Concert Report by Todd MSG at Avalon, Santa Clara, U.S.A. February 22, 2012 Added on 03/19/2012
The Avalon Ballroom in Santa Clara, CA is a throwback to the 1960's. Ticket price was $30 per person. The ballroom is very wide (as opposed to deep) so that the audience is spread out both left and right in front of the stage. The majority of the crowd seemed to be blue collar middle to older age males. On either side of the stage were tv screens that flashed psychedelic colors throughout the night. I guess some people like that. I found it to be a distraction. I was told the Grateful Dead used to play there in the 1960's, which makes sense with the psychedelic presentation.
Schenker's group came on with an instrumental. I think it was Into The Arena. Michael was fit and happy and seemed to be enjoying the enthusiastic nature of the crowd. At the conclusion of each song he would touch his right hand to his forehead and then reach out to the crowd. Almost like an old-fashioned sailor's salute.
The theme was of course the Temple of Rock set line-up, so other than a few songs I didn't recognize, and assumed were MSG songs, the night was pretty much classic UFO (70%) - Scorpions (15%).
Because of Mogg's unique voice and delivery I personally think the Scorpion songs came across a little bit stronger than the UFO songs. But only by a little bit. Lovedrive and Another Piece of Meat were standouts.
The UFO songs were the ones that got the loudest crowd reaction. Too Hot to Handle, Mother Mary, Love to Love, Rock Bottom, Lights Out, Natural Thing, Let it Roll, This Kid, and Shoot Shoot, were all extremely well received. Michael played with abandon and appeared to have lost very little from his young guitar-slinger days.