Uli Jon Roth at the Venue - Live in Vancouver April 1/2019 - Entire show in 4K!

I had the best seat in the house, my camera on Uli's stage monitor, but only during second set. I only missed one song, his solo acoustic piece beginning of set 2, which was quite amazing. Would love to hear an entire album of fingerstyle playing like this. My go pro batteries were so hot, they melted the tabs right off. That's what happens when you try to film 4k for more than 15 minutes. First set is all Electric sun, second set Scorpions and Hendrix. Great to hear Uli play songs from Electric Sun but I sorely missed 'Firewind', which was by far the best song on the second album ad one of the greatest solos of his career. Could have used more from the first album as well. They only did 'Electric sun'. The band was good, the singer was great, but I don't know why Uli bothers trying to sing anything when he had Turman to do it. The Electric sun songs with Turman on lead are vastly improved versions compared to Uli trying to sing them. When they played 'Why', that was the question I was asking. "Why, Uli, why? Why are you trying to sing when you have an actual singer?" Better to play them as instrumentals if the vocals are going to suffer. It reminds me how I used to edit Uli's Electric sun albums on cassette back in 1980. Some songs like 'children of the sea' were so badly mangled by the vocals, that they were virtually unlistenable, and I would edit out everything but the solo. This was the shock after he left Scorpions. I see an album with Uli as a trio, I think "This is going to be great!" and then you hear caterwauling. It was a shame that the vocals were not anywhere close to Klaus, and it became apparent why these post Scorpions albums didn't sell. I also noticed that there was a very tepid reaction to Electric Sun songs, even with the audience being all Uli fans. Found that a bit strange, but it demonstrates that his Scorpions material is, and will always be, the reason he sells any tickets at all. Only a two hour show, which is short by Uli's standards but likely because he did a pre-show. No encore. After 3 hours in Vegas in 2013 for only $5, two hours for $35 is a bit of an inflation let down, but still a good deal. Uli is the only guitarist I know that has a mood ring built into his guitar. That guitar is quite something. On one hand it's an admirable piece of engineering with more knobs than a Lynyrd Skynyrd concert, but on the other, it's also overkill. Uli likes to communicate with dogs with his extra 8 fret range on the guitar, but it can get a bit painful if you are not a lover of extreme treble and violin imitations. I have seen many guitarist not leave well enough alone, and with Uli, he used to be able to sound quite good with only a normal, six string strat. Not the greatest fan of his wobbly and shrill tone past his 80's work. Sometimes, the whammy needs a break and should not be used every five seconds. This is why I give special credit to fellow German legend, Michael Schenker, who doesn't bother with effects, whammy bars, extra frets, and still plays well. It was fun to hear Uli play Apache, as I play that quite often in my street show. But this was a very lazy cover with a badly played and inappropriate solo in that ruined the entire feel. Apache is not about soloing and using distortion, it's about holding back the notes and keeping it clean. There were massive solos in every song, so this was a chance to give our ears a break and hear some modesty. As expected, and as my female friend described it, this show was a 'sausage fest'. Maybe half a dozen women there, at best. Mostly everyone over 60. It shows you the sad state of guitar interest and popularity these days when a legend like Uli can only pack a 100-150 max venue, and it is filled with old men. We are all fast becoming dinosaurs on the verge of extinction. I think the end of yellow raven 1:38:40 is the greatest riff that Uli ever wrote for the Scorpions. It does not get its due. Sails of Charon gets all the credit but this song is very underrated. It's one of those progressions that can endlessly repeat and it never gets tiring. They could have played that riff for ten minutes. All in all, it was great to see Uli still able to play such intricate and demanding pieces at his age. It's not uncommon for older, and especially shred guitarists, to fall prey to arthritis, muscle problems, etc. It ends the career of many. Surprised to see him wearing a hairpiece, though. Seems very vain for a 'spiritual' guy like him. If he offered a tour package that let me shave off his fossilized mustache that he has worn since 1973, I would gladly buy it. I spoke to the singer after the show and he confirmed that their visa problems last year were due to Canada's increasing efforts to block foreign musicians. I want Uli here but also understand this because I am a local musician and I am now forced to busk the streets as the clubs are all closed.