Uli Jon Roth at Vinnie's Bar & Grill, Somewhere in the Outer Reaches of Suburbia.
Concord, actually.
I've been slacking on the updates here on this site. I blame summer. My schedule gets turned on its head this time of year, so my computer time is cut way down. This is a good thing, really.
The Uli Jon Roth show coincided with both Father's Day and the Summer Solstice, and I celebrated the day by filling it with various activities, culminating in the aforementioned Uli show. I was surprised that, other than Justin, who I drove up with, there were no familiar faces in the audience. You'd think at least one or two of the Bay Area Old Guard would have made it out for the show. Instead, we found ourselves in a tiny bar in Concord, stuffed in with a bunch of suburban rocker types and surrounded by neon, mirrored walls, beer advertisements, and the like.
PointsNorth were playing when we arrived. They were an instrumental drums/bass/guitar trio, and played more than competent seventies influenced rock. I noticed the bass playing most, probably because I was parked on the floor near the bass cabinet. They played an enjoyable set, ending with a Rush cover, but while I appreciated the musical skill on display, the music isn't something I would find myself coming back to often. In other words, a good opening band, but nothing I'd go out of my way to listen to.
Then, we waited for probably around 45 minutes for Uli to appear, speculating on what the setlist would be. The evening was billed as a celebration of Jimi Hendrix's music, so it seemed possible that we'd get a set of Hendrix covers. After all, there is an entire cd of Uli playing Hendrix. Of course, I hoped (and so did a number of vocal audience members nearby) that he'd play some old Scorpions songs. I saw Scorpions back in '79, a year or so after Uli had left the band, so this would be my first time seeing Uli on stage. I think I've been listening to his music for around 33 years now, so I'd say this particular evening was long overdue.
The band finally hit the stage, consisting of Uli, a second guitarist/vocalist, a bass player, a drummer, and a keyboardist. Uli made a comment or two about the size of the stage (joking rather than complaining though - one of the things I've always admired about him is his apparent lack of ego - he's one of the best guitarists in the world, but he doesn't seem to act like it). The band launched into a series of Hendrix songs, and I have to admit that while I enjoy Hendrix, I've never felt compelled to own any of his records, so the song titles elude me. I did recognize just about all of them though. These days, experiencing Uli playing these songs is probably about as close as you can come to experiencing Hendrix playing them.
About halfway through the set, Uli stated that they would be playing some Scorpions songs, and then made the mistake of asking the audience which ones they should play. Okay, maybe it wasn't a mistake if he actually wanted to have every song from the four Scorpions studio albums he played on shouted at him. Those of us near the stage had already figured out that they'd be playing at least a few Scorpions songs - on the stage, there were printed lyrics to We'll Burn the Sky, In Trance, and Life's Like A River. After the shouting had died down, the band played In Trance, with the second guitarist singing. His voice was good, but not as good as Scorpions' vocalist Klaus Meine - a little higher, and not as distinctive. Still, this is more like seeing the Scorpions than seeing the Scorpions these days. They played a trio of old songs when I saw them in '79 - We'll Burn the Sky, Pictured Life, and Steamrock Fever, if I remember right - but abandoned the Uli era on subsequent tours.
Afterwards, several more Scorpions songs followed. By the end of the night, they'd played I've Got to Be Free, We'll Burn the Sky, Polar Nights, Fly to the Rainbow, and Dark Lady, as well as busting out an extended jam session or two. Strangely enough, they didn't play Life's Like A River. No Electric Sun songs were played. Maybe he'll be revisiting that particular era on future tours. I'll definitely be seeing him again.
It was also interesting to note that his custom-made Sky guitar had several extra frets - they marched right down onto the body of the guitar. Weird.
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I think that what separates Uli from the crowd, as far as guitar virtuosos are concerned, is the fact that he packs so much more emotion - I could say soul, if I wanted to belabor the point - into his playing. He doesn't feel the need to impress by doing lightning fast finger calisthenics across the fretboard. Sure, he is extremely fast when it's called for, but his soloing is always much more than simple guitar wankery. There's a buttery smoothness to it, and every note lifts the music to a new level. With this in mind, I think that his apparent lack of ego problems actually contributes to the power of his music. Fragile rockstar egos no doubt compell guitarists to impress with speed and technique, to the exclusion of that which lies at the heart of music: soul.
Uli doesn't make that mistake.
