SCORPIONS Kick Off North American 'Rock Believer' Tour In Toronto (Video)

SCORPIONS kicked off their North American "Rock Believer" tour last night (Sunday, August 21) at the Budweiser Stage in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

4K HDR "cinema-wide" footage shot at the show can be found below.

According to Rob Ksiadz, who filmed most of the video found at the bottom of this post, originally scheduled support act THUNDERMOTHER "did not perform. Instead, the SCORPIONS had Canadian artist JJ Wilde from Kitchener, Ontario open the show 30 minutes late. There was then further delay before the SCORPIONS took the stage, as lighting warnings from a nearby storm prompted the venue to shelter everyone from lawn seats and 400 section who were outside the venue roof."

SCORPIONS' setlist was as follows, according to Setlist.fm:

01. Gas In The Tank
02. Make It Real
03. The Zoo
04. Coast To Coast
05. Seventh Sun
06. Peacemaker
07. Bad Boys Running Wild
08. Delicate Dance
09. Send Me An Angel
10. Wind Of Change
11. Tease Me Please Me
12. Rock Believer
13. New Vision
14. Blackout
15. Big City Nights

Encore:

16. No One Like You
17. Rock You Like A Hurricane

Earlier this month, WHITESNAKE pulled out of the North American tour with SCORPIONS due to singer David Coverdale's "continued treatment for a persistent upper respiratory infection."

The SCORPIONS tour is scheduled to end on October 21 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

SCORPIONS's latest album, "Rock Believer", was released in February. The LP was recorded primarily at Peppermint Park Studios in Hannover, Germany and was mixed at the legendary Hansa Studios in Berlin, Germany with engineer Michael Ilbert, who has earned multiple Grammy nominations for his mix work with producer Max Martin on albums by Taylor Swift and Katy Perry.

SCORPIONS originally intended to record the new album in Los Angeles with producer Greg Fidelman, whose previous credits include SLIPKNOT and METALLICA. However, because of the pandemic, some of the initial work was done with Greg remotely, after which SCORPIONS opted to helm the recordings themselves with the help of their engineer Hans-Martin Buff.

SCORPIONS' new album marks their first release since 2017's "Born To Touch Your Feelings - Best Of Rock Ballads", which was an anthology of new and classic material.

SCORPIONS' previous full-length collection of new recordings was "Return To Forever", partially comprising songs the band had in the vault from the '80s. It was the final recorded appearance of SCORPIONS' longtime drummer James Kottak, who was dismissed from the band in September 2016. He has since been replaced by Mikkey Dee, formerly of MOTÖRHEAD.