Saturday 12th June
Winger - Festival Stage (4/5)
Another reunited band I really looked forward to see. Winger reunited in 2006 and are now touring to promote their second album, Karma, since the reunion. For some reason Winger is one of the most picked on bands of the whole so called “hair metal” genre. Why is anyone’s guess, but maybe it had to do with Kip Winger’s good looks or the fact that it was well known that he used to take ballet lessons.
But the fact is that Winger weren’t even close to the cheesiness of many other bands from that era. Quite the opposite. Four fantastic musicians, a sound of their own and had people only bothered to listen to their masterpiece Pull from 1993, minds may had changed.
This gig was Winger’s first time on Swedish soil in some 20 years and my expectations were high to say the least. And I’m very happy to say that the guys delivered.
However, the conditions for the guys could have been better. Their concert was 30 minutes late due to a mixing table that blew to the ground at Rock Stage. But when the guys finally took the stage, they rocked our asses off. Winger of today doesn’t do pop metal anymore.
They’re a full blown hard rock band and a lot of the earlier, softer material is left out on behalf of their newer, heavier stuff. “Deal With The Devil” opened up like a punch in the gut and tracks like “Stone Cold Killer”, “Pull Me Under”, “Blind Revolution Mad” and “Down Incognito” showed that there are lots and lots of life left with the guys. Of course, older hits like “Can’t Get Enuff”, “Easy Come, Easy Go” and “Seventeen” had to be played, but the way they are played live is nothing like they sound on the records.
The keyword to Winger 2010 is “Heavy”. Sadly, they had to cut their set short because of the mixing table incident so a couple of songs were left out.
There is no doubt that Winger is a killer live band and all of you who have ever tried to be funny on their expence should check them out. You’d be surprised. I know people who were…
Some photos from Winger at Sweden Rock Festival 2010
Check out Winger :
http://www.wingertheband.com
Review : Jon Wilmenius
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