The Scorpions say they have had too much fun on their three-year long ‘farewell tour’ to actually call it a day.
The band had planned to retire at the end of their global tour but singer Klaus Meine admits the temptation to keep going has been too strong.
He tells Deutsche Welle, “When you start a three-year farewell tour, you know you’ve got a long time ahead of you. But that long period went by much faster than we imagined. The closer we got to the goal – Munich in December 2012 – the stronger the feeling was that we hadn’t come to the end at all. There were so many images in our minds and so many emotions in our hearts. Everything we experienced between 2010 and 2012, the 200 concerts, it was all so powerful. You stand on stage, look down and see so many fans, including the younger generation, who are really getting into it and saying, ‘Guys, this is so cool. We’re seeing you for the first time. When will you be back?’ It’s so motivating and inspiring to play for three generations. We’re all having too much fun to put down the guitars.”
Lead guitarist Matthias Jabs explains the decision to keep going caused some internal bickering before they all agreed to keep on as an entity.
He explains, “At first, there were plenty of arguments in favor of stopping. But we were quickly overshadowed by the feeling of how much fun it all is. It doesn’t matter where we went, the shows were packed – in South America, the US, throughout Europe. So, we just thought this can’t really be the end.”
The band’s drummer James Kottak was jailed in Dubai earlier this year for a drunken incident at the UAE city’s airport. He was replaced by Swedish drummer Johan Franzon and there has been no news on whether Kottack will return.
additional source: classicrockmagazine.com
21 Responses
Wish bands would stop using the farewell tour label. It’s turning into the boy who cried wolf. The more it happens, the less people are going to believe.
A band should retire when they can’t deliver at their highest level any more. The Scorpions are still at the top of their game. They still play great, sound amazing and after all these decades, Klaus’ voice is still incredible. It was a mistake for them to want to retire and I’m glad they realized that to.
This is my first post: Greetings Metal Friends, My Scorpion complaint is I bought the last CD (Sting) because it came with a code for early ticket access. I was lead to believe they would tour the USA for Farewell. They never even came to the Southeast and years later they still havn’t. I would see them again but feel they sold CD with false promise.
Word has it that when Germany won the World Cup of Soccer, the Scorps were inspired to forge on, bursting with German pride. I heard a rumor that German Chancellor Angela Merkel will even contribute a blazing live guitar solo on some of their upcoming German tour dates.
Eagles,Cher,Police,Kiss,Crue, Scorpions……they like the loot offered after the lines said. Maybe a Bret Michaels salad in Pittsburgh is part of the deal.