On Saturday the 23rd, I went to see my first Megadeth and Scorpions concert on their “Crazy World tour”. Megadeth opened up for the Scorpions, a German band that formed in 1965, but released their debut in 1972. Their popularity reached its height when the original guitarist, Uli Jon Roth left the band, and then was replaced by Matthias Jabs. Their current lineup is vocalist Klaus Meine, guitarist Rudolf Schenker, lead guitarist Matthias Jabs, drummer Mikkey Dee, and bassist Paweł Mąciwoda.

Megadeth formed when Dave Mustaine was kicked out of Metallica in 1983, and then formed Megadeth. The band has since had a lot of lineup changes, the most impactful is when guitarist Marty Friedman left the band after a subpar album “Risk” in 1999. The current lineup for Megadeth is guitarist Dave Mustaine, Lead Guitarist, Kiko Loureiro, Bassist David “Junior” Ellefson, and drummer Dirk Verbeuren.

When Megadeth first came out onto the stage at the Allstate Arena I knew I was in for a treat, one night that I will never forget. The first song they played was “Hangar 18” from the “Rust in Peace” album, one of their most acclaimed albums. The drums were fast and furious, Dave’s voice was like it was from the 90’s, and the lead guitarist Kiko, I was blown away, the best guitarist Megadeth has had since Friedman. They played a set of at least 17 songs which is great since they’re a well-known band. The background videos they played was from their music videos from their new album, “Dystopia” and the songs fit well for what’s going on politically in today’s world. The themes for corruptness and corrupt leaders were present in many of their songs.

After Megadeth played I waited for at least 20 minutes and then, they came on. It started with a video of the city scape. A Scorpions helicopter was flying through and then the lights came on, Blue and red popped, then they all came out, the crowd was roaring, Klaus began the sing, I knew it was worth it to skip homecoming. They played a set of 24 songs, some new, a lot of their hits such as “Wind of Change”, “Rock You Like a Hurricane”, “Always Somewhere”, etc. Then they played their songs from the early 70’s, it was a real treat. Then Klaus told stories of them playing in the old Chicago theatre in the 70’s their first show there. He also talked about when they were playing “Wind of Change”, people have to help to get peace in the world. Towards the end of the show the drummer, who was in Motorhead, did a tribute to Lemmy with “Overkill”.

The show ended at about 11 and it was a night of thrash and hard rock, the perfect combination. The band threw their picks, Klaus threw out tambourine. Truly one of the most energetic shows I’ve been to, and mind you that the members of megadeth, (the exception of Kiko) are in the 50’s, and the members of the Scorpions are in their 60’s, rock on.