Calling all guitar geeks! Your attendance at Uli Jon Roth’s Ultimate Guitar Experience is highly encouraged, so pick out favorite black concert t-shirt and prepare to be wowed. The 2016 North American Tour kicked off on February 26th and has been gigging its way across the country with dates scheduled in 18 states and parts of Canada. Six-string enthusiasts in Savage, MN recognized this rare opportunity to witness a stadium caliber performance in a much more personal setting at Niesen’s Bar and made a point to show up on March 26th. For the event, Roth recruited Andy Timmons (Danger, Danger) and Jennifer Batten (Jeff Beck Band and Michael Jackson) to start out the evening, each playing their own stylistically unique set and later returning to join him for an all-star jam very much resembling Joe Satriani’s G3 Tour format.
One of the unwritten requirements at a show of this nature is to approach the stage and see how many pieces of equipment you can identify. On this night, Andy Timmons would have won first place for most daunting pedal board. Turns out it was not just for looks as he tapped and stomped his way to the kind of raging tone most players will never find their way to. His stage presence was exciting and won over the crowd’s attention with classic rock-n-roll poses and plenty of energetic hair flipping. Timmons can do it all with great technical skill and speed, but where he shines most is his expressive fret board finesse while soloing. He wisely incorporated some familiar covers (Hendrix, The Beatles) with his own material from various projects, closing with his popular song “Cry for You”.
Batten commanded the stage next with a completely different, but equally engaging display of guitar mastery. She pulled off a full band show all by herself with pre-programmed tracks on a Mac. Batten cleverly filled the un-manned stage space with a life size video screen. She communicated well with the audience and explained how she likes pairing video with instrumental music because it can be entertaining without even needing to make sense. Batten setup her song “Cat Fight” with a funny story about how owning cats has led to an obsession with building a cat patio (“catio”) for them to live in. Unable to settle on just one standout song to play for a guitar crowd, she ended the set with a monster medley that covered the music of several generations and gave her a chance to show of a library of riffs and exceptional two handed tapping technique.
The audience had already been exposed to an abundance of scales and riffs, but were still buzzing in anticipation of the main event. The moment had arrived and Uli Jon Roth graced the stage looking every bit the Classic Rock God he is known to be; black sparkly shirt, long hair tied back with a green gypsy headband, large black cross necklace, leather moccasin style boots, blue feathers dangling from the tuning pegs of his custom Dean guitar held in place by a white fuzzy strap. Plenty of artists may continue to play songs they’re known for from era’s past, but Roth comes across more authentically as he still appears to be living in that moment. He was in complete control of the shows energy and flow flying blind without a predetermined set list, keeping his full band on high alert watching intently for cues. Roth’s output was undeniably LOUD, but he played with great finesse and focus and tonally was on point with the early day Scorpions sound fans came to hear. They went crazy for “The Sails of Charon”, which came early in the set and rocked hard. Another standout moment came when Roth heaved on the mighty double neck and fingerpicked a 7-string Spanish style intro for “Fly to the Rainbow”. The encore was epic with Roth, Batten and Timmons all trading solo’s during a Hendrix infused “All Along the Watchtower” & “Little Wing”.
This show truly was a hidden gem that allowed you permission to escape reality for a few hours, travel back in time and relive the lost sense of what it felt like to rock in the 1970’s. It did not have “dialed in” feel as Roth appeared to be serious about what he came to do and the result was an effectively passionate performance. It felt genuine when he thanked fans for coming out and best of all he promised to come back next year.
