Uli Jon Roth, the German-born guitarist noted for inventing his own guitar, an early-career run with the Scorpions and a style that has influenced the likes of Kirk Hammett of Metallica and Yngwie Malmsteen, has mounted a North American tour with an ambitious scope and a multimedia presentation.
“I’m doing the first half of the program of the evening basically alone on stage with a large screen, playing music with the orchestra on screen, presenting my talk, and then also playing quite a few pieces which I wrote especially for this occasion,” Roth tells us. “I produced films to go with with each piece synchronized. The second half after the intermission is just the full-blown rock retrospective, so to speak, going back to my early days and we’re playing a lot of ‘Tokyo Tapes’ and we play some Electric Sun.” Here he refers to the Scorpions’ 1978 live album that he remade as “Tokyo Tapes Revisited” in 2016, and his first post-Scorpions band.
Fans coming to see Roth — including rock royalty in the form of Iron Maiden frontman Bruce Dickinson, who attended a Los Angeles concert — and his band are also being treated to pieces from Roth’s version of Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons” and his own Vivaldi-inspired “Metamorphosis Concerto.” Dates include Saturday, April 27 and Sunday, April 28 at The Iridium in New York. (Full tour dates here)
Superfans and guitar geeks can also buy into pre-show masterclasses, called “The Sky Is The Limit.”
“I love teaching, and as long as it’s a subject that I find interesting, I’ve always had that little bit of the teacher in. So I’ve got no problem showing people how I do it and why I do it,” he says.
You can listen to our entire interview with Uli Jon Roth below, including more about his 50-plus year career, his massive, soon-to be released book “In Search of the Alpha Law” and his philosophy on life and music, with a few doses of lighthearted humor.
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