Though the date is listed as 1985, this footage of the Scorpions filmed at Madison Square Garden was actually shot in 1984 while the Scorps were during the Love at First Sting tour. Tickets were 13.50–a low price to pay for so much metal.
The band was on the road in support of their ninth studio record, Love at First Sting–a monster hit that propelled the band to heavy metal superstardom. The erotic cover of the album, shot by Helmut Newton (who was tapped to shoot the cover by Klaus Miene, according to former Scorpions drummer Herman Rarebell), didn't exactly hurt sales either. If you have an old-school copy of the album with Newton's photograph, congratulations, as this version was yanked after distributors complained, and was replaced with Newton's inner sleeve photo of the band. This didn't deter the Scorpions from using another of Newton's pictures from the shoot for the cover of Gold Ballads, a German release put out by Harvest, an international arm of EMI.
Getting back to the video, we get treated to images of fans arriving at Madison Square and a cheeky interview with some feathered-haired female fans of the band, and footage of the massive task of loading the Scorpions into the 20K-+ venue.
Of course, the best part is the live performance of the Scorpions absolutely killing "Dynamite" before coming back for not one, but two encores. It's such a great time capsule and will make you really miss the whole "going to a live show" experience even more. Here's to getting back to that safely, as soon as possible. If you're a big Scorpions fan like me, the entire set (which was pretty much perfection) was recorded and released in 2015 as a part of the Deluxe Edition of Love at First Sting.
