Uli Jon Roth’s spiritual journey in Roppongi
Uli Jon Roth created a magical evening in Roppongi for his Japanese fans.
Uli Jon Roth at EX Theater Roppongi, Tokyo, Japan on 28th August 2025
Some of the world’s best guitarists perform incredibly boring shows. But not Uli Jon Roth. While some of his industry colleagues put on performances focused on showcasing their ability to play fast and complicated music, German guitar maestro Uli leaves the guitar wankery out of his shows. Instead, this evening in Roppongi, he demonstrated what an incredible guitarist, songwriter and artist he is by letting the music do the talking. He is well aware that his guitar needs to perform in harmony with the other instruments and, at times, vocals. The end goal is to entertain the listeners, not to show off skills.
This evening, we got the best of this exquisite artist. He took us on a fabulous spiritual journey with stops in the past, present and future.
The performance was divided into two major parts. The first part saw Uli perform with the Sky Orchestra. It was sheer bliss experiencing Uli’s fine guitar wizardry as part of a full orchestral instrumentation. This part of the evening included Mozart’s “Queen of the Night” and a terrific abbreviated version of “Hiroshima de Profundis”. It finished with a flawless version of Scorpions’ “The Sails of Charon”. Utter perfection!
The second part of the evening showcased Uli as a rock guitarist, including him performing a bunch of early Scorpions favourites.
Uli replaced Michael Schenker as lead guitarist in Scorpions in 1973. During his tenure with the band, which he left in 1978, he made his mark on the studio albums “Fly to the Rainbow”, “In Trance”, “Virgin Killer” and “Taken by Force” as well as performing on the legendary live album “Tokyo Tapes” (recorded at Nakano Sun Plaza).
In Roppongi, Scorpions fans got treated to “Sun in My Hand”, “Pictured Life”, “Catch Your Train”, “We’ll Burn the Sky” (performed with three guitars and a violin!) and “In Trance”. Wow! An excellent night in Roppongi finished with two covers: “Don’t Tell the Wind” (originally by Uli’s late brother Zeno Roth) and “All Along the Watchtower” (Bob Dylan).
What a masterly performer Uli Jon Roth is. Thank you for the music.
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