U.F.O

U.F.O
Date: 10/27/09
Place: Key Club, West Hollywood CA
Review by ~ Aniruddh (Andrew) Bansal

U.F.O kicked off their set in front of a packed Key Club at around 10.30 with the opening song Saving Me from their latest album Visitor. Then they played Daylight Goes To Town from the You Are Here album. It was time some old stuff after this with the songs Mother Mary and Let It Roll from the amazing Force It album released 34 years back. I particularly enjoyed Let It Roll. Great riffs, solos and a very 'headbangable' song! I also loved the way it slows down towards the end. Vinnie Moore brought out his acoustic guitar to start off the next song I'm A Loser off of the No Heavy Petting album. It was a very delightful performance by Vinnie. Phil was great on the vocals even after all these years!!

After that amazing song, the second of the Visitor songs Hell Driver was played. I really liked the new songs. I hadn't got the chance to purchase the new album so this was the first time I was listening to it. I will definitely try to get the album now that I've got a taste of it! Rob DeLuca on the bass kicked off the next song Cherry, another song I really enjoyed and I felt it was one of the highlights of the set. Couple more songs from the Obsession album Only You Can Rock Me and Ain't No Baby came next. Vinnie used the acoustic again for the intro on this one. This was one of the slower songs in the set tonight, as was the next song Love To Love from the amazing Lights Out album. The guitar solo at the end of this was sublime!

The delightful Mystery Train from the No Place To Run album followed. It was time for more from the Lights Out album after this with the song Hot To Handle. Then came the best part of the set tonight, starting with the song Lights Out!! I've seen many U.F.O tribute bands play this one, one of them even named after this song and it was a pleasure to finally get to see it being played by U.F.O themselves. Then came the most awaited song, an extended version of the song Rock Bottom. They went in and of course came back out for the encore among shouts of 'U.F.O!'. Stop Breaking Down from the Visitor album was supposed to be played as the encore song but they went with Shoot Shoot instead. As much as I would have liked to see the new song, I didn't mind them going back to the Force It album, and neither did the crowd!!

They said thank you and left the stage once again. But they appeared for a second encore. They had to!! The song in question was the legendary Doctor Doctor. Then it was time for final goodbyes and thanks as the band left the stage. Phil was really great in his performance tonight. It shows that you can rock out even at the age of 61! He was awesome in his little jokes which he was telling in between songs on various occasions. Vinnie and Paul Raymond were great on the guitars and keyboard and so was Rob DeLuca on the bass. Andy Parker, whom I had the pleasure of meeting and interviewing before the show, also showed unbelievable energy on those drums.

I had gotten into U.F.O's music only because of my favorite band Iron Maiden who always play the studio version of Doctor Doctor on the P.A. before starting each show of theirs! And frankly I had never expected to see this band with my own eyes playing a show in the year of 2009, as they started out several years even before Iron Maiden did. I am so glad I saw them tonight! Thank you U.F.O!!

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Here's the complete set list in order:

1. Saving Me
2. Daylight Goes To Town
3. Mother Mary
4. Let It Roll
5. I'm A Loser
6. Hell Driver
7. Cherry
8. Only You Can Rock Me
9. Ain't No Baby
10. Love To Love
11. Mystery Train
12. Too Hot To Handle
13. Lights Out
14. Rock Bottom

Encore 1:
15. Shoot Shoot

Encore 2:
16. Doctor Doctor