German hard rock royalty graced the stage at American Airlines Center as the Scorpions brought their Rock Believer tour to Dallas. It's hard to believe that in 2010 this was a band talking about retiring. Yet here they are, doing what they do best and STILL at the top of their game! The band is as timeless as their music. Singer Klaus Meine sounds as good today as he ever has. Guitarists Rudolph Schenker and Matthias Jabs ran around the huge stage and center ramp with the energy of men half their age. The rhythm section of bassist Pawel Maciwoda and legendary Motorhead drummer Mikkey Dee brought the thunder. Seeing a band with this much history, sounding so good while playing in a huge arena like this made many in the crowd feel like it was the 80s all over again.

But the Scorpions are no nostalgia act. They were touring in support of yet another great new album, Rock Believer. They played four songs from it including the title track, the show opener "Gas in the Tank," "Peacemaker" and the killer "Seventh Sun." Several instrumental numbers gave each band member a chance to shine as well. Schenker was featured on the classic "Coast to Coast," Jabs on "Delicate Dance" and "New Vision" put the spotlight on Maciwoda and Dee. In a very cool moment during Dee's drum solo a huge slot machine was shown on the big screen behind him and on one of the rotations it came up with Lemmy faces and an Ace of Spades.

The only downside to a band like the Scorpions is that with a well over 50 year career and so many great albums they could play three nights in a row with completely different sets and still miss somebody's favorite song. Still, they did their best to work in as many of their big radio hits as they could into the rest of the set. Highlights included "The Zoo," "Send Me an Angel," "Wind of Change" (with updated lyrics), "Blackout" and "Big City Nights." The show would come to a close with two of the Scorpions biggest and best, "No One Like You" and "Rock You Like A Hurricane."