EDINBURGH IS IN A TRANCE AS ULI JON ROTH REVISITS HIS SCORPIONS GLORY DAYS Uli Jon Roth/Crystal Breed: Bannermans, Edinburgh Words and Pictures: Ian Sutherland German progressive rockers Crystal Breed are an unknown quantity to most people in the hall tonight. On the tour as three of their number also play in Uli Jon Roth's backing band, their opening couple of numbers are a salvo of noodly, intricate jazz rock meets prog rock stylings and while the musicianship is exemplary I wondered if this was the right vibe for tonight's proceedings? As their set progressed though they settled into more of a relaxed progressive rocking style which along with frontman Niklas Turman's cheery between song banter soon had the crowd warming to them. Their self described prog epic in three acts 'The Castle' was just exactly as described and livened up by some superb guitar work from Turman, something which was a feature of the evening's entertainment. By the time their set ended Crystal Breed had made a fair few new friends and impressed an audience who weren't really expecting a full on progressive rock assault. A good job from the double duty guys. This was only ex-Scorpions man Uli Jon Roth's second ever gig in Edinburgh and he never played here with the band he made his name in. I for one was very excited then to hear those seventies classics in the city for the first time, as this set was based on the recent 'Tokyo Tapes Revisited' release and that original Scorpions recording is still one of my all time favourite live albums. Starting off with the catchy groove of 'All Night Long' several things were obvious right from the start. Niklas Turman had shown he was a fine singer in his Crystal Breed set and now he was showing he has the chops to do justice to those powerful Klaus Meine vocals on the original versions. Secondly Roth himself may be in his early sixties and sporting some distinguished grey hair these days but his fingers haven't aged much and he can still throw in some beautifully fluid runs on his patented Sky guitar. In addition this is of course his band so down the front you can hear that his guitar amp is very loud indeed and can even overwhelm the other instruments and vocals sometimes if you're close to the stage. You can put up with that last one because the playing is so good though. The Scorpions classics just keep coming as the set progresses. 'We'll Burn The Sky' and 'In Trance' inspire huge singing from the audience while those glorious riffs were blasted out in fine style. 'Fly To The Rainbow' started with some delicate playing from Uli and ended with his guitar creating the sound of Armageddon. In between there was some fine dual lead played by Roth and Turman together, really impressive from both and beautifully synchronised. There was more of the same on 'Catch Your Train' and 'Pictured Life', you can really see why it's Turman who gets this gig with his stellar singing and playing skills. Roth can't resist showing he still has a voice left too though so reprises his unusual vocal style on 'Dark Lady' among others. As with the 'Tokyo Tapes Revisited' release itself Roth stretched the idea to include some old Scorpions tunes which never made it on to that album. No one minds that slight cheat when you get to hear the majestic 'Sails Of Charon' or the mellow beauty of 'Yellow Raven'. Anyone who knows the career of the master of the Sky guitar knows about his inspiration from and links to Hendrix so it's inevitable that the night ends with a version of the Hendrix version of Bob Dylan's 'All Along The Watchtower'. No one seems to mind at all when the playing is this good though. This was a terrific gig from a master craftsman from the old school, showing he still has the fire and the skills to celebrate the songs that made him famous and with a great choice of musicians to join him adding to the occasion. Edinburgh's metal fans would be very happy if he came back more often and gave them more nights like this one. Check out more of Ian Sutherland right here. 30th May 2017