Review and photos by Craig Eriksson.
Last night it felt like we stepped back in time to the 80s seeing the legendary Winger on their Farewell Tour of Australia at 170 Russell in Melbourne. I first got into Winger back in the late 80s hearing their song ‘Seventeen’, which was during a great time in hard rock along with other bands like Whitesnake, Van Halen, Motley Crue, Skid Row, Poison and Def Leppard all having big hits.
Winger are an American hard rock band from New York City which formed back in 1987. They soared to immediate success with their 1988 self-titled release that spawned the hit singles Seventeen and Headed For A Heartbreak. Their self-titled album achieved platinum sales status. They also had several other big hits including Madalaine, Miles Away and Hungry.
Background: In the early 80’s, Reb Beach was an accomplished studio musician working with the likes of Roger Daltrey, Twisted Sister, Howard Jones, Chaka Khan and The Bee Gees which highlights Reb’s diversity of being able to adapt to many musical styles. Reb met Kip Winger in in the late 80s when Kip was touring with Alice Cooper as the bass player. Paul Taylor was the keyboardist/guitarist in Alice Cooper’s band at the time and eventually the three of them (Kip, Reb, Paul) along with Rod Morgenstein formed the band Sahara which they later changed the name to Winger at Alice Cooper’s suggestion. It is amazing that these four guys who formed Winger back in 1987 are all still playing together. John Roth joined Winger in 1993 as a touring musician and later became a full-time member in 2001.
Members:
Kip Winger – Lead vocals, bass guitar
Reb Beach – Guitar, backing vocals
Rod Morgenstein – Drums
Paul Taylor – Guitar, Keyboards, backing vocals
John Roth – Guitar, backing vocals (Also played Bass when Kip not playing)
What I discovered is that each of the band member have played with rock ‘n’ roll royalty and are all accomplished musicians. Paul Taylor has played guitar with numerous other prominent musicians such as Sammy Hagar, Alice Cooper, Tommy Shaw and Steve Perry. John Roth has played with Survivor’s lead vocalist Jimi Jamison on his first solo release When Love Comes Down and also played in Starship. Reb Beach has played with Dokken and has also been with David Coverdale’s Whitesnake since 2002 and has been the longest-serving guitarist/member of that band (excluding Coverdale). Kip Winger has collaborated with many including: Roger Daltrey, Steven Tyler, Todd Rundgren, Bruce Kulick, Duff McKagan, Carmine Appice and Rudy Sarzo.
We arrived early to get a prime spot and were up near the front barrier to see and support Australian hard rockers Shotgun Mistress, who I’ve seen countless times now. Glenn Patrick is the frontman and has great stage presence. David ‘Diamond’ Lee on drums, Matt Wilcock on lead guitar and bassist Ben Curnow were the perfect choice to warm up the crowd. They only played a short 30-minute set, which meant we had to wait 45-minutes for Winger to come on. It was unfortunate the lads couldn’t have played a bit longer as they smashed it.
Winger opened the show with STICK THE KNIFE IN AND TWIST from the Seven (2023) album, which features heavy guitar riffs, thundering drums and Kip’s incredible vocals. They then went straight into SEVENTEEN which is one of their biggest hits from their iconic self-titled (1988) album. CAN’T GET ENUFF followed from their In The Heart Of The Young (1990) album. Winger sang four songs from this 1990 album consisting of the hit song MILES AWAY, which was a crowd favourite along with RAINBOW IN THE ROSE and EASY COME EASY GO. All band members other than the drummer provide strong harmonious backing vocals too. I noted that in many of their songs, they play a call and response style where the band sing and then Kip responds, which generally is the opposite way around with many other bands.
All of the band members are accomplished musicians, playing so tight together and looking so confident on stage, while having the time of their lives. Throughout the show, you could see the mutual respect the band had for each other and their camaraderie on stage was majestic. Each band member was also afforded a solo during the show showcasing their musicianship.
The stage backdrop had their signature Winger logo (which kept changing colours) with no theatrical visuals, just a good old school rock’n’roll show at its finest. The bandroom was packed to the rafters with a dedicated fanbase wearing their old and new Winger tees. The guy next to me (Shaun) had flown over from Burnie, Tasmania to see them saying they are one of his favourite bands and he has seen them several times over the years. The young guys around us were all in their early to mid-20s highlighting Winger’s music is still popular today as it was almost 40 years ago. A fan in front of us held up a sign saying ‘ROD’ and the fan next to him had a giant Winger banner.
Winger’s music is best described as soft melodic glam rock with some heavier songs thrown into the mix from their more recent albums, resulting in a diverse and thoroughly enjoyable show. Kip Winger’s voice is super impressive, powerful and soaring and he makes it look effortless as he reaches the high notes.
Winger performed five songs from the 1988 self-titled album, which included TIME TO SURRENDER and the hits singles MADALEINE and my favourite Winger song HEADED FOR THE HEARTBREAK. Reb Beach was directly in front of us and played several virtuosic guitar solos and looking around the bandroom, fans were completely blown away at just how incredible a guitarist Reb is. He looked the part too in his sleeveless denim jacket, skinny black jeans and studded belt (very 80s vibe). Reb played BLACK MAGIC from his solo album A View From The Inside (2020 during one of his guitar solos. Winger played PROUD DESPERADO from Seven (2023), MIDNIGHT DRIVER OF A LOVE MACHINE from Better Days Comin’ (2014) and PULL ME UNDER from Karma (2009), which were all heavy songs and absolute bangers. They played DOWN INCOGNITO from Pull (1993) which saw Reb play harmonica.
Winger played a two song encore with NO MAN’S LAND from Pull (1993) and the show concluded with another big hit HUNGRY from the 1987 self-titled album. Winger delievered an amazing live show and I encourage all of you who love classic 80’s hard rock to go see Winger on their Farewell Tour before it’s too late. Trust me, they will blow you away!
SET LIST:
STICK THE KNIFE IN AND TWIST
SEVENTEEN
CAN’T GET ENUFF
DOWN INCOGNITO
***JOHN ROTH SOLO***
MILES AWAY
RAINBOW IN THE ROSE
***REB BEACH SOLO***
BLACK MAGIC (REB BEACH SONG)
PULL ME UNDER
TIME TO SURRENDER
***DRUM SOLO***
MIDNIGHT DRIVER OF A LOVE MACHINE
PROUD DESPERADO
HEADED FOR A HEARTBREAK
EASY COME EASY GO
MADALAINE
***SAINTS SOLOS***
Encore:
NO MAN’S LAND
HUNGRY
