Scorpions line up for my picture during 'Countdown'. From left are ... Polish guy whose name I'll never be able to remember or pronounce, Rudolf Schenker, Matthias Jabs and Klaus Meine.
Another half-decade, another Scorpions concert down.
After traveling to Green Bay to see these German 'ambassadors of rock' in 2004 - I first saw them April 7, 1991 at the Brown County Arena - a couple of buddies and I journeyed to Fort McCoy, just outside of Sparta, for the Scorps' 2008 visit, which was in support of their Humanity: Hour 1 album released last year.
I even came away with a guitar pick from the Wisconsin-native guitarist (didn't catch his name) for Alice Cooper, who preceded the Scorpions (and followed opening act Hip Kitty). So I'll probably find some small cheapy frame for my ticket stub and guitar pick (which has Alice's picture on it).
We were front and center, about five rows back from the barrier, drained a few pitchers, saw a few fights break out around us ... all in all, a pretty good time.
Alice Cooper came out on stage in his trademark bloodstained tailed tuxedo with a cane he promptly tossed into the crowd a few feet from us. One my buddies was one of about five guys to get at least one hand on it. He got a good solid grip on it and gave it a good rip ... and got only the small plastic cap off the end of it while the rest of it disappeared into the humanity. Oh well, it's a piece of Alice Cooper memorabilia of which few of us can boast.
The guitar pick came flying toward me and bounced around a few sets of hands before dropping toward the ground. I looked down and glimpsed it in the bottom of a folded chair we'd brought, shot for it and gripped the heck out of it. I'd seen what those animals did to people who left drumsticks and other bulky items unguarded; no one was getting my pick.
The Scorpions always have been a bit of an escapist, guilty pleasure for me. While I consider myself a big fan, I'll be the first to admit they're about as paint-by-numbers as a major act can be; their performances playing out like some sort of Rock & Roll High School project and their lyrics conveying all the originality of a sophomore lyric-writing assignment in the English-as-a-second-language department.
So one needs to be willing to suspend some disbelief to be a Scorpions fan. But a fan I am, and rock they did. Even got to snap some pictures with my new camera phone (which I would post here if I could figure out how to send them to myself).
1 comment:
Ah yes, Alice Cooper. What can one say. It was, without a doubt, a great concert despite the aging of said performer and much of the crowd.
My son and two of his friends also had their hands on the illusive cane... in fact one of his friends was the first to catch it before some older guys tried to rip it from his hands, causing our son and his other friend to jump in in an effort to secure said cane for friend, causing a bit of a brawl that forced security to intervene. On a side note, his friend never got the cane. My son did manage to secure part of the necklace worn by lead guitarist and another son managed to secure a guitar pick from the same.
We tried to stay for the Scorpions, though we managed only three songs before we left the grounds.
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