UFO at B.B. King Blues Club & Grill

Phil Mogg

UFO formed in 1969 in London, England, first as Hocus Pocus before taking the name of the local club that broke the band. UFO started as a space rock band but quickly became a hard rock band, and for almost a decade seemed to be the highly-regarded opening act on many bigger hard rock tours. UFO split and reformed repeatedly over the past 48 years, such that 38 musicians can claim that they were members of the band. The band's current lineup consists of vocalist and sole constant member Phil Mogg, lead guitarist Vinnie Moore, keyboardist/rhythm guitarist Paul Raymond, bassist Rob De Luca and drummer Andy Parker. UFO's 20th and most recent album is 2015's A Conspiracy of Stars.

Co-headlining a tour with Saxon, UFO headlined tonight at B.B. King Blues Club & Grill, and provided a strong retrospective on the first era of hard rock. The majority of the set consisted of songs from the band's 1970s repertoire, although it also included a handful of songs from more recent albums. Saxon constructed another shade of AC/DC-style rock, but the fabric of UFO's performance approximated the structure of Bad Company's format. Mogg's soulful vocals scaled rhythm and blues-inflected intonations to Moore's dazzling and melodic guitar work. This chemistry powered each song. The songs initially balanced song content and instrumental solos, building gradually to more extended solos towards the end of the set on fan favorites "Rock Bottom" and "Doctor, Doctor." As it was in the late 1970s, so it is in 2017.

Visit U.F.O. at www.ufo-music.info.

Concert setlist

1. Mother Mary
2. Long Gone
3. Run Boy Run
4. Lights Out
5. Baby Blue
6. Let It Roll
7. Only You Can Rock Me
8. Burn Your House Down
9. Too Hot to Handle
10. Messiah of Love
11. Love to Love
12. Rock Bottom

Encore:

1. Cherry
2. Doctor Doctor
3. Shoot Shoot