A couple of legendary guitarists have gotten together for a U.S. tour and kicked it off here at the House of Blues. Tonight Michael Schenker and Uli Jon Roth came to the Southland and put on a great display of guitarsmanship. Besides being great guitarists and the tour, what else do they have in common? Well, first they are both German, and second they both were lead guitarists for rock legends the Scorpions.

Although they have a lot in common their shows tonight were quite different. Performing in his first U.S. show in 19 years, Uli Jon Roth came out tonight with his unique invention, the 6-octave Sky guitar and played a variety of music ranging from Scorpions tunes like "Sails of Charon" to classical scores like Vivaldi's "Winter". Uli's on stage show consisted of him on guitar, a keyboard/sequencer on his right and behind him was a huge screen playing videos while he played. It was interesting to watch him play along with a video/soundtrack of the all-female Sky Orchestra performing his "Metamorphosis Concerto". Overall the show was quite enjoyable and the guitar playing was fantastic. To find out more about Uli and all his projects visit him at www.ulijohnroth.com

When Michael Schenker and his group hit the stage you can't help but start rocking out. With a great wealth of material to chose from his time with the Scorpions, UFO, and his own act the show rocks from start to finish. Opening with "Lights Out" and moving on to classics like "Rock Bottom", "Doctor, Doctor" the whole show had energy. The whole band has great stage energy with the bassist, Rev Jones, ricocheting all over the stage. The show was sold out and I'm sure that everybody got their moneys worth. Michael has a lot of things in the works including a new CD and a DVD in the works and to find out the latest go to his website at www.michaelschenkerhimself.

I didn't know that there was an opening act and when I walked in Heaven and Earth were already well into their set. I did surf the web and found some info on them at www.stuartsmith.com. Stuart Smith is the bands guitarist with Paul Shortino formerly of Rough Cutt on vocals, Dave Chamberlin/bass, Scott Warren/keyboards and Richie Onori on drums. The band is based here in SoCal and have a 4 cut CD out which they have released on their own label, Black Star Records. The tracks on the EP are "Screaming for Redemption", "Heaven", "Nasty Piece of Work" and "It's Be True" and the music is best described as straight up pounding solid rock. Look for more of them in the future.

To see the future of concerts at the House of Blues then visit www.hob.com and to see my future go check out www.revnkevin.com.