Schenker 2025 Tourl

[bubs_42]

Has anyone seen him on this tour? I have been saying I’m going to see him for the last 30 years and I think that this year is the year. His set is all the stuff I devoured as a teen. 

 

 

Edited September 8, 2025 by bubs_42

[Steve Haynie]

It would be nice to see Michael Schenker again.  In 45 years I have only seen him twice.  

[bubs_42]

The singer in the second video is the current singer. I have to drive a bit and flip for a hotel room, just wanted to see if anyone had taken in a show this year. 

[RobB]

15 minutes ago, bubs_42 said:

The singer in the second video is the current singer. I have to drive a bit and flip for a hotel room, just wanted to see if anyone had taken in a show this year. 

Go, dude. He ain’t getting younger and his playing gets better every year.

I’ve got tix for SF (w/Armoured Saint!) in Oct. I’d just hate to be the guy to post what an awesome show it was. Just go. 

Edited September 8, 2025 by RobB

[alantig]

Not yet.

Ask me again late Wednesday night...

[tommy p]

I'm going tomorrow night (Tuesday 9/9)!  I saw him for the first time on the Schenkerfest tour with the 4 singers a few years ago and it was fan-damn-tastic.  I'm not a big fan of UFO (in fact I prefer the Chapman era) but I couldn't pass up seeing Schenker again and I thought maybe seeing some of his era's UFO stuff performed live might warm me up to it a little.

[BTMN]

Last night in Clearwater was really great. I thought he was in fantastic form. Strong backing band with a guy named Steve Mann doing guitar and keyboards. Nice repertoire of UFO songs. A great number of classics. Doctor, Doctor, Lights Out, Misty Green and Blue. All good. 
Jared James Nichols opened the show and is a good little listen too. 

Edited September 8, 2025 by BTMN

[svl]

Only saw Schenker once, but it was the best time to see him in my opinion. October 13th, 1978, Strangers in the Night tour.

I don't do concerts anymore, but this one is tempting. Love to see vid from folks who attend.

[BTMN]

If I were in your area I would attend the St. Charles show without hesitation. That venue will be perfect for this show. 😎👍❤️🏁

[Dave Scepter]

I've seen him about a dozen times... Definitely one of my favorites!... His stint with UFO is  imo is the high point, but I also loved him in MSG 🤘

Loved this solo~

 

[DaveL]

I'm seeing him saturday  good seats...  just got a better cell phone,  hopefully, I'll get some pics...

going to see Jared James Nichols at Manchester Music Mill in the afternoon.   

[alantig]

Saw this show last night.  Excellent.  The sound was very good.  Schenker's band was excellent.  I'm not up on my UFO catalog at all, but he hit all the expected high points, and he tore it up all night.

Don't sleep on Jared James Nichols.  He clearly understood the opener assignment - no long stories, pedal to the metal from the get-go, and he got the crowd fired up for Schenker.  They ended with a rousing cover of "War Pigs".  When he ended, I was a bit disappointed - 25-30 minutes?  Looked at my phone, and it was 45.  His set just flew by.

[Travis]

I just checked the St Charles and Des Plaines dates. They’re close enough to me and I could make either work. But, looks like they’re both sold out… 👎🏼

[tommy p]

I saw this in Hopewell VA Tuesday night, second row center.  I'd rate it a good 9 out of 10.

I had seen lots of videos of opener Jared James Nichols online over the years and I couldn't have despised him more.  I liked his playing but his ridiculous guitar faces absolutely ruined it for me.  Live it was an entirely different story.  He is nowhere near so over-the-top with the faces as he is online and his songs are decent hard rock stompers for the most part.  He tries a little too hard to show his control of dynamics, taking his volume down to damn near inaudible on several songs throughout the night.  Once or twice would have been plenty.  His drummer and bass player were both solid players and backed him up well.  The bass player was the spitting image of Brian Robertson of Thin Lizzy.  Someone else mentioned they closed with a cover of War Pigs which they did at the show I saw too, and Jared pretty much let the audience sing it.  He was grinning and having a great time and I like him a lot more now after seeing him live.

I've never been the biggest UFO fan and actually prefer his MSG stuff and Chapman-era UFO to Schenker-era UFO, but I had seen him for the first time at Schenkerfest a few years ago and I swore then if he came back around I would go.  THAT was incredible and all 4 of the singers were excellent.  He had the same second guitarist/keyboard player (Steve Mann) and drummer (Bodo Schopf) from Schenkerfest with different bass player (Barend Courboois) and singer (definitely NOT Erik Gronwall, but I didn't catch his name).  Steve Mann is a great guitarist in his own right and actually took the first solo of the night along with several others later.  I looked up Courbois and he has played with a hundred different bands.  He was great and had kind of a tough guy stage presence.  The singer reminded me of Klaus crossed with Dio.  It might have been just because he was short and had curly hair like those guys (although more of it 🤣).

Even though I am not deep on older UFO, I recognized almost every song and I must say I liked the songs a lot more at this show than I ever have on record.  One thing I think is cool about Schenker is that he doesn't tap or sweep.  He just plays with killer tone and feel.  I loved it when he took extended solos.  Really inspiring player.  He also looked like he was having a great time and stepped up to the mic several times during the night to say thanks.

If you ever liked Schenker or UFO I would highly recommend seeing this show.  (No pics because I don't take pics at shows.  There are always plenty of other people doing it.)

Edited September 13, 2025 by tommy p

[Travis]

4 hours ago, tommy p said:

I saw this in Hopewell VA Tuesday night, second row center.  I'd rate it a good 9 out of 10.

I had seen lots of videos of opener Jared James Nichols online over the years and I couldn't have despised him more.  I liked his playing but his ridiculous guitar faces absolutely ruined it for me.  Live it was an entirely different story.  He is nowhere near so over-the-top with the faces as he is online and his songs are decent hard rock stompers for the most part.  He tries a little too hard to show his control of dynamics, taking his volume down to damn near inaudible on several songs throughout the night.  Once or twice would have been plenty.  His drummer and bass player were both solid players and backed him up well.  The bass player was the spitting image of Brian Robertson of Thin Lizzy.  Someone else mentioned they closed with a cover of War Pigs which they did at the show I saw too, and Jared pretty much let the audience sing it.  He was grinning and having a great time and I like him a lot more now after seeing him live.

I've never been the biggest UFO fan and actually prefer his MSG stuff and Chapman-era UFO to Schenker-era UFO, but I had seen him for the first time at Schenkerfest a few years ago and I swore then if he came back around I would go.  THAT was incredible and all 4 of the singers were excellent.  He had the same second guitarist/keyboard player (Steve Mann) and drummer (Bodo Schopf) from Schenkerfest with different bass player (Barend Courboois) and singer (definitely NOT Erik Gronwall, but I didn't catch his name).  Steve Mann is a great guitarist in his own right and actually took the first solo of the night along with several others later.  I looked up Courbois and he has played with a hundred different bands.  He was great and had kind of a tough guy stage presence.  The singer reminded me of Klaus crossed with Dio.  It might have been just because he was short and had curly hair like those guys (although more of it 🤣).

Even though I am not deep on older UFO, I recognized almost every song and I must say I liked the songs a lot more at this show than I ever have on record.  One thing I think is cool about Schenker is that he doesn't tap or sweep.  He just plays with killer tone and feel.  I loved it when he took extended solos.  Really inspiring player.  He also looked like he was having a great time and stepped up to the mic several times during the night to say thanks.

If you ever liked Schenker or UFO I would highly recommend seeing this show.  (No pics because I don't take pics at shows.  There are always plenty of other people doing it.)

According to a quick intrarwebs search….

 

Roberto Dimitri Liapakis

 replaced Erik Grönwall for Michael Schenker's "My Years With UFO" 50th Anniversary Tour in the US after Grönwall had to leave the tour for family reasons in early May 2025. Liapakis stepped in to cover for Grönwall for the US portion of the tour

 

 

[tommy p]

1 hour ago, Travis said:

According to a quick intrarwebs search….

 

Roberto Dimitri Liapakis

 replaced Erik Grönwall for Michael Schenker's "My Years With UFO" 50th Anniversary Tour in the US after Grönwall had to leave the tour for family reasons in early May 2025. Liapakis stepped in to cover for Grönwall for the US portion of the tour

 

 

Thanks!  I had found it while I was at the show but today when I looked I gave up after trying four or five links, lazy bastard that I am.

[wil50n]

Metal Mickey just keeps getting better. His lazy, controlled, effortless vibrato is amazing. I live in hope that he will tour Australia. Uli Jon Roth just toured here for the first time, so you never know 

[BTMN]

On 9/12/2025 at 6:52 AM, Travis said:

I just checked the St Charles and Des Plaines dates. They’re close enough to me and I could make either work. But, looks like they’re both sold out… 👎🏼

I would go and try to grab a seat out front or before. Someone always shows up with one. 

[RacerX]

On 9/12/2025 at 5:52 AM, Travis said:

I just checked the St Charles and Des Plaines dates. They’re close enough to me and I could make either work. But, looks like they’re both sold out… 👎🏼

There are open seats for the Thursday show in Des Plaines… but at 159.00 I’m going to have to live with the rusty memory of the “Lights out” tour show at the International Amphitheater. A memory so distant I needed to fact check it with my buddy Pete🤣 

[alantig]

6 hours ago, RacerX said:

There are open seats for the Thursday show in Des Plaines… but at 159.00 I’m going to have to live with the rusty memory of the “Lights out” tour show at the International Amphitheater. A memory so distant I needed to fact check it with my buddy Pete🤣 

Seriously?  $159?  Wow - they were nowhere near that expensive here.  Less than half that after fees.  Maybe a different kind of venue than we had.

[DaveL]

Good show.   Micheal looks good and played well… the only part that bummed me out was the 15 minutes (seemed like 37) devoted to Rock Bottom.  When you’re playin in rhyme of the ancient mariner territory I’ll zone out.   Otherwise he played great. Nice lead singer. (Seemed like a grizzled old veteran) but I thought he matched Mogg better than Erik Gronwald (sp?). Just sayin.  Best tunes.  Only you… too hot.. love to love, doctor doctor… was surprised how many people knew the words to Doctor Doctor.      Micheal made a nice mention about Paul and Pete.  
 

  Jared  James Nichols was great and got a great reception.    Super nice guy.   
 

Sorry   Low res cell pics   

 

Edited September 14, 2025 by DaveL

[tommy p]

21 hours ago, RacerX said:

There are open seats for the Thursday show in Des Plaines… but at 159.00 I’m going to have to live with the rusty memory of the “Lights out” tour show at the International Amphitheater. A memory so distant I needed to fact check it with my buddy Pete🤣 

 

14 hours ago, alantig said:

Seriously?  $159?  Wow - they were nowhere near that expensive here.  Less than half that after fees.  Maybe a different kind of venue than we had.

Same here.  Ours were $60 and I was second row center.