“Are you ready to rock?” is written in large letters on the stage curtain behind which the Scorpions sound the first bars of their performance in Madison Square Garden. An equally old-fashioned and rhetorical question. That the answer of the New York audience that evening is “yes” is as certain as Klaus Meines whistle in the intro of “Wind of Change”.
Speaking of Madison Square Garden, it may be the most famous arena in the world — it’s currently a construction site from the outside, making it even more indistinguishable from the adjacent train and subway stations. Its atmosphere (which basically doesn’t differ that much from the Mercedes-Benz and O2 arenas of this world) only becomes apparent once you’ve gone up several flights of stairs after security and ticket control and arrived inside the hall . For the Scorpions, the appearance in the “Garden” could have been business as usual for a long time – it has been played for many decades, often sold out. Today, however, it is not a regular headliner show that Klaus Meine, Rudolf Schenker and Co. are coming to New York for — but the continuation of a thoroughly historic event.
A concert for Bangladesh
On August 1, 1971, the first “Concert for Bangladesh” was celebrated in Madison Square Garden – and with it the independence of the South Asian country from Pakistan. The concert was organized by George Harrison and Ravi Shankar, and musical guests included Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Ringo Starr and Billy Preston. 51 years later, a new edition of the concert was celebrated under the name “Golden Jubilee Bangladesh Concert” – and in doing so not only celebrated the country’s own history and its political protagonists, but also presented the country’s major technological plans via video, the Bangladesh to be catapulted into the league of industrial nations in the future. Lots of image building, lots of folklore, lots of futurism — and an opening speech that featured Bangladeshi politicians and dignitaries on stage, followed by the singing of the country’s national anthem — which got audiences all around Madison Square Garden standing up. Fair gesture, there were probably not too many Bangladeshis in the audience after all. Some state politicians sat in a kind of honor block. The difference to the first “Concer tfor Bangladesh” is that money was raised at the time, but today it is intended to commemorate a country that has made great strides since gaining independence.
Before the Scorpions – who are well versed in historical events and statesman rock – take the stage, well-known Bengali group Chirkutt played a twenty-minute set, somewhere between local flavor and pop, sitar, acoustic guitar and pumping quarter bass drums. The obviously talkative singer Sharmin Sultana Sumi repeatedly emphasizes that you only have twenty minutes. Songs are shortened, the performance seems a little rushed, but quite charming. Then – we were already at “Are you ready to rock” – the Scorpions enter the New York stage, and not with a hit, but a piece from the current album “Rock Believer”, the song “Gas In The Tank”. . This fits into the set list just as well as the other new tracks of the evening, “Peacemaker” and “Rock Believer”.
Scorpions in top form
On this evening, too, Rudolf Schenker is the Duracell bunny turned rock. The 73-year-old guitarist covers the most meters on stage (far more than Klaus Meine), windmills with his plectrum arm, opens his mouth wide, stretches the Flying V in the air, the other hand forms a peace sign. Schenker is the great animator of the Scorpions. As always, he mostly plays the rhythm parts and riffs, only starting with the slow pieces to guitar solos. Matthias Jabs, on the other hand, stands there rather quietly, his white Gibson Explorer with black stripes always at hand, taking over most of the lead parts with a relaxed smile.
But the band’s intense drive owes much to one person — former Motörhead drummer Mikkey Dee, who has been part of the group since 2016 and with his highly energetic, driving playing (along with bassist Paweł Mąciwoda) significantly rejuvenates the band’s sound. And Klaus Meine? He’s in good voice — and throws a surprising number of drumsticks into the audience for a non-drummer (perhaps justified by the fact that he occasionally thrashes a cowbell). Especially many words about Bangladesh are not wasted. Klaus Meine congratulates the republic on its anniversary, but otherwise ignores the topic.
“Wind of Change” becomes a Ukraine song
It’s different with “Wind of Change” — because the piece that the band wrote about the former USSR in 1990 and began with the words “I follow the Moskva / Down to Gorky Park / Listening to the wind of change” is played in the In the context of today’s Ukraine war, of course, read in a different context – and also interpreted by Meine. “A terrible war is raging in the heart of Europe, which is why we have to sing this song louder than ever today,” Meine announces the piece. The first stanza is also no longer about the Moskva and the walk to Gorky Park. “Listen to my heart / It says Ukrainia / Waiting for the wind to change”, he sings – and then: “A dark and lonely night / Our dreams will never die / Waiting for the wind to change”.
The Scorpions skip “Still Loving You” this evening, instead there is an acoustic version of “Send Me An Angel”. Otherwise, the 16-song set is reserved with ballads – and with Mikkey Dee’s drum solo after “New Vision” the energy curve is pumped up again. Also on the LCD screen was a small but nice tribute to Mikkey’s late fellow Motörhead Lemmy Kilmister — with a projected blackjack symbol showing Lemmy’s profile. With “Big City Nights” and “Blackout” the band ends the evening with a brilliant run. Well, almost — the obligatory “Rock You Like A Hurricane” comes as the final encore.
As steeped in history as the first concert for Bangladesh, the evening will probably not go down in the annals of political music history. But as a very good, thrilling Scorpions show. The audience also saw that the Hanoverians celebrated as if they were their boys.
“New York, we love you,” screams Klaus Meine at the end. It seems as if this feeling is quite mutual – and since there is nothing to do with retirement anyway, it will certainly not have been the last guest performance at Madison Square Garden.