, 2006
Added on 05/22/2006


HI I have just come back from the London show.

As with the previous reviews from the tour Michael was on great form, and seemed to be very happy. The rest of the band were having a great time and were very tight.

The show started at 21:15 and ended 22:55.

Gary Barden made a guest appearance and done Life Vacation. And was in fine form vocal wise and seemed to enjoy himself. So the London crowd got an extra song tonight as well. On Into The Arena the middle solo section was longer than the last tour, with Rev and Pete having some solo sections. Rev done around a minute from Eleanor Rigby in his solo, and also Michael had a 30-45 second solo before they went back into the song. On Doctor Doctor the band was joined by Tyson Sckenker and the singer from Faster Inferno, Gary Barden, The singer from Nikki Puppet, someone else who I think is one of Michael's other sons on guitar.

A great show and the audience were please with the performance, it is nice to see MSG playing a bigger venue in London. On the last tour in 2004 the venues in Camden, London held around 450/500 people the Mean Fiddler where this show was holds around 900 and seemed to have sold out.

Michael signed stuff at the end of the show at the merchandise stand.

Welcome back to London MSG and we look forward to having you back real soon for some more shows.

Roy

MSG setlist:

Assault Attack
Are You Ready To Rock
Let It Roll
Dust To Dust
Love Trade
Shadow Lady
Life Vacation - Gary Barden
Lights Out
Into The Arena
But I Want More
Too Hot To Handle
On and On
Only You Can Rock Me
Armed And Ready
Attack Of The Mad Axeman

Encores:
Arachnophobiac
Doctor Doctor
Rock Bottom

Concert Report by Wilson C.
MSG at Mean Fiddler, London, UK
May 21, 2006
Added on 05/23/2006


Well, I went to see MSG last night in London - it was a great show! As the other reviewer have mentioned, the Mean Fiddler was bigger than the Camden Underworld that MSG played in 2004. Of course our friend Alan was there, he was looking very well, and he had a backstage pass so he was roaming the venue! I was able to catch up with him over the barrier before MSG came on, and he told me that Gary Barden was going to make a guest appearance on Life Vacation and Doctor Doctor, where Tyson and musicians from the support bands will also be joining on stage.

It seems to me that Michael's new management and the Armagedon label is working well - the tour is noticeably better organised, as noted already there are more merchandise and a proper backdrop for the stage! The sponsorship deal with Dean must also be working well, as Michael wears a promotional T-shirt throughout the show and played the Schenker Brothers V. Actually it is a beautiful guitar.

The setlist has already been noted by the others. Gary Barden looked well, sounded great and Michael seemed pleased to have him on stage. It was also nice to see Tyson and Taro on stage with Michael, he high-fived his flying-V playing sons at the end of Doctor Doctor and embraced Gary. The new songs sounded good live, the UFO classics are always very popular especially in the UK and of course this being London, Lights Out gets a very very big cheer and sing-a-long. For me. the MSG songs from the first 3 albums were excellent, the band was very tight for my favourite Into The Arena - the bass/drum solos and the new guitar section still sounds a bit abrupt. Jari still looked a little bit apprehensive, he has a strong voice and the crowd appreciates that he has a difficult job to do. For the perfectionists, there were a few slight mistakes which did not distract from the show, but we have all come to expect Michael to be note-for-note perfect for a 2 hour show!

After the show Michael came out immediately to sign autographs - anything and everything, there was somebody with just the body of a Dean flying V! He obviously felt it wasn't practical to carry the whole guitar so he took the nect off... Michael is working hard for his fans.

Throughout this tour so far, people have been saying how well Michael is looking and how he seems to be enjoying himself - well as you can see from these photos, he is certainly similing a lot! For me it is always a pleasure to see Michael play live, and I feel pretty positive after the show. Everything seems to be going well for Michael, long may this continue!

Cheers,

Wilson

Concert Report by Mark C.
MSG at Mean Fiddler, London, UK
May 21, 2006
Added on 05/23/2006


Great gig last night in London. Michael seemed happy and was on good form. He had a good sound too, some of the new stuff reminded me of "Self made man" - solos and guitar sound that is. Talking of new stuff, Gary Barden came on to sing something or other; it was bad pub-rock with a jazz-improv mid 8, cooool (not).

During "Into the arena" they all did their solos, etc., Rev was astonishing. He's playing a five string summink or other, suitably customised with graffiti. Now I've never really cared for his style, I felt his flashy fretboard tapping and strumming was not what a bass player should do to UFO/MSG songs. However, during his solo bit he played "Norwegian wood" melody and accompaniment simultaneously, fabulous.

They opened up with "Assault attack", and went on to include "But I want more" and "Let sleeping dogs lie"; great to hear those again. "Doctor Doctor" brought out Michael's boys on guitar, Gary Barden and support band (I forget their name), good fun.

I noticed at the merchandise stall they were selling the new "Tales of RnR" CD along with a single.

Mark


Concert Photos (Life Vacation & Doctor Doctor)
MSG at Mean Fiddler, London, UK
May 21, 2006
Added on 06/04/2006



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