I had a musical evening last night, going to see Michael Schenker at the Shepherds Bush Empire. I don’t know all too many of his songs, but I do have the odd UFO and MSG song on my iPod, and many of my favourite guitarists list him as an inspiration – so I took the chance to see him when he came to town.
The unexpected outcome was that both my friend and I actually preferred the support band! Neither of us had ever heard of them (Exit State) before – but they played with a huge amount of enthusiasm, and their music was really interesting and fun to listen to. I couldn’t find my favourite songs from last night on YouTube, but here is one of their videos:
The main act… was good too, but I couldn’t help feeling that they were more of a nostalgia act going through the motions than an actual active band. What we saw of Michael Schenker for most of the two hours was the top of his head, since he was quite confined to the left side of the stage (and we were standing on the right). Still, it was easy to see why the guy was such an inspiration to other great rock guitarists. The instrumental numbers and guitar solos were easily my favourite parts of the show. And I’ve now got to hear “Doctor Doctor” live!
For the record, this is my favourite Michael Schenker song: