Uli Jon Roth, Graham Bonnet Band, Frank DiMino

For night 2 of Uli, we drove an hour west to St. Charles to our favorite seated venue, the Arcada Theater. It was here I celebrated my 16th birthday with Uli back in 2015.

Playing with Uli tonight was Frank DiMino of Angel fame and the legendary Graham Bonnet. Frank kicked off the evening with a set of Angel classics and new songs. Because he was the opener, he only played 9 songs which was a bummer. Hopefully he comes back soon to play a headlining set. He looked and sounded phenomenal. I didn't know until the show started, but Jeff Duncan (Armored Saint) is the guitarist of his solo band! We bumped into each other in between sets and I told him about how Armored Saint kicked ass when I saw them opening for Queensrÿche last December. He was really cool and went on about how between John Bush and Frank DiMino, he's spoiled when it comes to playing alongside amazing singers.

Next up was Graham Bonnet who hasn't aged a day physically or vocally in almost 40 years. I couldn't tell you the last time he has been to the Chicagoland area, so it must've been a long time! Ron Onesti, owner of the Arcada, said that he can't even remember how long he's been trying to get Graham at the theater. Playing an hour long set, it was well worth the years of waiting. His set was a career retrospective of Rainbow, Michael Schenker Group, Alcatrazz, and solo material (new and old). Much like Frank, it would have been nice if he was able to play a bit longer, but this was Uli's show.

Uli played the same set as he did the night before, but instead of playing "Virgin Killer", he switched it out with "Catch Your Train". Regardless, I could see Uli a million times and I'll never get tired of it. He's one of those guitarists who's able to go into a solo and by the time he's done, your jaw will drop to the floor. It's no wonder Bruce Franklin of Trouble was in attendance that night. From Bruce to Kirk Hammett to Yngwie Malmsteen, it could be argued an entire generation of guitarists wouldn't exist if not for Uli.

After the show, I decided to do the meet and greet which cost the same as a shirt ($35). Much as I remembered him 2 years ago, Uli was nice as could be and took 5 minutes to talk with everyone! When I finally got around to meeting him, he remembered me from my 16th birthday! Could you believe that?! He signed all of my albums, a promo photo, and a massive poster. We talked about "Pictured Life" and I told him how that was one of my favorite opening riffs ever. I asked how he came up with it and get this, he says he ripped it off from Eric Clapton on the opening riff to "Layla"! Could you believe that? I never would've heard it in a million ears, but then he went on to say, "A good ripoff is never able to be recognized as a ripoff." Wow!