Support act duties on the European leg of the current MSG tour were given to Swiss rockers Pure Inc.. Not exactly an easy task since their self-titled debut was released only a month ago and almost nobody had heard of this quartet before tonight. But the audience gave them a fair chance and their heavy orientated guitar rock mixed with softer and more melodic passages went down pretty well. This was only the second date of the tour but this young formation was more than ready to kick ass and played a convincing and powerful set. But in spite of the fact that the 500 attendants reacted positively to what Pure Inc. had to offer, it was clear they came to see only one person tonight.

When Michael Schenker finally took the stage he was greeted with a spontaneous round of applause. Schenker has always been an emotional person who translated his emotions musically through great solo's and excellent guitar playing. Unfortunately his private life also had to suffer from his emotional mood swings, resulting in a stormy personal history. And in the year 2004 the consequences of his lifestyle are painfully visible. His movements have become slow and he's now walking like an old man across the stage. Over the last few years his once so marvellous musical career excelled more in quantity than in quality. He still managed to play those great riffs perfectly though, albeit without the passion that once made him a unique guitar player.
But that wasn't tonight's biggest problem. The fact that singer Chris Logan could barely be heard seemed rather annoying at first but after a while it became clear that perhaps this wasn't so bad considering the fact that his performance not once reached the level of a Gary Barden or Phil Mogg. His lack of charisma also made him a poor front man and this resulted in some painfully long gaps between songs. The other musicians tried hard to bring good versions of the songs but their instruments were sounding very muffled, with only Schenker's guitar sounding great as a result. And that was a real pity because the set list was fairly well put together with a good mix of MSG ('Ready To Rock', 'Attack Of The Mad Axeman' and 'Assault Attack') and UFO songs ('Lights Out', 'Rock Bottom' and 'Doctor Doctor'). But it was clear this band missed a much-needed fuel injection to deliver their goods in the way we all expected them to. Now it was nothing more than a mediocre performance and as a long time fan of this guitar god it was painful to witness. Hopefully one day we'll get to see and hear the real Michael Schenker again. In the meanwhile I'll put on "One Night At Budokan" once more.