Watch Michael Schenker Shred “Lights Out” Onstage in San Francisco
The guitarist ripped through the UFO classic during his current Michael Schenker Fest tour.
Legendary UFO and Scorpions guitarist Michael Schenker recently wrapped a North American tour with his latest outfit, Michael Schenker Fest, playing 30-plus song setlists that ran upwards of two hours. Schenker ended the shows each night with a run-through of one of his most famous tunes, UFO’s “Lights Out,” from the band’s 1977 album of the same name. You can check out video of Schenker performing the song at San Francisco’s Palace of Fine Arts Theatre on April 16.
Michael Schenker Fest will release their sophomore album, Revelation, on August 23 via Nuclear Blast. It was produced by Schenker and Michael Voss, and recorded and mixed by Voss at Kidpool Studio Greven & Kidwood Studio in Münstertal, Germany.
“Based on the fun that we had recording Resurrection, the success of the album and the surrounding tours we undertook that were just fantastic, I was deeply inspired to start on writing new songs for a new Michael Schenker Fest album," Schenker said in a statement. "It is even a step up from Resurrection with amazing input from all singers and all musicians—I could not ask for a better result. The songs are blazing, snappy, energetic, melodic, and, with drummers like Simon Philips and Bodo Shopf, we got amazing results. This time we even managed to record three great mid-tempo songs with all singers involved, singing their hearts out.”
Revelation features Gary Barden, Graham Bonnet, Robin McAuley, Doogie White and, on one track, Ronnie Romeo of Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow on vocals. Simon Philipps played drums on the album, while Bodo Schopf will take his place as the band's permanent drummer moving forward, due to scheduling conflicts for Phillips.
For more information, head to MichaelSchenkerFest.com.
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Rich is the co-author of the best-selling Nöthin' But a Good Time: The Uncensored History of the '80s Hard Rock Explosion. He is also a recording and performing musician, and a former editor of Guitar World magazine and executive editor of Guitar Aficionado magazine. He has authored several additional books, among them Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck, the companion to the documentary of the same name.
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