LYON and STRASBOURG
(photos HERE)

OK well... where to begin...? It was just all so damn wonderful.
The main thing, apart from the tumultuous welcome they got at both the gigs I saw (and which they also got at the two Greek gigs) was the way they were all so happy and comfortable and relaxed and at ease with each other onstage and off.
No eggshells, no landmines, no broken fingers, no broken necks.
All the energy was positive energy.
They cranked straight into Midnight Train, and then followed it with (bugger, I forget the running order) Mother Mary, This Kids, Let It Roll, Only You Can, Lights Out, Doctor Doctor, Love To Love, Rawwwk Budddum, Shoot Shoot etc, and from the new album they played Jelloman, Baby Blue, Wild One, Call Me and Daylight. The surprises that I told you about were.... I'm A Loser (wonderful to hear that one played Live again) and.... Fighting Man, from Sharks - which is a great song, sadly overlooked by UFO fans because so many of them seem to have put their copy of Sharks in the darkest recesses of their cd cupboard.
One thing that was very apparent was how well-received Vinnie and Jason were. Jason was blistering on the drums - a powerhouse of energy, and Vinnie was everything you wanted him to be - excellent on the guitar (of course!), as well as impressing his own style on the UFO classics without trying to be a Schenker clone, and with a great personality, interacting with the crowd and with the rest of the band. He is the right man in the right place at the right time. No question about that!
It was also wonderful to see Paul Raymond back where he belongs. And again, he had that weird quality I noticed at the rehearsals of looking younger as the set went on - by the end of the tour I bet he'll look about 17!! Phil was in fine voice and fine mic-stand-holding technique, and Pete was Mr. Rocknroll as always - although I wish he'd wear a hairslide, hahaha.
I suppose I'd better make this a well-balanced review and find something to criticise.... OK, well my only criticism was that the small stage at Lyon didn't give the fellas a chance to move about very much. But so what - their kinetic energy made the room feel like it was jumpin and jivin anyway!
Talking to the fans afterwards (oh yeh, by this time I was talkin perfect French - "Je suis Anglaise mais j'essaye parler le Francais" was all I needed to say and they were great, all told me to talk English and they spoke to me in English too), the feedback was that Vinnie was exactly right for UFO. I'm sure there must have been a few Schenkerites in da house, but I didn't hear anyone shouting his name, or hear anyone saying anything other than good things about the Vinman. Besides, you could see just from the look on their faces when Vin played Rock Bottom that they were more than happy with Phil's choice! We thought we were gonna have to come back for a third encore cos the crowds were so enthusiastic, and if it wasn't for the curfews set by the venues, I think we easily could have done.
So yeh.... they rawwwwwwwwwwwwwkkkkkkkkkkked. Blimey did they raaaaawwwwwwkkkkkkk!!!! I've been a UFO fan for 374565645 years, and I tell ya, I'm so proud of this new line-up, and so proud of the fans for sticking with them through all the shiiiit that went before, and for them to have come out on the other side of the stormclouds to be part of this new UFO era and for the fans to be able to share this with the boyyys.
They Are Here and We Are Here with them - life is good!

This review of the LYON gig is from GILLES

Here is the critic of the concert that occurred March 3rd 2004 in Lyon. I'm afraid it arrives a little late but my English is pretty poor and I had to make it translated by friends.
Beside the concert date published in the journal, there were no articles, no poster in the town. It is maybe why the concert took place in the "club", the small room of the "Transbordeur". Were we 200 or 300? I don't know, but the real fans, the pure and real ones were there!
At the beginning, I was a bit disappointed by the place that was a bit too small, but I rapidly understood that I had never seen them played before so close to me. A dream! There were no barriers, I was at less than 1 meter from Pete Way and Phil Mogg! So close that I received more than once the sweat of Pete and the sputter of Phil in my face (what a divine rain!). The shank of the bass of Pete was passing very close from me too… Here are the song tracks played :

Midnight Train Mother Mary Daylight Goes To Town Let It Roll I'm A Loser This Kids The Wild One Fighting Man Call Me Too Hot To Handle Jello Man Only You Can Rock Me Lights Out Love To Love Rock Bottom Doctor Doctor Shoot Shoot

Phil was in great shape at vocal level, I really appreciate his voice in “I’m A Loser”. This song is probably my favorite of this group, because it includes all what I love in UFO: acoustic intro where Phil’s voice is fully expressed, then crescendo, devastating solo, change of rhythm… just great!
Pete was not able, because of the space problem, to do his usual show but he appeared very concentrated. Paul Raymond was discrete (a bit too much!) but very efficient, going from guitar to the board, involved in the chorus… What a great feeling to see him again!
Here I come to Vinnie Moore who I found very talented. At the end of the concert, fans told me that they still preferred the feeling of Michaël Schenker, but I disagree. Of course, on the intro of “Doctor Doctor”, and in the long solo of “Rock Bottom”, Michael has no equal but after all, he created these solos so it is a bit fine too.
Vinnie is a very good guitar player, he perfectly gets along with the band, and we can count on him …
And Jason Bonham? Here it was a shock! Not only he was excellent, adding numerous drum rolls, but he was a leader, a catalyst of the group! We can easilly see that he loves playing! With him the old songs were played with a maximum of intensity. In brief, he is a monster, I was really impressed.
What a great moment on “Rock Bottom” when Vinnie, making a face during the long solo, Pete got back face to face to Jason, what a complicity and implacable rhythmic!)
Well, a lot more could be told but I would like to insist on 2 points:
I’ve seen a group very professional that were sticking together, very concentrated and totally complementary, the best conformation of UFO according to me.
I found the members of this group very relaxed, smiling. Pete gave us a friendly five between the tracks, Vinnie came and offered us his hand at the end of the concert.
They did a dedication, they were very accessible, signing everything that we were showing to them, taking time on the photos of the last concert. The “Lyonnais”’ fans were just in heaven. Of course it was too short, we would have stayed with them all night long. Also, when we were waiting for their departure in front of the bus, and that we again claimed for more dedications and photos. They accepted again without hesitation, it was very cool!
I did not tell them too much because, even though I am a big fan from forever, my English is so bad… (Batttttty, I would have loved chatting with you). Also, dear Tristan and dear Batttttty, if you can forward them a message, please tell them that in Lyon, we love them and we would die if they could come again to make us dream… and maybe from this tour will come out a live cd/dvd?

Here are some photos from after the concert

Paris - a review from Chris Barron

Just got back from an eventful trip to Paris and thought I would drop you a line with of the gig. Sorry there are no photos but I've yet to break into the digital age and didn't fancy lumping my 10 ton Nikon through the show. Anyway, here goes...

I won't bore you all with the set list, after all you all know it by heart at this stage and have probably burnt the tracks onto CD in order to get that 'being there' feeling. Yes?

We arrived at the venue mid way through what turned out to be Uli Jon Roth's set. I was confused as the only person on stage was a keyboardist doing 30 second snippets of you favorite rock and classical pieces. Very weird and, dare I say it, very working man's club, although the talent level was much higher, the guy could obviously play. Anyway normal service was resumed and Uli completed his set with a great version of Sails of Charon, All Along The Watchtower and a tribute to the dead of Madrid. It was nice to see him get such a great reaction from the crowd, a lot different to the polite, sporadic applause he received in the UK last time around.

With the lights up we had a better chance to check the venue out. It reminded me of a narrower version of Glasgow's Barrowlands. It was all standing with a gradual slope from the rear of the venue to the stage. To the rear was a bar, raised on a platform and offering a great view if you were one of the lucky ones up there. Oh and just a word of warning if you ever go there for another show, Paris and cheap beer don't go together.

Anyway, on to the show and some initial impressions of the new line up. Well as you would expect with it being the last night of the tour UFO were a well oiled machine. Everyone seemed very comfortable with their own role and with each other, this was very much a band. Naturally a lot of my attention was on Vinnie and Jason to see how they fitted into the system and I couldn't have been more impressed. Vinnie nailed all of the solos and, whilst being reverential to the originals, was able to impart something of himself into them. No, he isn't Schenker, but if he had been I would have been left with 2 tickets for a cancelled show. Face facts, Schenker and UFO can no longer operate together and both seem very content where they are now, so drop it guys. Jason was immense, I’ve seen him a number of times with different bands and yet I’m still always surprised at how loud he is. He has obviously picked up a bit of his fathers style so we were treated to numerous little fills that served to give even more life to some well worn classics. Jason also has a surprisingly good voice and was responsible for some great backing vocals.

On to the old guard now and I’ve rarely seen them play with such obvious enjoyment, it was huge smiles all round. Phil was in fine voice and there were no obvious signs that he was reaching the end of the tour. Baby Blue stood out in particular where Phil used every ounce of passion in his voice, stunning. I’ve never thought of Phil as one of the worlds greatest when it comes to interacting with the audience, he almost looks embarrassed at times, but he was on great form in Paris laughing and joking between almost every song. It was nice to see Paul back where he belongs and he looked very happy to be there. I don’t know what it is about Paul but he is so much of the UFO ‘sound’ and you really do lose something when he is not there, it’s good to have you back mate. Pete was…well...Pete. How do you describe him, I guess you just have to be there. He did seem a little bit quieter on stage than the last few tours but I guess he had no ‘policing’ to do this time and may have celebrated Villas win the night before a bit too much.

Like I said earlier I won’t go through each individual track but I’ll pick out a couple that really stood out. Daylight Goes to Town, close your eyes and it could have been ‘DC up there, what an opening riff! To be honest I’ve been a little bit down on You Are Here but listening to this live I was blown away, great new song and future classic. Shoot Shoot, great old song and definite classic. I’m A Loser, wow! Can’t say much more than that, perfection personified, more please. So all in all a great show lapped up by the 1000+ crowd.

After the show most of the band came out and signed stuff and posed happily for photos, no sign of Paul though before we trudged back to the hotel. Both Phil and Pete were particularly chatty, commenting on how much they had enjoyed the tour and playing with the new guys. Pete even had time to have a quick chat to my mate Rob in Harrogate via my mobile. Boy do these people get asked to do some strange things by their fans.

So there you go, a great nights entertainment from a great band. They all seem to be looking forward to the new tour as much as we are so get you tickets, hold on to your hats/hairpieces and enjoy the ride.