Their latest casualty? Saturday’s show in Quito, Ecuador. Turns out frontman Klaus Meine (who’s about to celebrate his 77th birthday – shoutout to guys named Klaus who rock harder than your gym teacher) is still battling bacterial bronchitis. The band’s social media post basically said: “Dude’s vocal cords are on strike, sorry not sorry.”
“The band send their deepest apologies to all their loyal fans in Ecuador and are again extremely disappointed not to be able to play in one of their favourite countries. They’ll make every effort to return to Ecuador and South America in the future.”
Fun fact: SCORPIONS have been around since 1965 – that’s older than the concept of “classic rock” itself. Their 1990 ballad “Wind of Change” literally became the soundtrack to the Cold War ending, though we’re pretty sure Klaus didn’t plan that while writing it in a Moscow hotel room.
When asked about retirement in 2022 (because let’s face it, these guys are older than your dad’s leather jacket), Klaus dropped this wisdom bomb:
“No, we scratched that word [retirement] out of our [vocabulary]… We’re just growing older and we do what we do and we hope our fans enjoy it as much as we do… But who would have thought we’re still around after celebrating 50 years of being recording artists…”
Translation: “Retirement? That’s what happens to people who don’t have 200 million album sales.” The man then casually mentions their 2022 album Rock Believer like it’s no big deal they’re still dropping new music when most of their peers are collecting social security.
So here’s the deal: SCORPIONS’ South American tour is currently more postponed than a dental appointment. But hey, at least they’re consistent – these are the same guys who once canceled a 2010 tour because Klaus needed throat surgery, then came back swinging with a live album. Get well soon, Klaus. The world needs more 70-somethings proving that rock ‘n’ roll knees can still bend.
