By Steve Newton
It totally sucks when you’re late for a concert and you miss the song you really, really wanted to hear.
That happened to me way back in 1975 when I drove in from Chilliwack to see the Edgar Winter Group at Vancouver’s Pacific Coliseum, and just as I got my first glimpse of the stage, opening act UFO was finishing its encore of “Rock Bottom”.
I only got to hear the last 30 seconds or so of that wicked tune the band had released the year before on its phenomenal Phenomenon album.
Regrets, I’ve had a few.
My suffering was relieved somewhat four years later when UFO released its double-live album, Strangers in the Night, which included an 11-minute version of “Rock Bottom” that captured lead guitarist Michael Schenker in all his fret-burning, Marshall-powered, Flying V glory.
The guys in Vancouver tribute band Coast to Coast–which covers material by UFO, Scorpions, and the Michael Schenker Group–must be fans of “Rock Bottom” as well, because today they released their own 11-minute version of the song, recorded live at the Surrey Arts Centre last year.
If you enjoy Coast to Coast’s version as much as I do, you can hear it performed live when the band returns to the SAC on Saturday, September 27. Ear of Newt is sponsoring the show, and it’s a benefit for the Surrey Food Bank, so you should probably go. You can find tickets here.
To hear the full audio of my 1992 interview with UFO’s Michael Schenker–as well as my conversations with Scorpions members Klaus Meine, Rudolf Schenker, and Uli Jon Roth–subscribe to my Patreon page, where you can eavesdrop on over 500 of my uncut, one-on-one conversations with the legends of rock.
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