Michael Schenker -  The Ritz - Tampa, Florida - April 3rd, 20

 

The legendary German guitarist Michael Schenker brought his much anticipated Michael Schenker Fest. to The Ritz in Tampa Florida on April 3rd. We had bought tickets for this show immediately when they went on sale as we expected a quick sellout, we waited 6 long months for this show from the time that we had purchased tickets and were extremely excited to get the chance to see this guitar god! We were very surprised but pleased to see that Tampa was the only stop for this tour in the entire Southeast U.S. our area seems to get left out of some tours for whatever the reason, Judas Priest tour and Iced Earth being 2 recent examples. There would be only one opening act for this show, the fairly new (formed in 2014) Orlando based band Arakara. We had seen Arakara before and knew that they would win the Schenker crowd over with ease, this band absolutely kicks ass! To best describe their sound think old school Thrash Metal, in our opinion these guys are one of the absolute best bands in the Central Florida area, yes, they are that good! Not only are they a fantastic band but they are also a great bunch of guys, if you get the chance you should make it a point to see Arakara, check out the band's Facebook page here: Arakara

 

 We arrived at the Ritz early as we knew that there would be a big crowd for this show, after all, how many chances do you get to truly witness Rock N Roll History? Plus we wanted to be sure to see Arakara,  I had talked to a couple of the guys from the band earlier in the week when we saw Dirkschneider in Tampa and they mentioned to me that the Schenker show was going to be the biggest show that they've ever done. When we arrived at the Ritz there was a long line from the front doors all the way around the corner and down the sidewalk to the back of the building, and this was over an hour before the concert started! We made our way inside and went to check out the bands merchandise table, being that this was the last show of 20 dates that were on the North American leg of the tour the merchandise left was very minimal, there were a couple of different T-shirt designs only being available in size large and some packs of 5 different guitar picks, that was it! I had to get something though from this historic show and seeing that I collect guitar picks I picked up a package, it was only $10 for 5 picks, a very good price in my book! The opening act, Arakara, did have quite a bit of merchandise available.

 

 Along with the man himself were 4 of Schenker's previous vocalists from the several different eras and line ups of his band over the years, all 4 vocalists being legends themselves! These included English born Gary Barden who fronted the Michael Schenker Group (MSG) for several years, Englishman Graham Bonnet who fronted MSG for a short stint in 82, Irish born Robin McAuley who, along with Schenker formed the absolutely amazing McAuley Schenker Group in 1986 and Scottish born Doogie White who was the frontman for Michael Schenker's Temple of Rock. The other musicians for this tour were guitarist/keyboardist Steve Mann, Ted McKenna on drums and bassist Chris Glen.  I had seen Doogie White in the mid 90's when he was the vocalist for Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow, and we both saw him with Yngwie many moons ago when we were still in New Jersey.

 

 Opening band Arakara kicked things off with a short set of GREAT headbanging Metal! People were still filing into The Ritz as the band played but they did get to perform to a decent size crowd, now we've all been to shows where the opening act is pretty much ignored but we were glad to see that it wasn't the case with this show. People were watching and paying attention to Arakara, they sounded fantastic and got a decent crowd response, people were banging their heads with fists in the air, considering how their style of music is MUCH heavier than Schenker's we were concerned that this mostly older crowd wouldn't appreciate them as much. We feel that they made some new fans and won the crowd over in a big way! The only complaint that I (Bill) have about their set, and it is no fault of the band whatsoever, is that for their entire set they were bathed in nothing but bluish / white lights, NOT good for photography at all! I got some decent shots of the band but they could've been better.

 

 As the Schenker Fest band members hit the stage the bands intro music, AC/DC's Highway to Hell, cranked out over the audience. After all band members were in place there was a huge cheer as the band started the nights festivities off with Into the Arena, Michael Schenker shredding on his Flying V guitar! This launched the energetic approximately 2 1/2 hour set which featured 30 (yes, you read that correctly) 30 songs! The lighting and sound were fantastic for the bands entire set with a large, lighted screen backing the stage. The Ritz was absolutely packed, while we don't think it was quite a capacity crowd it was pretty damn close. The format for this show was one of the vocalists would perform a few songs with an instrumental song at the end of their set and then a different vocalist would come out and perform. It worked well and almost seemed as though you were attending several different concerts in a row. Their were a few times for certain songs where 2, 3 or even all 4 vocalists would collaborate on a number and perform together, very cool and the fans were eating it up! The one constant on stage for the entire show was Michael Schenker, he looked happy to be up there and seemed to be enjoying himself immensely! He only changed guitars a couple of times during the show, using a Flying V throughout. All of the vocalists sounded fantastic with our personal favorites being Graham Bonnet and Robin McAuley, for a man 70 years old Bonnet sounded amazing and McAuley came out on stage and just totally owned it and kicked ass! All 4 vocalists together performed the U.F.O. material which closed out the show. Full setlist is below…

 

 This was a concert we had waited a long time for and we felt that we had definitely gotten our moneys worth out of. Leaving the venue we heard lots of comments on how great this concert was, we'd love to travel to see this show again but the Tampa date was the final one for the North American leg of the tour. We want to thank Chip Ruggieri from Chipster PR for setting up the photo pass for us.

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Setlist

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Into the Arena (Michael Schenker Group song)

Let Sleeping Dogs Lie (Michael Schenker Group song - Gary Barden on lead vocals)

Cry for the Nations (Michael Schenker Group song - Gary Barden on lead vocals)

Attack of the Mad Axeman (Michael Schenker Group song - Gary Barden on lead vocals)

Messin' Around (Michael Schenker Fest song - Gary Barden on lead vocals)

Armed and Ready (Michael Schenker Group song - Gary Barden on lead vocals)

Coast to Coast (Scorpions song)

Desert Song (Michael Schenker Group song - Graham Bonnet on lead vocals)

Dancer (Michael Schenker Group song - Graham Bonnet on lead vocals)

Night Moods (Michael Schenker Fest song - Graham Bonnet on lead vocals)

Searching for a Reason (Michael Schenker Group song - Graham Bonnet on lead vocals)

Assault Attack (Michael Schenker Group song - Graham Bonnet on lead vocals)

Captain Nemo (Michael Schenker Group song)

Bad Boys (McAuley-Schenker Group song - Robin McAuley on lead vocals)

Save Yourself (McAuley-Schenker Group song - Robin McAuley on lead vocals)

Anytime (McAuley-Schenker Group song - Robin McAuley on lead vocals)

Heart and Soul (Michael Schenker Fest song - Robin McAuley on lead vocals)

Love Is Not a Game (McAuley-Schenker Group song - Robin McAuley on lead vocals)

Searching for Freedom (Michael Schenker’s Temple of Rock song - Doogie White on lead vocals)

Live and Let Live (Michael Schenker’s Temple of Rock song - Doogie White on lead vocals)

Vigilante Man (Michael Schenker’s Temple of Rock song - Doogie White on lead vocals)

Lord of the Lost and Lonely (Michael Schenker’s Temple of Rock song - Doogie White on lead vocals)

Take Me to the Church (Michael Schenker Fest song - Doogie White on lead vocals)

Before the Devil Knows You're Dead (Michael Schenker's Temple of Rock song - Doogie White on lead vocals)

Warrior (Michael Schenker Fest song)

Rock Bottom (UFO song - Barden, Bonnet, McAuley and White on vocals)

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​Encore

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Doctor Doctor (UFO song - Barden, Bonnet, McAuley and White)

Shoot Shoot (UFO song - Robin McAuley only on lead vocals)

Natural Thing (UFO song - Doogie White only on lead vocals)

Lights Out (UFO song - Barden, Bonnet, McAuley and White on vocals)

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