Uli Jon Roth

[Rick and Roll]

I was asked how this show was by Dangerboy and next thing I know it turned into a review...so I thought I'd post it here... - Rick

Uli Jon Roth @ Ramshead Tavern, Annapolis MD 10/8/08

I was right in front of Uli and his speaker, which he ominously titled "the beast". Uh oh...the first time I used an earplug, ever...my friend had some (that fortunately I did not have to give back!).

Started a few minutes late due to some tech issues (shows at the Ramshead start usually on time) but he played three hours... first third was off of his orchestral new one "Under A Dark Sky". Very bombastic heavy music, sort of like metal but
always tinged with his Trower/Hendrix sound. Uli was hippied out, with the feathers, the giant headband, and the boots.

When I walked in to get my tickets, I noticed a CD for sale by Martin Motnik, who is an outstanding bassist I found on myspace. He has a great CD called "Bass Invader" which I've played on my show. Then I found out he wa s in the band! What a technician. Unfortunately, it was late after the gig and I could not get the energy to stay and chat - it was a 45 minute drive home as it was. (I also have free tickets for a show there tonight, Eric McFadden, but I'm not up for it)

Here's the band:

Mark Boals - vocals
Liz Vandall - vocals
Michael Ehre - drums
Corvin Bahn - keyboards
Niklas Turmann - guitar, vocals
Martin Motnik - bass

Liz is a ringer for Cher...both singers were awesome. To belt out the tunes over his guitar was a chore in itself. The second part of the show was Scorpions songs, was simply astounding. When I had seen Uli way back in the early 80's (with Clive Bunker on drums), he only played a Scorpions tune or two (Virgin Killer was one). But he played at least ten, and gladly skipped Virgin Killer. He did Polar Nights, Yellow Raven, Fly to the Rainbow, Drifting Sun, In Trance (Liz was eating a brownie and thought she was done for the evening when he called her back to sing it), Dark Lady (not the Cher version!), Catch Your Train, Pictured Life, We'll Burn the Sky, I've Got To Be Free, and the best one of all, Sails of Charon. Sails is one of the best rock tunes ever - one time at Progday I was talking to Gartdrumm from "3", and he mentioned they were to be on tour with the Scorpions. I replied that "Sails" was required listening (he'd never heard it).

What a surprise...as Ronnie Montrose unexpectedly did last year when I saw him, Uli played all of his 70's classics.

Someone yelled "She's A Woman He's A Man", and he replied "that one sucks"!

The band was genuinely surprised at the reaction of the crowd...there were only 100 people there (1/4 full I'd guess) and they were stunned (like a phasor) by the loudness. but they woke up like rabid animals during the second set.

The band got a lot of room to jam. But Uli hogged a lot of the leads, and I thought the keybordist and second guitarist (alth ough he played a lot of next octave down concurrent leads) were somewhat underutilized. The drummer had a song where he used the back of his hands to play.

30 shows a year for 25 years, never gets old...although I feel like it today

[dangerboy]

Is this the one you missed?
=================

Thanks for the review Rick. I didn’t even know about the Scorpions until after UJR left. I’ve kept up with his solo career some, but a bit hit and miss.

I’ve heard good things about shows at the Ramshead. I’ve got a few shows from there that I downloaded from livearchive.com. They usually have great sound quality.

-db