Michael Schenker Group – 14/12/2009 – Nosturi, Helsinki

Monday morning December 14, minus twelve degrees Celsius, one of the first really frozen days on the south of Finland this year, and first day of my little vacation. What can make one get out of his bed and set off to almost two hundred kilometres long trip to another frozen city? Legendary German guitarist Michael Schenker! Although the other members of MICHAEL SCHENKER GROUP are not any second-class musicians, if one goes to MSG, the only reason is to see the guitar virtuoso Michael Schenker himself. This Helsinki concert was my premiere both with MSG and with Nosturi, a likeable club at the shore of Gulf of Finland.

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Let’s mention the club first. Nosturi is a commendable venue with excellent acoustics and capacity of 900 people. Elevated side and large balcony enables more people to see something even if their height condemns them usually to get along just with sound. I arrived to Helsinki early enough to catch both MSG and the opening act for this evening, a Finnish heavy metal band called KINGS OF MODESTY. However, sightseeing, friends’ meeting etc. took me longer than I expected, thus I entered Nosturi some five minutes before the headliner showed up on the stage. My mistake, I can imagine the Kings of Modesty’s set was definitely worth seeing. The band with just one regular studio album so far has already opened for MSG earlier this year. When I entered the crowded, although not absolutely full club, last preparations just took place. It was still possible to approach the stage quite well and find a suitable place to see the band properly, but with first tones of the first song, the club was becoming tighter and tighter. No long intro, no long ceremonies, the band, followed by Schenker starting to play opening riff for Ride On My Way, comes to the stage precisely on time. After first song from the latest MSG release “In The Midst of Beauty” (2008), the setlist includes mostly songs from “The Michael Schenker Group” (1980) debut album and “M.S.G. II” (1981) disc. No mention of McAuley Schenker Group in between. Gary Barden on vocals does a great job, exactly what fans of Schenker’s old releases expect from him. Unfortunately he is not a kind of a mesmerizing frontman who attracts the audience’s attention easily. Often his appeals to the audience to sing or scream louder just go astray. Moreover, the audience seems to be somehow paralysed this evening, which does not help it in any way.

Although the atmosphere in the audience could be better, almost full venue of that size is a success. Current line-up further includes Wayne Findlay on guitar and keyboards, Chris Glen on bass and Chris Slade on drums. But, of course, their role is very limited, Schenker usurps all the attention. And not unjustly. His solos are stunning and breath-taking, especially in Lost Horizon and Attack of the Mad Axman. The crowd is staring at his fingers running over the guitar neck in disbelief. The same comes with the eccentric sounds he makes with his instrument from time to time. Several times Schenker changes one flying-V for another one. After approximately seventy minutes, MSG leaves the stage and the subsequent applause is endless. Awesome performance. Encore consists of three non-Michael Schenker Group pieces. Originally acoustic Dance Lady Gipsy from Schenker’s and Barden’s side project “Gipsy Lady” starts moving even with those who were standing still until now. The absolute end belongs to UFO’s classics Rock Bottom and Doctor Doctor. Both 35 years old and how they work! A nice surprise came when Jari Tiura (vocals in MSG 2006) joined the band for Doctor Doctor and sang the song together with Gary Barden. Another huge and not stopping applause. The whole audience sings the famous words “Livin’ lovin’ I’m on the run, so far away from you” and I can feel the atmosphere of a great gig all the rest of the night on my way back home.

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Setlist:
Ride on My Way
Cry for the Nations
Let Sleeping Dogs Lie
Armed and Ready
Are You Ready to Rock
I Want You
A Night to Remember
Into The Arena
Lost Horizons
Rock My Nights Away
On And On
Attack of the Mad Axman
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Dance Lady Gipsy
Rock Bottom
Doctor Doctor