Scorpions Crazy World Tour Shanghai

Date: Nov 21 - 8 pm

Venue: Mercedes-Benz Arena

Fifty years have gone by since the days the juvenile Klaus Meine, Rudolf Schenker and Matthias Jabs wandered the streets of Hannover, which was just awakening from post war paralysis, with a barrow carrying their instruments and amplifiers.

In these 50 years, they have become Germany's, or rather continental Europe's most successful rock band, the living proof that not only VW, Mercedes or BMW are able to compete internationally, but classic rock music made in Germany as well.

Countless bands, including the Smashing Pumpkins as well as Green Day, Korn, System Of A Down or Queensryche have covered songs by the Scorpions throughout the years. "Rock You Like A Hurricane" on its own was covered over 150 times by different musicians.

Expressing a career like the one of the Scorpions in mere numbers is almost impossible. However, one number that should still be mentioned is more than 100 million records sold to date. This makes the Scorpions the most successful rock band of continental Europe by far. Countless silver, gold and platinum awards are only one side of the Scorpions' history.

Another is their unabated desire to travel. No other rock band of their caliber after so many years takes to the stage as often as the Hannover natives. They have played thousands of concerts in all corners of the planet. There was the 1989 "Moscow Music Peace" festival, where the Scorpions ultimately conquered Russia, inspiring Klaus Meine to write the track that not much later became the theme song to the Iron Curtain's final fall: "Wind of Change".