Hanover: Scorpions play stadium concert for 60th birthday
Hanover. Klaus Meine leaves no room for doubt. "We didn't think long about where we would play this concert," says the Scorpions singer. "There was only one answer: Hanover." The crowd in the sold-out Heinz von Heiden Arena cheers. Several birthday celebrants are there, too. The musicians have a combined age of 341. The Hanover band is celebrating its 60th anniversary – and is finally playing in its home stadium for the first time.
The evening turns into a triumphal procession. These rock prophets, who for decades were celebrated all the more loudly the further they moved from their homeland, are finally receiving the attention they deserve in their homeland. Finally at home, in the stadium where, given their importance, they should have long since been: every sense of satisfaction is justified.
"Coming Home" is the opening song, half an hour late, from the 1984 album "Love at First Sting," which made them international giants, featuring "Rock You Like a Hurricane," "Big City Nights," and "Still Loving You." "Gas in the Tank" and "Make It Real" follow. The Scorpions have sold more than 120 million records and played more than 5,000 concerts. Yes, this band, founded in 1969 by 17-year-old Rudolf Schenker in Sarstedt as Nameless, has certainly made a name for itself.
In motion: Klaus Meine (left) and guitarist Matthias Jabs, in the background drummer Mikkey Dee.
Source: Christian Behrens
It's also a grand rock opera. "The Zoo" stalks dangerously like a wild animal on a bright red stage. Fire erupts from the ramp and towers inside the stadium. Pyrotechnics explode. The stage is a sea of light.
Schenker runs to the front, holding up his guitar with the inscription "Rock your Life" on its neck. Dervish Mikkey Dee sets the pace at the back. Guitarist Matthias Jabs and bassist Paweł Mąciwoda play the flanks. They are all excellent instrumentalists; the Scorpions have a long history of great guitarists, especially. And Meine? She's not very good on her feet anymore, but her voice retains its unique timbre.
"We've been around since the 1960s, when we set off from Sarstedt in our old bus," says Meine. "Back then, we dreamed of one day performing on such a big stage." A medley of classics like "Top of the Bill" and "Speedy's Coming" follows. The concert covers almost their entire career, from the beginning through songs like "Loving You Sunday Morning" from 1979 to songs from their current album, "Rock Believer." The best birthdays are those when everyone sings out loud. And the memories remain: The concert will be recorded for a live album.
Throughout the long concert day, after each performance by the supporting acts Rosy Vista, Bülent Ceylan & Band, Alice Cooper, and Judas Priest, congratulations from famous colleagues flashed across the screens. All the big names in rock were there, from Def Leppard to Rage Against the Machine to Metallica.
The Scorpions had a "tremendous career," says Kiss bassist Gene Simmons, "and every second was deserved." Tote Hosen singer Campino promises: "If you're celebrating your 80th birthday someday, let us know, and we'll come on stage with you." Bon Jovi recalled how they once opened for the Scorpions in school. And Bruce Dickinson of Iron Maiden emphasized: "You're still ten years ahead."
However, the expected surprise guests during the concert weren't going to show up – for legal reasons, it was reported. Former drummer Herman Rarebell and former guitarist Uli Jon Roth had their details leaked; hard rock queen Doro Pesch was considered an open secret.
The audience is international, the atmosphere emotional. Meine dedicates "Send Me an Angel" to his friend Wolfgang Besemer, the co-founder of the local promoter Hannover Concerts, who died in 2014. The glow-in-the-dark bracelets distributed earlier in the audience are illuminated. The crowd becomes part of the light show.
"Wind of Change" follows, the anthem for the fall of the Iron Curtain, about the "longing for peace and freedom," as Meine puts it. He sings a new text without any reference to Russia or the Soviet Union. Peace signs form on the screens.
Going forward: Rudolf Schenker at the Scorpions stadium concert.
Source: Christian Behrens
Mr. Dee delivers a magnificently expansive drum solo, a breather for the rest of the band. They can do ballads, but they can also do the opposite. "Tease me, please me" and "Big City Nights" also prove it. They radiate humility, but also pure joy in playing.
With "Still Loving You," the finale is like a fireworks competition: "Blackout" (with an inflatable scorpion) and "Rock You Like a Hurricane." 60 years on the road and still rocking like newly hatched hurricanes – no Hanover band, or almost any other, will be able to replicate the Scorpions. There won't be another concert like this. This is an evening for the history books.
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