I just finished watching Scorpions “A Night to Remember – Live at Wacken 2006”.

First of all, am I a Scorpions fan? Well yes and no. I like them as a group – lots of good rockers, but not a raving fan like Judas; I certainly do not follow them as closely as Judas. But again, they are  a solid group in my opinion.

First of all let’s discuss the technical observations.

Video & Audio:

I watched the show on my 50” Pioneer 1080p HDTV flat screen, through my Philips DVD 1080i Upscale DVD player, Yamaha RX-V863 7.1 and with triple subs –(one sub being a Martin Logan Depth i), PSB speakers, Klipsch center channel and dual Bose surrond – so I consider my system solid for the task.

The video production was top notch – excellent! Compared to Rising in the East - not even close. For some reason in RITE the colors “bleed”. I do not know if the Scorpions used HD cameras or not, but the video production quality was not even close to RITE.  Also is it in 16:9 so the people do not “stretch” when they go to the sides of the screen as they seem to do during RITE.  I HATE watching movies when the actors stretch on the left and right sides of the screens.

 I hope Judas can improve the video quality during the next video release; I realize it must be quite expensive to do so - but do it!

I prefer the Scorpions Video quality highly over RITE.

Video shots on Scorpions seemed way to “jumpy”. I do not think anyone got more than 3 seconds of screen time before they changed shots. This gets tiresome quite quickly in the show.

I prefer the RITE Video shots over Scorpions.

Sound production was crystal clear. 5.1 Stereo and sharp. Interestingly though RITE seemed more powerful, and “bass boomy” as well as tight at the same time. I prefer RITE sound over the Scorpions, but I cannot discount the clarity of the Scorpions show.

Set list:

Scorpions had a VERY extensive set list recorded over two nights for 26 songs. Also they had guitar solos and drum solos which I wish Judas would put on video. The Judas Solo’s I only remember seeing are opening to Hell Bent for Leather(Glenn), and bootlegs of Heavy Metal and Bootleg of Scott Travis, but nothing official.

I like the fact that the Scorpions have all hits for the most part, and some rare ones. This is ok to me and is not monotonous. I think that a Priest set list is more exciting to me. And I think a Priest set list pumps me up more than the Scorpions list – But that is not to say their set list is not powerful.  I just never got into the Scorpions music program emotionally as much as the RITE show.

I do hope that the Priest folks make another extensive list like the Scorpions.

 

To sum up: Judas set list is heavier and more Metal which I prefer – the Scorpions list is a rockfest and is just ok in my opinion.

 

Vocal Quality:

I think that the Scorpions sounded quite poorly out and of sync on many songs and seemed not in tune. It is possible the Judas is/was the same way, but just “dubs” it out in the recording studio – I really do not know but RITE sounds better.

Live Performance:

The Scorpions look old. I know that Judas is old as well but one difference. For the first time, I realized something quite profound -that the Priest “outfits” or uniforms make them look unified and younger. Scorpions were a hog-pog(spelled wrong?)of clothing to look younger, but it does not work for them. They look like they are trying too hard to be young.  So, I prefer Judas’ "show" look better.

I compare Matthias Jabs to Glenn Tipton & Rudolph Schenker to KK Downing. Why?

Rudolph & KK have a facial expression all the time of “struggling” or “exhausted doing their job”. Almost like a porn star who has just done the money shot(all the time)– but all the time - an  effort.

Matthias & Glenn seem in control and not struggling to do their respective jobs.  I prefer their look of control and mastery.

 

The set of the Scorpions includes a "Metallic Scorpion" crawls out during the last set. I equate this to the Robot in Fuel for Life. I am indifferent/ambivalent. I do not like it or hate it, it is kind of cool and kind of cheesy at the same time.

 

I love the video quality and clarity of the Scorpions show, but prefer to watch the RITE video for the emotional song connection. 

 

Priest -please go High Def with your next video production.

 

Tasnam