Saturday night and the Viejas Arena was rocking. The arena located at San Diego State University campus was full of fans ready to rock out with one of the great rock bands, The Scorpions. I was first really introduced to the scorpions through Roger Waters of Pink Floyd fame, when he performed the Pink Floyd masterpiece The Wall live in 1990 in Berlin to commemorate the fall of the Berlin Wall eight months earlier. There was this German rock band performing the opening number, “In The Flesh” on the biggest stage I had ever seen (I saw it on TV, I wasn’t actually there, but man, do I wish I was). The band drove out on to the stage in a limo. Anyway, after that performance, the Scorpions were on my radar and I have bee glad to see and photograph them a couple times since.
Thundermother opened the show and all I can say is Wow. These young woman really rock. Before the show, I was chatting to one of the other photographer there covering the show and he had interviewed the band previously and told us that these four woman were the real deal. He was 100% right. Their set sounded great and they had enough rock star moves and poses to keep every fan happy. This was my first time seeing this band and I don’t think it will be my last.
Filippa Nässil – Guitar
Guernica Mancini – Vocals
Mona “Demona” Lindgren – Bass
Emlee Johansson – Drums
Setlist:
The Scorpions set started with a kabuki curtain hiding the stage from view with “Scorpions” across the front. When the curtain dropped there was a second curtain with “Are You Ready To Rock” across the front. From the crowd volume of cheers, the crowd was ready, willing and able. Then second banner dropped and the band kicked off the 17 song set with “Gas In The Tank” from their 2022 release Rock Believer and they would go on to play three more tunes from it; “Peacemaker”, “Seventh Sun”, and the title track “Rock Believer”. The rest of the set was spread out over seven other albums including Love at First Bite, and Blackout.
The fans sang along to the entire show, from the newer tunes all the way through the two song encore of “Rock You Like a Hurricane” and “No One Like You.” arguably the bands biggest hits and most popular songs. The last time I saw the Scorpions was back in 2012, and I can’t believe that in ten years, they haven’t really aged or slowed down at all. Here is was, October of 2022 and the band looked as good and sounded as good as they did back in 2012.
Rudolf Schenker – Rhythm Guitar, Backing Vocals
Klaus Meine – Lead Vocals
Matthias Jabs – Lead Guitar, Backing Vocals
Paweł Mąciwoda – Bass, Backing Vocals
Mikkey Dee – Drums
Setlist:
Encore:
There is a little bonus, the video of the Scorpions playing “In The Flesh” at the Roger Waters Berlin The Wall show.
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Alan Hess is a photographer based in San Diego, where he lives with his wife and two rescued boxers.
Alan is currently the house photographer for a large concert and event venue in Southern California where he photographs everything from major musical acts to ice hockey. When he isn’t out taking photographs, he spends his time writing books and is an accomplished photography educator and trainer.
Alan’s images have been published in a variety of places including news papers, magazines, websites, promotional materials, album artwork, and press releases. His clients include The Associated Press, Fox Television, FX Network, USA Network, Hasbro, Framus Guitars, Gibson, The Dead, Picture Group, Photoshop User Magazine, Steel Pulse, Ziggy Marley, and many more.
He is the author of sixteen photography and technology books covering everything from night and low light photography to multiple shot techniques. His books are sold around the world and have been translated in other languages including: Chinese, French, Polish, Japanese, Thai, and Italian.
