Artist:  UFO & Uli Jon Roth

Venue: City Hall, Newcastle  

Date: 23 November 2000  

Support: Uli Jon Roth

After an absence of 17 years Uli Jon Roth steps on to the stage of the Newcastle City Hall to a rapturous welcome from a crowd who seemed to be starved of guitar orientated rock for the past 17 years. Uli still shows what a guitar can do in the right hands as he plays out tracks old and new including segments from Vivaldi's Four Seasons. A recent project the band have done with a full orchestra in Germany.

With only 10 minutes left in the set after this magnificent piece they manage to squeeze in a couple of old Scorpions classics, 'Sails of Charon' and 'Dark Lady'.

UFO

When UFO finally grace the stage Pete Way hits centre stage waving bass in hand and dressed only in white gloss skin tight trousers and a red silk scarf. He acknowledges the raw from the crowd. They open the set with three tracks off the new album 'Covenant'.

Then it's into 'Venus' which was recorded last week to be shown on the Jools Holland show. The lads then get down to what the crowd have been waiting for, classic UFO.

'Love to Love', 'Too hot to Handle', 'Midnight Train', amongst the many, during which time Pete Way still shows he can rock with the best of them, spinning around the stage like a whirling dervish he moves back and forth.

Michael Schenker meanwhile still strums his flying V guitar like only he can.  The classics come thick and fast and it's not long before 'Doctor Doctor' can be heard, the crowd roar with delight.

Finishing the set with 'Rock Bottom', the crowd want more and more they get. With two encores including 'Shoot Shoot' and 'rounding off the 1 hour 45 minute set with everyone's favourite 'Lights Out'. Nice touch to change to words to 'Lights out in Newcastle', the crowd lap it up, what a perfect ending to a brilliant show.

Good to see our old friend Spike amongst the crowd as well, a old friend of the band from way back.

All in all these guys may be getting on a bit in years, but they still know how to Rock n' Roll. Not really surprising their concerts are always a sell-out when they come up here. Rock n' Roll legends if ever there was some.

All content copyright of The Mayfair Mall Zine unless otherwise stated.