Michael Schenker - Fest 'Live' Tokyo (Special Edition)

Release

***1/2

A great live boxset for his fans!!!

Michael Schenker is a guitar legend, who has been taking the World by storm for quite a few years now. Actually since he was fifteen years in age, the first group he started in was the Scorpions… which got him international fame at the age of seventeen. But it was his time with UFO that really found the place he was most at home, and he recorded six albums with the British Rock band.

He is back with this great new live boxset ‘Fest ‘Live’ Tokyo’, which comes in a really nice cardboard box. Containing 2x CD’s and a DVD. This release is really special because it see’s him back with MSG vocalists Gary Barden, Graham Bonnet and Robin McAuley.

Out of the guests on the album, Michael has recorded the most material with Gary Barden, a massive six albums… so this was the singer that I personally was most happy to see him back with. I also have to add he sounds as strong as he did, when he first sang with Schenker.

The rest of his live band on this release included Chris Glen - Bass (The Sensational Alex Harvey Band / GMT / Ian Gillian), Steve Mann - Guitar (The Sweet) and Ted McKenna - Drums (The Sensational Alex Harvey Band / Rory Gallagher) which is a very strong and polished line-up and they really sound in top form on this live release. All members have been part of MSG and Schenker’s other project other the years, and you can see the tightness and communication between them as grown from strength to strength over the years.

Highlights on this release for me was of course ‘Doctor, Doctor, Rock Bottom’ the brilliant ‘Victim of Illusion’ and the classic ‘Let sleeping dogs Lie’, as well as a good feature on the DVD to see a normally private soundcheck. Something any fan would love to see.

The only thing I have to say about this release is that, it is not really something new. Other than seeing him back with his former singers… which is pretty cool. In the last five years he has released quite a few live recordings in different guises, but maybe if something is not broke… it doesn’t need fixing and maybe this is what his fans want.

Personally I would like to see Michael Schenker trying something new and different and maybe trying a few genres he is not comfortable in, because I think he has so much still to bring to the music industry in 2017. If you’re a big Michael Schenker fan you really can’t go wrong with this release. It is nicely package and it would look great in your collection, so go buy it now.

Review by Dan Devour