Concert Review: UFO w/ Freakswitch, Starstruck, Adam's Echo (10/8/09, Poughkeepsie, NY)

With all of the opening acts out of the way, the headliner was one I know nothing about and cannot claim to have had a lot of interest in seeing. Still, I was curious since I was there, so I stayed to check them out. As UFO came to the stage, I became acutely aware that I was on the very low end of the age scale among the audience, which is not something I can claim all that often anymore. The band came to the stage featuring two original members from their original 1970 line up, singer Phil Mogg and drummer Andy Parker. What followed was 80-minutes of rock and roll.

I didn't know any of the songs and it didn't matter.

UFO took the stage, the crowd cheered and they proceeded to tear it up. It was not like watching any of the young bands; in some ways it was better. This is not a band that is out there for the glory or the money, but rather because they love to perform. Tthey do it for themselves as well as for the fans, but they mainly do it for the music. All of the band members put on solid performances, but there is one that grabbed me more than the others. Guitarist Vinnie Moore (who was all of 6 years old when the first UFO album came out) was phenomenal. The guy can shred. Towards the end of the set, I swear he went on a 10-minute instrumental that was mind-blowing. I would see UFO again just to see him play again.

All things considered, this was a night of music that was not my usual cup of tea, but there was still a lot to like. I am interested in seeing where Freakswitch goes and UFO is now on my radar as well.

Concert review ©2009 - Chris Beaumont

UFO

B.B. King Blues Club & Grill
237 W 42nd St (between Seventh and Eighth Aves)
Midtown West | Map
212-997-4144
Subway: A, C, E to 42nd St–Port Authority; N, Q, R, W, 42nd St S, 1, 2, 3, 7 to 42nd St–Times Sq | Directions
http://www.bbkingblues.com
Prices
Tickets: advance $27.50, day of show $30

Description
Augmented by guitar hero Vinnie Moore, veteran British hard-rock band UFO lands at B.B.’s. The group still sounds tight after all these years: When Phil Mogg’s greasy howl pierces above Moore’s stomping riffs, you’ll stop caring whether Van Halen will ever get its act together again.

When
Sat 8pm

UFO were good at BBs Saturday night. So hard when a band has 40 years of music to play and so much you want to hear. The set was pretty much all the Schenker classics, a couple new tunes, and one Chapman tune (Mystery Train). Phil Mogg is a true freak. He looked and sounded great. Of course I miss Pete Way but Rob Deluca did a great job filling in. Sound could have been better, but the music is so great it cuts through just about any issue. Still some of the most timeless classy hard rock ever! Hope to catch another show before they leave the USA. Every title from Phenomenon through Misdemeanor is now remastered in new expanded editions on EMI/UK. They are awesome.

Eddie Trunk - 2009

What the f--- is moshing?" vocalist Phil Mogg asked during a recent UFO concert in Dayton, Ohio. The band, 40 years young, played McGuffys, a little hole-in-the-wall rock bar typical of the Midwest.

The question of 'no moshing' perplexed Phil thanks to a stern sign on the wall, warning against such unsavory dance moves.

If it had been a younger crowd of metallers, there may have been objections but because the fans were older and looking straight ahead at a rock legend, Phil's odd commentary was simply embraced with a head nod, swig of beer and shouts of "Just Play 'Doctor, Doctor!'"

And play they did.

During the band's 90-plus minute set, UFO ripped through scores of their old tunes including 'Mother Mary,' 'Cherry,' 'Rock Bottom,' 'Too Hot to Handle,' 'Lights Out' and, of course, 'Doctor Doctor.'

The guys in UFO used their space limitations beautifully, treating the tiny stage as an arena. As such, Phil Mogg and guitarist Vinnie Moore seemed to feed off each other, looking for inspiration. There's no doubting Moore's ability as a lead guitarist: UFO is a solo band after all. Even at the end of the set when fatigue would set in on the most agile players, Moore kept right on shredding and riffing, proving his abilities as an underrated axe man. In many ways, Moore's finger work was the entire showpiece of the Dayton performance -- but this isn't to imply the rest of the band couldn't keep up.

For a man of over 60, Mogg ably jumped around stage, twisting his hips and making weird smiles at the mostly male crowd. This should be a high point for Mogg: looking back at so many years of success and realizing there's still so much music yet to come. Seemingly well in shape, Mogg didn't leave the stage often for a break. In fact, he rarely left at all, save the massive guitar breakdown during 'Rock Bottom.'

Youngster Rob DeLuca is playing bass for UFO during this current American run. No stranger to the stage, he fits right in with the band, providing an appropriately heavy bottom to some of the band's most-loved tunes. Most importantly, DeLuca was always in time with drummer Andy Parker. Naturally, the same should be said of guitarist/keyboardist Paul Raymond. Happily taking a stand on his side of the stage, Raymond plodded along, dutifully playing his parts, acknowledging the fans and not stealing any of Mogg's limelight.

Despite UFO's place in rock music history, there were still many patrons surprised at the massive midweek turnout of support. At $18 a head, the show proved that people will still spend on live music during a recession -- if the product is high-quality and songs are dished up in massive quantity.

UFO are touring America through Nov. 1, 2009.

REVIEW copyright 2009 NC

Live review: UFO, Frontrunner, Scarred at the Key Club.

The working man demands his blues-rock straight and hard; for nearly 40 years, UFO have been serving it up like stevedores, and nobody ever asks for his money back. We sure didn’t, and we didn’t even mind the wait.
Local journeymen Scarred opened with a kind of Tony Martin-era Sabbath thing, grinding low riffs and not neglecting the melodic arpeggios. Sturdy ironwork, minimal charisma. Singer Eric Claro looked as if he were practicing his Dio gestures in a mirror rather than reaching out to grab us by the nutsack. Drummer Andy Salas bashed with his tongue out and cunningly slipped in some devil-disco. Ray Solorio -- where else will you discover a metal bassist finger-plucking deft Rickenbacker? In a face-to-face buddy jam, the long-locked Solario made an incongrous pair with slick-pickin’ founding guitarist John Toscano, a burly shorthair sporting my mechanic’s short-sleeved shirt and my accountant’s weekend trousers. First rule of metal: NO CARGO PANTS.

Sorry my preview touted the appearance of the Travis Larson Band; I failed to notice on the UFO site that their Key Club date was not starred with the Larson asterisk. Instead we got Frontrunner, a quartet of good-lookin’, whip-thin 19-year-old Angelenos whom I renamed Nugemother because of their ‘70s boogie proclivities and because two of ‘em had big curly scalp explosions. (Zach Cosby, the shirtless Tommy Lee drummer clone in neckerchief and red pants, thought maybe it should’ve been Cruemother.) Boyish Jack Gallagher’s full-throated vocal enthusiasms came off more direct when he handed his bass off to keyboardist Alex Canter. Though his rhythm riffing was a tad fuzzy, goldtop guitarist Sam Dongier’s leads rang sharp and strong. Frontrunner’s songs: pretty grabby. At first the group’s air of Valley privilege nettled me, but their rock-puppy attitude got them over.

By the time UFO came on, the Key Club was too crowded to scratch yer ass, forget about taking notes, so this part will have to be from memory. Singer Phil Mogg has evolved into a strange visual combination of an old English gardener’s face on an Olympic boxer’s body. His gruff expostulations (“Rock bottom! Rock bottom!”) still hit with the impact of a rubber mallet; between songs, he roped in the crowd with casual musings about pussy and perversion. When guitarist Vinnie Moore toted a rubber Halloween figure of a misery-gnome over to greet him, Mogg said it reminded him of a certain former axman in his band whose name, he didn’t have to remind us, rhymes with canker. We missed the goatish clowning of ailing original bassist Pete Way, but Barry Sparks stood in with solid energy, if that’s not an insult. Classic drummer Andy Parker looked like a white-haired pub crawler and smashed his kit like a street brawler, striking the ideal combination of mobility and heft while inflicting new dents upon his warrior cowbell. Paul Raymond embodied the virtues of the ultimate time-server, always banging out exactly what was needed on keyboards and left-handed second guitar, and still wearing the exact same brown semi-shag haircut he had with Chicken Shack in 1970. Odd: the whole set I kept thinking Vinnie Moore -- who can chunk out the blues (or anything else) as well as any stringbender, and whose layerings contributed so much to UFO’s fine current “The Visitor” album -- was spieling nothing but bluegrass, flawlessly fluid. Maybe he just contrasted too much with the recorded music UFO chose to set up the show: Muddy Waters’ “Mannish Boy,” which can make most anything else sound bleached.
The acoustic-to-electric blues “Saving Me,” the first track from “The Visitor,” made for a swell set-starter; the band liked the new stuff well enough to include the fiery “Hell Rider” and another one too, I think. Naturally, though, the chamber was loaded with the mighty ‘70s hits, from the balladic misty green and blue of “Love To Love” through all the riffin’ and jammin’ of “Mother Mary,” “Out in the Street,” “Only You Can Rock Me,” “Shoot Shoot,” “Doctor Doctor” . . . Well, despite a gale of audience demand, UFO did not lavish the final encore that would have whipped up the galloping signature “Lights Out.” But they worked like slaves for close to two hours, and hey, we’ve heard that one. It was after 12:30 on a Tuesday; women were dragging their men out the door. Lights out already.

Posted on October 29, 2009 10:04 AM - Copyright 2009

On Tuesday, October 27, at 4 p.m., MI welcomes internationally renowned shredder Vinnie Moore (of the legendary British hard rock band UFO) to the Concert Hall stage for a special guitar clinic. Covering everything from single-note lead techniques to the art of recording full-length "instru-metal" albums to his experiences touring the world with UFO, Moore --- known as one of the most influential guitarists to emerge from the "shredder boom" of the mid-80's -- will offer live playing examples for GIT students and field questions in an open Q&A format.

Happy Halloween!

First off, I totally suck at reviews, but do try to put up with my rambling ~ Todd, pay special attention ok?

So my friend Debby and I leave about 5:30 p.m. with a plan to not take the freeway. Worked just fine till we actually hit downtown Seattle with all it's hills and one-way streets. Neumo's is unmarked, except for posters, and tucked into a corner on what we lovingly refer to as "pill hill." We passed a place called the Crypt about 3 times, a place to apparently buy stuff for sexy undead people, but Deb wouldn't stop for me, so we continued on to eventually find Neumos. Ok, what we really found was the tour bus ~ that's how we knew we were there. Parking wasn't bad, just down in a hole (or was that the bottom of one of our hills?)

So I and my stupid walker (bad knees) end up chatting with this big dude who has a braid down to his ass and was carding a bunch of what looked like 12 year olds. Come to find out we had found the entrance to the bar. Ok, no standing in the mist! So we decide to go into the bar and Mr. Ponytail asks for ID. Seriously, you're gonna card me? I'm older than dirt, but he proceeds to tell me that he cards anyone who looks under 23, ok, so now I'm in love. LOL

We go into the bar and the first person we see is Wes, downing a party-size pizza and enjoying every bite. We pulled up a table next to his, Debby gets herself a beer and we start chatting. Then this tall dude comes up to us, and tada, we have Mike with us! Nice conversation all around. We find out from the waitress that we can get into the club by going to the restrooms and parking ourselves in front of a door there, which we did.

The first person we saw upon entering was our beloved fearless leader in the well-stocked merch booth. I swear that woman gets younger and prettier every year, and she looks adorable in pigtails! Mike gave her the Ferreros, graciously saying they are from all of us (we owe you, bud!) and we get hugs all around. Sadly there isn't much time for chat because there are all of these rude people wanting to buy merch, so I placed my order for tees to be held until after the show and head for the stage.

The stage was quite a bit bigger than the one at El Corazon, but sadly there is no pole in the middle for Phil to dance around. We had a bit of a wait until the opening act came on. A Humble Pie cover band of all things. I can't remember their name, sorry guys! They were pretty good, except for the bass players white and orange pointed patent leather shoes which he almost kicked me with a couple of times, ugh!

Opening act finishes up and we get to watch the dismantling of the stage. I almost get a monitor dropped on my finger, but no complaints, it was putting out air, and by that time there was no air in the place and my makeup is running down my face. Then the UFO crew comes on and things really start happening. They are amazing! Major kudos to the unsung heros of all concerts!!! I was pissed when the house music continued to play whilst Andre went through testing all of the equipment ~ that's a show in itself and deserves to be heard IMO.

Ok, finally the band takes the stage. Rob is decked out in a cape and showing his fangs, totally sexy! Phil didn't have a kilt on, dammit, but looked very nice in black jeans and a black jacket over his wife-beater tee. Vinnie and Paul are all in black (Vinnie, where was the chain???), and Andy looks lovely in a red (I think) shirt.

Now don't ask me the setlist. I have a picture of it, thanks to Mike, pretty much the only picture that turned out (I need a new camera), but they didn't exactly stick to it if my fading memory serves me right. The band was tight and having a good time. Vinnie adjusted Robs bass for him, which made it sound a bit odd at the beginning of Cherry, but they were having fun!

Speaking of Cherry, I don't know, but perhaps Paul, Andy and I were the only people who noticed that Phil messed up the words (bless his heart), they were laughing about it like they had a bet going on or something. BTW, is it just me or does Paul have the greatest smile on earth? And yes, he does get younger as the night goes on! Ok, Andy's smile is pretty spectacular as well, and we won't even mention Robs...sorry I'm rambling here, strictly grrrrl thoughts.

For all of you non Vinnie people ~ get over it! The man is amazing, as is the entire band. They had to improvise a few time whilst Phil left the stage to get himself another cup of "water." The rest of the boys were drinking their H2O from bottles, but Phils must have been special or something. LOL Whatever was in those cups, he sounded spot on.

We had 2 encores. But no Doctor Doctor (waaaahhhhh). Next year, right boys???

The band seemed to be having a wonderful time, I had a wonderful time. I think both Vinnie and Rob sweated on me, so I shant take a shower for a year. It was hot, it was crowed, it was wonderful!

So, after they unplugged the amps we figured that the show was over and headed back over to Batttttty. Got me shirts, and a hat for DH, who really likes it! Chatted a bit more with our fearless leader and then headed out to attempt to find our way out of downtown Seattle (harder than one might think). Stopped at Denny's for a bite, yelled at each other a bit and came home.

We had a wonderful time, even found some people that I remembered from last year's show. It was like a big family gathering and lots of fun.

I for one can't wait until next year ~ Batttttty, you need to get here 2 days early so we can meet up for food and drink!

That's all I can think of. Luv you Batttttty, UFO, Mike, Wes and everyone else. Was the best night of my year.

Cheers!

Rainey~

CONCERT REVIEW

Santa Cruz 21 October, 2009 / San Francisco 1 November, 2009

“I see a sunny San Francisco morning…”

Indeed it was, soft and warm and bathed in golden autumn light, with the distinctive and deliciously earthy scent that comes just after the first rain of the season. In the evening, with a full moon rising, I was graced with the presence of UFO, as I had been eleven days earlier in Santa Cruz.

Although of course not the band’s own composition, ‘Mystery Train’ is a song that always comes to mind when I consider UFO’s longevity and perseverance, and I was pleasantly surprised to hear it included in the set. There is something about the imagery of a train rolling along – uninterrupted, tireless, and endlessly faithful – that seems to mirror the spirit of this iconic band.

Somewhat serendipitously, that same spirit seems to have made its way into UFO’s newest release, The Visitor. ‘Saving Me’, was, very fittingly, the show’s perfect opener. The first track on the new album and my hands-down favorite of the lot, ‘Saving Me’ takes off like a fighter jet from an aircraft carrier, bound for a powerful and soaring flight.

That steadfast train rolled on through town once again, with Phil Mogg’s undying devotion being as evident as ever. Thirty years after seeing the band for the first time, I can attest that they have not lost a beat. Phil consistently delivers strong vocals balanced with wit and humor, always remaining humble and graciously sharing the spotlight. Vinnie Moore continues to provide sterling renditions of beloved older pieces, as well as fiery newer ones – all in a manner that makes me stand before the stage in awe; superlatives do not suffice. Paul Raymond adds his special sparkle with rhythm guitar and keyboards, and Andy Parker pounds it all home with a roar. Returning to the lineup for this leg of the tour was Rob De Luca, whose bass playing clearly demonstrates that he’s no stranger to straight-ahead, thunderous rock – but his recent forays into more progressive sounds in his work outside the band give him an additional complex and imaginative edge. De Luca is also a gifted vocalist is his own right.

Thanks with all my heart once again, guys (and Kate). Best wishes for a splendid finish of the tour in Europe.

Suzanne Wieland, Portola Valley, California