Scorpions Live in KüçükÇiftlik Park

When I saw the poster for the Scorpions concert on May 23, I went through a long and painful struggle...The fact is that I had to leave Istanbul on May 22, and I had a reservation through Airbnb in Tekirdağ. However, I couldn't miss out on this event. When I returned to the apartment where I was staying, my first priority was to find tickets. The tickets for Zone B were priced at 63 euros, which was a reasonable price for me. The only remaining issue was finding a place to stay. The landlady was happy to extend my stay for three days for cash, and Tekirdağ also accommodated me by kindly cancelling my reservation with full refund. The electronic ticket indicated the concert would start at 6 pm, and I approached the concert venue around 4:45.

There was already a huge queue, and on the lawn, two young fans were diligently drawing a poster that read "I love Scorpions".

At about 5:30, the line started moving, and soon I was at the checkpoint. I was a little concerned about carrying a large Canon 6D DSLR camera and a 70-300 4/5.6 IS USM long-focus lens. The concert's rules prohibited professional photography, but the security officer briefly glanced at my camera bag, put a yellow and red wristband on my arm, and let me enter my area.

The venue was a standing parterre. There weren't many people, and I easily found a comfortable spot near the barrier between the zones.

Without delay, I took a few "trial shots" and waited for the concert to begin, naively believing that it would start soon.

But an hour and a half had passed, and nothing was happening. At the same time, there was a suspiciously small audience, and no one was looking at the stage or expressing impatience.

To my surprise, the majority of young people were standing and sitting on the pavement, chatting peacefully.

With nothing better to do, I started taking pictures of the public, as there was no shortage of beautiful girls.

As I said, I was surprised by the large number of young people, although in my country, Scorpions are only listened to by old music lovers. By the way, although I am a fan of rock classics from the 70s, this band has never attracted my close attention, although I have a concert of Acoustica in the Lisbon Convento do Beato in my video collection and I really like it.

I expected to see 50-year-old fans at the concert, but that wasn't the case.

99.99% of the audience were under 30, and I saw no more than a dozen middle-aged people, as well as two elderly women of uncertain age dressed in hippie-style clothes and clearly tipsy.

There were a lot of young female fans with Scorpions headbands.

The abundance of female fans also puzzled me, as I had assumed that hard rock was a male domain.

By eight o'clock, the stage was coming to life.

Technical staff appeared.

The stage lights were turned on.

But after a while, the stage was empty and the lights went out.

I went back to taking pictures of the public.

Turkish girls are amazingly beautiful from all angles!

Finally, I got tired of standing at the barrier, and there was no way to sit on the asphalt, as there were a lot of people. So I started exploring the area to find a place to sit.

There was a seating area that was completely filled. In my opinion, the location was not very good, as you had to sit sideways to the stage.

Again, excitement on the stage, again, hope for a quick concert.

It should be noted that all this time, well-known rock classics were playing in very good quality from the speakers on the sides of the stage. However, no one was jumping around to the catchy songs, and the audience was surprisingly calm.

The fuss on stage ended in nothing again, and I assumed from the relaxed behavior of the audience that such delays in a concert were normal here.

As I later realized, the concerts here start after the İBB Maçka Democracy Park, which overlooks the concert venue and where, unknowingly, crowds gather to watch the concerts for free, closes.

I walked to the very end of the grassy area, where many people were sitting.

There was still a place to sit, but I saw a better option: a stack of boards near the outer fence.

From there, I could see a significant part of the site, and I continued my photo shoot.

There was a bar next to me that sold draft beer and other drinks, as well as various snacks. Again, I was surprised that alcohol was freely available at a rock concert. Even if it was just beer, the hours of waiting could lead to a significant intoxication.

However, I have never seen anything like this, and I have never met such a cultured audience.

Looking ahead, I can say that even by the end of the concert, there was no typical garbage for such events, such as plastic cups and food wrappers.

The toilets were also in good working order. There were many blue portable toilets at the entrance, and I didn't see any queues.

Around 10 p.m., when it started to get dark, crowds of people suddenly poured in from the entrance, regulars who knew when the concerts really started.

Very quickly, the crowd became dense, and the speakers asked those sitting on the lawn to stand up. I realized that the action was about to begin.

Nevertheless, the beginning took me by surprise!

Without any preamble, the scene came to life and powerful chords of Coming Home began to play.

Standing behind the crowd, I looked through the viewfinder and was completely shocked by what I saw.

For the first few minutes, I felt like I was in a dream.

The light, the sound, and the giant images on the screens made me feel like I was dreaming.

At the beginning of the concert, I was as far away from the stage as possible, and I had to extend the lens to its maximum 300mm, where its sharpness left much to be desired.

However, the stage lighting was so bright that I set the aperture to f/11, keeping the shutter speed relatively short.

Then I slowly moved closer to the stage.

I must say that the crowd was quite passable, and none of the spectators showed any displeasure when I squeezed past them.

And when I was almost at the barrier of zone A, a young man himself offered to take his place, saying that I needed it more. Respect to the Turkish public.

About halfway through the concert, it started to rain, first lightly and then heavily, but no one seemed to notice - I didn't see a single umbrella open.

In front of the stage, there were two high platforms with large video cameras. The images were processed in real time with special effects and broadcast on giant screens.

Rudolf Schenker was born on 31 August 1952 in Hildesheim, Germany, at the age of 71.

He started playing guitar at the age of 5, and at the age of 16, he formed his own band, Nameless, which he later renamed Scorpions.

The highlight of the concert was undoubtedly Wind of Change. Here, the entire venue was singing with Klaus. Again, it was done quietly, in a low voice.

I heard new words Listen to my heart, it says, waiting for the wind to change. This is the third and apparently final version of the lyrics.

In 2022, Klaus Meine replaced the original lyrics "I follow the Moskva / Down to Gorky Park" with "Now listen to my heart / It says Ukrainia".

In 2024, the explicit political context was replaced with lines about hoping for the best.

Then, in stark contrast to the lyrical ballad, Mickey Dee's powerful drum solo lasted almost 10 minutes.

The physical form of the elderly and very massive Swede, who was known for his participation in the heavy metal band Motörhead from 1992 until its dissolution in 2016, is impressive.

Mickey Dee was born on October 31, 1963, in Gothenburg (60 years old), and joined Scorpions in 2016, replacing James Kottak, who left due to alcohol issues.

However, the other band members also look very cheerful.

The youngest member of the band, bassist Paweł Mąciwoda. Born on February 20, 1967 in the Polish mining town of Wieliczka (57 years old). Since the age of 15, he has been playing in various jazz and blues bands in Poland, then in the USA.

At the end of 2003, he became a member of Scorpions, replacing Ralph Rickermann, who had switched from bass guitar to film scoring. In 2013, Monczyk was recognized as the best bass guitarist in Poland.

The concert ended with the song Rock You Like a Hurricane.

Matthias Jabs (born October 25, 1956 in Hanover, Germany, aged 67) has been playing guitar in various rock bands since the age of 14. In 1978, he auditioned for the Scorpions and became the band's lead guitarist.

Matthias Jabbs is considered one of the most technical hard rock guitarists, and he was included in the list of the world's greatest guitarists by the British magazine Classic Rock.

Klaus Meine was born on May 25, 1948 in Hanover (75 years old). A professional vocalist and songwriter, at first considered the idea of his friend Rudolf Schenker unpromising. However, very soon he joined Scorpoints and played a big role in its formation.

In conclusion, I want to say that this is the most fantastic sight I have ever seen.

I left the concert hall around 15:00 and planned to walk to Topkapi, where I lived, but I managed to catch the last tram to Kabatşa.