I last saw UFO in 1979 and 1980 at the Victoria Hall in Hanley - were you there? when Paul Raymond played with them,I even have a yellowing cutting from the local paper for one of these gigs, it was interesting to note that the reviewer described it as an 'unremarkable night' for rock music' !..
So, a dreary Tuesday night in Wolverhampton is not the most likely scene for the renaissance of a great rock band from our 30something teenage past, but UFO delivered the goods - demonstrating precisely what has been missing in rock bands these days. Power, rhythm, dynamics, all wrapped up with great panache, performance and delivery.
They wooed back the lost, won over the curious and amazed the uninitiated.
If you have ever wondered where all the good stuff has been hiding all these years - it's here in this band, playing what I proper rock music.
Sorry if all you squillion notes a minute generic metal scale, or arena anthem merchants out there don't agree, but without a doubt UFO are listenable and this is because, they have, strangely enough, tunes, and songs with hook lines, melodies, changes in tempo, breaks, timing and emotional content, things which seem to be dirty words amongst all the simplistic thrash and other stripped down rubbish that has masqueraded as rock music over the last few years.
If it's just noise and clever, tuneless widdly widdly scales with nothing else in there then what have you got left?
No songs - that's what, and no creative talent or sensitivity either for that matter..
Good for UFO - I was thrilled to witness all this done by a band that I thought everyone had probably forgotten about, there was such a lot of goodwill exuded by an appreciative crowd.
This is the second time I have experienced this recently as I went to see Black Sabbath at the first of their two reunion gigs at the NEC, awarm reception to friends we realise we have missed and who bring the past - however far away it might seem - right slap bang into the present.
So what was it really like?
Well, the anticipation was intense as it always is. Your mind is racing, soon they are going to be there - on stage in front of you, in person how will they sound? how will they look? will they play the all the old stuff? has Schenker split?
I had some idea what to expect having kept in touch with events from the European tour on the web site so at least I knew things were going pretty well, I just hoped that it was going to be as good as I thought., but it was better, far better.
All of a sudden there is UFO again, and the years evaporate as they launch into Natural Thing with all the energy and dynamics you remember them for and the room erupted - classic reaction, hands are in the air and people who never thought they would jump up and down in time to a live band again do so without a second thought, roaring and shouting and whistling to amazingly by now a packed venue .
How do they look?
Excellent , they've all got their own hair (it appears) none of them are fat and the years have been kind to them.
What do they sound like?
Exciting, and loud, bright and very together, UFO are definitely going to keep every one's attention from the first moment they appear..
The crowd are all either agog, going mental or grinning inanely (like me) in recognition of the scene and the music. This is going to be a great experience, no doubt.
Michael Schenker
Probably the person that most people were curious to see
We thought that we would never get to see him again with the demise of this kind of music from the mainstream in Britain, but tonight will prove that this is rubbish.
He does look older, but so he damn well should, time moves on, and he just looks much more like his brother Rudolph now. I think his change of image surprised most of the audience, well he can dye his hair sky blue pink for all I care.
To start with he was crouched over the flying V in his regular stance, and wearing dark goggle type sunglasses which he took off fairly soon, I think Pete Way nudged him to do so.
I believe the guitar is the one featured on the front of Built to Destroy' which incidentally he really did break for the photograph. The neck was virtually snapped in two, and was repaired with two drumsticks (no I'm not making this up - it's true!!)
The instrument is wrapped heavily with gaffa tape on the bottom V and it has a number 4 on the lower part of the body.
The roadie (or it might have been Michael's guitar tech) carried it around a lot while they were setting up and played a few bits on it - to the amusement of the audience. It's also featured on the back of 'Written in the Sand'
It proves that what you play is in you and your hands - not how expensive or nicely finished the guitar is.
Give Michael an orange box stuck to the end of a broom handle and some rubber bands for strings and he would still sound like Michael.
The Ovation acoustic was set up briefly on a stand for the sound check and then put backstage for when it was needed, and, although the sound generally was absolutely excellent, the acoustic sound wasn't. Although this is forgiveable as it can be a difficult instrument to get right in a loud, live context withought it sounding a little 'tinny' Apparently this guitar is on hire for the tour., and it was very scuffed and fingermarked.
Schenker plays extremely complicated passages in a deceptively lazy and leisurely way, this is his true skill, one which is almost impossible to emulate. It is delightful to see him once again and hear him playing all the riffs and passages and melodic solos we know so well from UFO's music. He was obviously putting a great deal of effort into making this a performance for us to remember.
(At this point in the proceedings I'm just smiling with sheer happiness at witnessing this about 4 rows from the front even though I'm having to standing on tip toe and it's really hot down here - it's great! )
Phil Mogg - UFO's vocal signature.
What a difference a powerful, and expressive singer makes. Phil has a great voice with real individuality to it, and this band would not sound the same without him. I cannot imagine anyone else singing these songs, he really makes them come alive - they belong to him and no-one else.
I think he appeared a little tense at the start but maybe that is just sheer concentration on getting the performance right at the beginning of the set.. later on he loosened up a bit - presumably since they were getting a tremendous reaction from the audience.
In one of the encores he shouted "you're my friends!" and "Thank you" that's probably a tremendous compliment from a singer who does not project himself as some sort of 'Mr. Personality' on stage.
Pete Way
Takes the prize for ' aerobic, other band member bodily contact avoidance bass playing'
meaning he hurls himself around a lot on stage and never collides with anyone else, quite remarkable - keep on flinging those arms and legs around Pete. He seems to ties everyone together, supporting Michael's work and providing a visual foil. If no-one else is doing anything particularly interesting you can be sure Pete will be.
Paul Raymond
Is absolutely essential and vastly underrated, it was so good to see him, a great guitarist and keyboard player providing so much of what is UFO's distinctive sound. He has such a great deal of work to do, chopping and changing between instruments,. and looked genuinely happy too, grinning away up there.
Simon Wright
A band can't do without a drummer and we did think that it was Andy Parker up there since people can change so much over the years, but I read a line-up list later and realised it wasn't of course. Sometimes you forget what an important part the drummer is, Simon does the band proud and I hope he remains with them on the tour as he seems a fine player.. Very powerful and a tremendous contribution on his part.
The blend of material is just right - no duff ones in there and the recent tracks from 'Walk on Water' joins seamlessly with the older material, a very good sign and people seemed to know them as well, another good sign.
'Pushed to the Limit' sounded especially good, and I realised how familiar these tracks have already become.
Another thing, which is so obvious it's stupid, is that these musicians were meant to play together -it must be in in the stars. However much they may have disagreed in the past the fact is they make great music live, Michael Schenker is inextricably linked with UFO and Phil Mogg is the only singer I can really listen to for their songs - they fit together perfectly and it is just so good to see them together again .
Keep it up, as it really does mean a lot to us all out here, just to see you all again.
That night my boyfriend achieved one of his ambitions as we had bought a CD for Michael to sign it , so we were able to meet him briefly and shake his hand, it was a very special moment and a bit unreal. (Mick doesn't go in for hero worship much and Michael Schenker is probably the nearest he has to one, having been his main inspiration for his own guitar playing ever since the early days)
We have been saying that it was the most unlikely thing that we would ever see UFO playing together with this line up, let alone get a chance to meet Michael, how wrong we were !
Hopefully we will be able to speak to to the rest of the band sometime just to say thank you.
I agree totally with Tristan in running out of superlatives, I've articulated as much as I can - it's left to you to make up your own minds now.
If you haven't got tickets to see them, get them if you can - or go away and howl at the moon because you've really missed out. We knew, we got tickets for Manchester Apollo as well, just to rerun every last damn minute of it again.
And now we have MSG and Joe Satriani to look forward to on the same night in May - quite amazing what is the world coming to - good music breaking out everywhere.
Go and see them!
Jeanette Chadwick
©1998 J. Chadwick
Set LIST: Natural Thing, Mother Mary, Self Made Man, Electric Phase,
This Kids, Out in the Street, One More for the Rodeo, Venus, Pushed to the Limit, Love to Love,
Too Hot To Handle, Only You Can Rock Me, Lights Out.
First encore; Doctor Doctor, Rock Bottom.
Second encore; Shoot Shoot.