UFO ENCOUNTER

Well...after surviving the Rapture Saturday, March 21, 2011, I lived to see UFO!  UFO..the band!  Back in the 70's when I moved to California, I never knew what I was missing (music-wise that is) until my new friends started introducing me to different bands and music. This is also where I gained my 15 minutes of fame in Pasadina, by sitting on stage (drunk-I have to admit-why else would I be on stage?) being used as a stage prop for David Lee Roth's high kicks, while preforming in a recognizably famous bar-band named Van Halen.

It was at this time also, that I was introduced to the sounds of UFO, according to my friends, one of the hottest things since Matzoh Ball soup!  They were based out of England and at this point, I really didn't care what part, since English bands were still pretty popular thanks to the Beetles arrival  in the 60's.

Ok, I have to admit, they were good.  I had heard better though, but there was something about their music that rocked me from the inside out, so I became addicted!  I have to admit also, although I was addicted, I only owned three of their albums.  It was around this time when I was leaving California and coming back to Ohio.  I bought their first album, "Phenomenon", which contained their hit, "Doctor, Doctor".

After getting back in Ohio, I hit the local record shop (yes, boys and girls, they did have record shops back in them there days) looking vigorously for ANY UFO album I could find. No luck!  I asked the guy behind the counter, never heard of them! WHAT!  You work in a record shop and you never heard of UFO?  Seemed that NO ONE in Cleveland had ever heard of them. Well, to make a long story short, I did manage to find two more albums, "Lights Out" and "Obsession".  Which now in real life, I only own the last two since someone conveniently stole "Phenomenon" somewhere along the way. And yes, I am well aware that there are more than three UFO albums in the world, but into the future I had other things to worry about, besides buying albums. Like trying to live on my waitress salary of $10. a day plus tips.

So the following Sunday night after the miscalculated Rapture, I was packed away like a sardine with all the other little fishes in the sea, sitting patiently for UFO to come on.  This has been a very long journey for me.  It has been (I'm guessing) 30 years in the waiting for this show.  Yes, I have never seen UFO in concert before!

The place was packed..literally..the stage was a joke.  I had never been to this place before, the Tangier in Akron, so I didn't know what to expect.  I did NOT expect for two bands to be crammed onto one small stage, one band in front of the other.  Poor organization if you ask me, but then no one did. 

The first band had about a foot of stage left to preform on, since their equipment was set up in front of UFO's equipment.  And although I had heard of these guys before, MindFlow (the opening act), I wasn't all that excited.  About three, maybe four years ago, I received a friends request from this band on MySpace...back when it was not so boring.  They were pretty good then, but noticing this night that a few of the members were not the same as back then, they....well....they were ok.  I couldn't shake the feeling that I was listening to a cover band for Journey, only with a little more rock to it.

Finally UFO came out on stage, Phil Mogg (co-founder/lead singer) seemed a little intoxicated, but then by now, so were most of the people in the audience.  But I have to say, it had NO effect on his vocals what so ever.  For a man that is 63 years old, he sounded just as good as he did the first time I heard one of their songs back in the 70's. 

Some people were complaining because he was spending to much time talking to the people in the audience.  This, I had no problem with.  He was acting like everyone in that room was his oldest and dearest friends. So what if he's visiting, what do they want him to do, just perform and not make people feel good.  And that was one of his points, he said he was there to make people feel good.  Although through some of the very long riffs by the lead guitarist (who could kill), he did seem a little lost, like he didn't know what to do with himself.  But looking back on some of their old videos from the 70's, YES, Phil Mogg was a younger man and had plenty of energy.

So, as I said to someone the other day, I can now scratch UFO off of my bucket list and say...been there...done that!  All in all, it was a very good show considering the sardine incident!  And if given the chance, I would go see them again....only I would just like it to be in a bigger room.  If you've never listened to UFO and you get a chance, check out some of their videos. I don't think you'll be too disappointed.

That's how I roll on this one...thanks for reading...Linda