Scorpions – Live At Wacken Open Air 2006 DVD (2007)

Scorpions – Live At Wacken Open Air 2006 DVD (2007, Sony/BMG)

1. Coming Home
2. Bad Boys Running Wild
3. The Zoo
4. Loving You Sunday Morning
5. Make It Real
6. Pictured Life
7. Speedy’s Coming
8. We’ll Burn The Sky
9. Love ’em Or Leave ’em
10. Don’t Believe Her
11. Tease Me Please Me
12. Coast To Coast
13. Holiday
14. Lovedrive
15. Another Piece Of Meat
16. Kottak Attack
17. Blackout
18. No One Like You
19. Six String Sting
20. Big City Nights
21. Can’t Get Enough
22. Still Loving You
23. In Trance
24. Bolero
25. Ready To Sting
26. Rock You Like A Hurricane

Band Lineup:
Klaus Meine – Lead Vocals
Rudolf Schenker – Guitars & Backing Vocals
Matthias Jabs – Guitars & Backing Vocals
James Kottak – Drums & Backing Vocals
Pawel Maciwoda – Bass & Backing Vocals

Guest Musicians:
Uli Jon Roth – Guitar (tracks 6, 7, 8, 23, 24)
Michael Schenker – Guitar (tracks 12, 13, 14, 15, 23, 24)
Herman Rarebell – Drums (track 16, 17, 18, 24)
Tyson Schenker – Guitar (track 24)

(Region 0, NTSC, Total Running Time = 139 minutes)

The Scorpions

Celebrating their 35 anniversary, Germany’s most successful Heavy Metal band, Scorpions, invited former members Uli Jon Roth, Michael Schenker and Herman Rarebell to join them onstage at Wacken Open Air 2006. Billed as “A Night To Remember, A Journey Through Time”, the August 3rd performance’s setlist was voted on by fans around the world via the Scorpions’ website and witnessed by over 60,000 metalheads in attendance.

This DVD is just the basic concert with a setlist that is very predictable featuring most of the well known singles from the ’80s & ’90s. You can’t fault the band for playing the songs the fans want to hear but most of them are the hits that you expect: ‘The Zoo’, ‘Tease Me Please Me’, ‘No One Like You’, ‘Still Loving You’, ‘Rock You Like A Hurricane’ and more. The real magic is when the guest musicians arrive onstage and join the band for some classics. I’m a fan of the Scorpions’ entire catalog even though I came of age with BLACKOUT (1982) so when Uli Jon Roth and his Sky Guitar joined the band for ’70s classics ‘Pictured Life’, Speedy’s Coming’ and ‘We’ll Burn The Sky’ it was truly a highpoint. I’m a fan of Uli Jon Roth’s solo work too and to watch his fingers fly over his custom Sky Guitar was really cool. The Scorpions have been incorporating some of the earlier material in their live sets the last few years and I heard ‘We’ll Burn The Sky’ live a few years ago when they toured the U.S. with Whitesnake in 2003.

The other major highlight for me was when one of my all-time favorite guitarists, and original founding Scorpions member, Michael Schenker joined the band onstage for ‘Coast To Coast’, ‘Holiday’, ‘Lovedrive’ and ‘Another Piece Of Meat’. Michael wasn’t as animated as his older brother Rudolf but his playing is just so smooth and effortless (same for Uli Jon Roth!) that it’s a thrill for me to see him play. It’s always good to hear ‘Lovedrive’ and ‘Another Piece Of Meat’ live but to get them with Michael was a treat for me. Herman Rarebell also came out during James Kottak’s drum solo and then took over the kit for the hits ‘Blackout’ and ‘No One Like You’ but the ultimate reunion highlight is ‘In Trance’ everybody is onstage joined by Tyson Schenker (Michael’s son) on his own Flying V. It was also nice to see the fans voted a newer song into the Wacken setlist because ‘Love ’em Or Leave ’em’, from UNBREAKABLE (2004), is excellent live. I wouldn’t have minded a second song from UNBREAKABLE if they had added one more in, it was a really good record and a return to the band’s signature sound.

Bottom Line:
Excellent DVD of the Scorpions’ Wacken performance, the music is played perfectly and the band has a ton of energy onstage. The setlist has a bunch of the usual standards but the guest musicians and the deeper ’70s tracks are high points of the show. It’s a reunion of course! The only thing missing is some extras and/or bonus footage but it’s a small complaint when you get a 2 hour & 20 minute concert by one of Metal’s top bands. Definitely a DVD worth picking up…..

Favorite Songs:
As I mentioned, the setlist is full of well known Scorpions tunes but the highlights for me were the songs that included Uli Jon Roth and Michael Schenker.