Scorpions’ live appearance in Athens was like an alarm for all rockers in Greece. The truth is that I wanted badly to see them on stage especially after their new very good album. The live show was to begin at 9:30… I got there about that time (due to traffic) and I saw too many people in the streets that were heading for the main place were the live show was given and others that were heading for the rocks (it’s an open amphitheatre on top of the highest hill in Athens, carved inside the rocks – the rocks become the “cheap seats” at such occasions).

When I entered the place Scorpions were already playing “Love ‘Em Or Leave ‘Em”… I do not know if they have played any other songs before… so the night was fine and the place was packed with people that wanted to rock. On the other hand there were too many people outside the stage and many others that were hanging on the rocks! I have not seen so many people in the specific place… something that was a common observation that night.

Scorpions were in a good mood and they just wanted to rock… and the crowd wanted the same thing! Thus, we listened to some new songs like “Deep And Dark”, “Through My Eyes”, “Remember The Good Times”, “She Said” and “Maybe I Maybe You”. Meine is a great performer and all the time was playing with the crowd and he was “forcing” them to sing along with him. We also listened to eternal hymns of Scorpions like “We’ll Burn The Sky”, “Big City Nights”, “Bad Boys Running Wild”, “Blackout”, “Tease Me Please Me”, “Holiday” (where the crowd was singing the whole song alone!), and “Wind Of Change” (the crowd did not leave Meine to sing on his own for a minute!).

The band played really good and one of the highlights of that night was the drummer of the band, the crazy James Kottak where he played a solo drums and he made the crowd follow him by screaming… and then as he was at the end he grabbed a bottle of beer, drunk some and then smash it in his head!!! Crazy huh? The man seemed to be very happy like the rest of the band.

Then after a small break, Scorpions were back on stage to rock us again with “Rock You Like A Hurricane”… and the crowd was in total panic! I could see a sea of people moving up and down! Then they played the classic “Still Loving You” where lighters lightened the whole rock… and everyone was singing the lyrics of the song… from little kids (7-8 years old) to old ones (60 years old)! That is incredible… that’s the everlastingness of rock music! It can bring together people from all different ages.

After two hours the show was over… I still cannot remember which was the last song that they played… but this doesn’t matter at all. Everyone was excited and in total happiness. We didn’t want the show to end but this is beyond our powers and of course the band’s. Everybody seemed to have been satisfied by the live appearance of the “old” German Rockers. I was too happy that I attended two lives shows (on Saturday and Sunday) that were both very good. This is one reason why I love too much rock music and I will always keep listening to it.

by Thanos Aggelakis