UFO North American Tour 2011 feat Mindflow – REVIEW

On UFO’S North American tour 2011, featuring Mindflow, they came to the Arcada Theater in St. Charles, Illinois. You can check out our review after the break.

I really hope the Arcada Theater keeps doing awesome concerts like this because the location is right in the heart of downtown St. Charles and there is tons of free parking. It’s an old theater that was built in 1926 and has now been remodeled, but it still has a classic feel to it. Oh, I forgot to mention, this concert was SOLD OUT!

With an epic intro playing before stepping and lights skimming the crowd, Mindflow, from Brazil took the stage. The singers voice reminded me of Bruce Dickinson (Iron Maiden) at times, which was interesting to see with a more modern sound of rock guiding it. Right after the first song they had a small intermission while the drummer had to fix his kick pedal, and he said “Sorry about that, I was so excited to play for you all that I broke my kick pedal!” It’s great to see people recover from technical difficulties with a good attitude. They were a talented band! I think if they toured the states with some younger rock bands, they would have a better fit. After their set it was awesome to see a bunch of 50-60 year old men fighting over the drumsticks and guitar picks that they threw off stage.

I’ve never heard so many older men and women yell for a band in my life! Chanting “U F O” and gibberish after it from drinking too much alcohol already. I even saw a couple older men spinning their t-shirts around their heads like a helicopter! I hope that this is what I’ll be doing when I’m older and going to concerts

With a grand entrance, UFO took stage in the darkness and quickly the lights came on and the entire crowd quickly stood up and cheered. UFO cranked into their songs with some head banging, lifting their guitar up into the air, twisting the mic stand and blazing through guitar solos! With fists pumping and the crowd singing along to every song, you could tell that they still have a strong following. What an amazing career to be able to still sellout venues after being around since the 70’s!

Their vocalist was the hippest and youngest man trapped in an older body. He had the youth of a 20 year old and still drinking beer on stage like a rock star! Even after decades of rocking, they still seemed to enjoy being on stage. I was a little hesitant as to why after all this time do they still get up on stage, but after watching them and seeing their passion come to life in every song, it was very evident that they STILL loved what they do and that to me is priceless.

It cracked me up that every single time the vocalist would talk in-between songs I couldn’t understand anything he was saying and I don’t think anyone else did either, but everyone clapped and cheered anyway! And though they had a sold out crowd chanting “UFO”, I couldn’t tell you for the life of me what song was for an encore ’cause once again I couldn’t understand what he was saying, but everyone went crazy!

Information about the review…
Tour: UFO North American Tour 2011
Artists: UFO (SPV Records) and Mindflow (Nightmare Records)
Date: May 21, 2011
Venue: Arcada Theater in St. Charles, IL