Artist: Winger
Venue: B.B. King Blues Club (New York, NY)
Opener: Sonic Bliss
Date: 2/20/2008
Label: Shrapnel Records

In the heyday of the big eighties Kip Winger always managed to have some catchy material and the singing bassist was a staple on the MTV network with songs like “Headed For A Heartbreak”, “Miles Away”, Madalaine” and of course his blockbuster number “17”. I liked the music he did back then but was never more than the casual fan so when a show was announced at B.B. King Blues Club & Grill, I was determined to get myself down there to bring the Hard Rock community the inside scoop. The show would be an early one and I didn’t even make note of the opening act Sonic Bliss because for this particular show it would be all about listening for the hits that I fondly remembered and enjoying some of the bands latest album “Winger IV” as well. The venue had set up their usual tables are various sections but the floor was open so the Winger fans could convene and get really close to the stage. The typical photo pit barrier was not set up tonight and instead a small cordoned off section allowed those who needed to take photos do their thing for a couple of numbers while the rest of the audience rocked and rolled. Winger would open up with a heavy intro from the album “Pull” in “Blind Revolution Mad”, and you could tell by the reaction on the audience in attendance faces that they were quite eager to be there. While “Pull” is considered a strong album from the band it is also the one that performed the least in the market so it was interesting to find one of its tunes kicking off the set. Joining Kip in the band would be original members Reb Beach on guitar, Rod Morgenstein on drums and newcomer John Roth who worked on the bands latest album with them on second guitar. The playing was tight this evening and I expected this right away from players such as Beach and Morgenstein most specifically. I don’t say this with a slight to Kip or John in any sense of the imagination but Morgenstein is a machine on the drums and proved his technical ability with The Dixie Dregs night after night and as far as Beach was concerned, a lot of his Winger downtime had been spent in a rebuilt Whitesnake who toured regularly and one does not lose their chops very easily given this circumstance.
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