Artist:  Winger, Airrace & Furyon

Venue: 02 Academy, Newcastle  

Date:  30 March 2010 

Following the superb new album 'Karma' Kip Winger and the rest of the guys Reb Beach, John Roth and Rod Morgenstein headed out on tour, not only in support of the album but also to reassure the fans that after all these years, Winger can still rock hard and fast with the best of them.

As soon as we arrived at the venue it was clear that the Geordies had done the band proud and turned out on mass to see one of the most underrated rock bands of the eighties. The smaller of the two rooms at the Academy lends itself to a more intermit show atmosphere and when packed to the rafters the atmosphere is electric and tonight was no different, with three top notch bands billed for tonight’s show. Opening up the night were Brighton’s Furyon, a band born out of the ashes of Melodic rockers Pride, but I assure you that this is a new breed of band gone are the pretty boy rock band with long blonde locks and pomp Melodic Rock, we now have a band that are straight down to earth rocker looks and a heavier metal edged sound than anything they've done before. The core of the band remains the same with Matt Mitchell on vocals and Chris Green on guitar, only now we have Lee Farmery joining them on drums, Nickel on bass and the mighty shred-master himself Mr. Pat Heath on guitar.

The band deliver a short but highly impressive set mixing heady bass lines with some sublime guitar work by both Green and Heath, with metal monsters like ‘Wasted On You’ and the superb dark edged ‘Souvenirs’.   Although the songs of the set for me had to be the outstanding ‘Stand Like Stone’ and the excellent ‘Disappear Again’, two tracks from the bands forthcoming 'Gravitas’ album which is due out later this year.

This is definitely one band to watch out for, they rock hard and play hard and in this form, a band that will make waves in 2010 for sure, so look out for them at a venue near you.  I for one can't wait for more and if the album is anything like the samples on show here tonight, then I can't wait for the release.

Now for a band that returned after some 25+ years to appear at the Firefest festival in Nottingham, and although they have had only one album out in that time, that album ‘Shaft Of Light’ is seen as by many as one of the most defining AOR albums of the eighties.  So much so that it was recently re-released.  The band toured with the likes of Ted Nugent, Def Leppard, as well as the mighty Queen and AC/DC before calling it a day shortly after the release of the album around 1984. The years may have gone by but the band certainly hasn’t lost any of their passion for playing and they surprised not only me, but many here tonight with their great set. They opened up their account with ‘Open Your Eyes’ and instantly is was clear that not only did Keith Murrell still have the pipes, but the rest of the band still could pull out some great slices of melodic rock, with Laurie Mansworth still firing out the licks along with Dean Howard, while Simon Dawson pounded out a big bad drum beat with Dave Boyce laying down some great bass lines.  I didn't quite catch the name of the keyboard player but he too did an outstanding job.

With only one album to call upon the setlist was pretty much laid out, but the band did throw in some new stuff and had revamped the older tracks, resulting in a great set which continued with ‘Not Really Me’ off 'Shaft Of Light', before announcing that there would be the long awaited second album.  To give us a taste of what’s to come they played newbie ‘You Better Believe It’, which got the Geordie choir in singing mood as they chanted out the chorus.  Not bad for a new song.

Then it was back to the SOL album for ‘Promise To Call’ and the rockin’ ‘First One Over The Line’, before slowing things down with ‘Didn’t Want To Lose Ya’.

The band kept the tempo going big style and rounded of the set in superb style with the epic ‘Brief Encounter’. A real class act it was clear why the 'Shaft Of Light' was such a hit in the day and even today, the songs although revamped a touch, still sounded miles ahead of most bands around at that time. 

Now for a band who were just coming into being as Airrace called it day back in the eighties.  Winger came to being as Kip Winger and Paul Taylor fulfilled their touring roles with Alice Cooper's band on the ‘Constrictor’ tour.  Kip and Paul hooked up with session guitarist Reb Beach and the three then enlisted Rod Morgenstein to fill the vacant drum stool.  After when Taylor left the band the guitar role was soon filled by John Roth, but the onset of Grunge saw the band part ways and it wasn’t until 2001 that the band reformed for Winger IV. Which brief history takes us neatly to 2009 and the bands excellent ‘Karma’ and the tour that follows which arrived at Newcastle tonight.

Tonight’s show has to the best I’ve seen from the band in years, opening up in such emphatic style with ’Pull Me Under’ from the excellent new 'Karma' album and straight away the crowd showed their appreciation by nearly blowing the roof off the venue as they cheered their idols.

Like Airrace before them Winger showed that they can still rock with a capital 'R!'.  Both Beach and Roth were on fire, while Kip's vocals sounded as warm as ever, while Morgenstein was just hammering those skins like a man possessed.

It wasn’t long before we had a touch of classic Winger as the set continued with ‘Blind Revolution Mad’, then it was straight into the mighty ‘Easy Come Easy Go’.  The Geordie choir immediately joined in and every man woman and everything in between sang-along, and judging by the smiles all over the bands faces, this was exactly what they’ve been waiting for all tour.

Then it was back to the new material with one of the tracks of the album ‘Stone Cold Killer’, on which Beach showed why he is one of the best guitarists around on the Hard Rock scene.  We were told as Kip would be playing keyboards on this one then it was time to introduce Chris Green from Furyon back on stage again, as he took up the bass duties for this one, and all consequent songs where Kip was needed on keyboards, and what a great job he did too.

The new material was interrupted by another classic slice of Winger in ‘Rainbow In The Rose’ before it was back to 'Karma' for another stunning slice of Hard Rock with ‘Deal With The Devil’.  The set overall was as well balanced a set I’ve heard for quite some time, with a great mix of new songs and the older classics.

Next it was back to those classics with ‘Down Incognito’ with a Roth solo in-between, before ‘Your Great Escape’ on which Beach gave us the second solo of the night, and what a solo!  Then it was back to another vintage Winger favourite with the stunning ‘You’re the Saint, I Am The Sinner’, a sure fire winner yet again with the crowd gathered here tonight.

It was time for Morgenstein to earn his money as he gave us a quite superb drum solo.  Some have said the solo’s on this tour could have been left out, but to be honest, I think we old schoolers actually revel in a good solo, and the three solo’s performed here tonight didn’t seem out of place or go on for extended timescales.  What they did do was give the crowd a real insight into each players style and I, like 99% of the crowd here tonight, enjoyed just sitting back and watching in awe as these pro’s showed us all exactly what they can do.

After the solo's we returned to the bands debut album for the first of mine and many others here tonight’s favourite Winger tracks, ‘Headed For A Heartbreak’, which was followed in quick succession by ‘Can't Get Enuff’ and ‘Seventeen’.  All of which got the Geordie choirs voice of approval.  The band then left the stage for a moment to the deafening cries of "WINGER!! WINGER!", which were quickly replaced with cheers of joy when the band returned to put the icing on the cake with an encore which included ‘Miles Away’ and what else but ‘Madalaine’.  

Normally the band would have left the stage at this point but they gave us and one young fan in particular, something rather special, as Kip asked if anyone could sing and this young man quickly raised his hand.  Kip invited the chap up on stage to sing with the band for the final song, which was a cover of the Beatles ‘Helter Skelter’. Thus making not just the young fans day but the entire crowd.  This was one hell of a show the band put on for us tonight and hopefully we haven’t seen the last of them in Newcastle, because I’m sure next time around word will have got around and the band will be playing the larger venue downstairs.  What an awesome night that would be!

Setlist: Pull Me Under, Blind Revolution Mad, Easy Come Easy Go, Stone Cold Killer, Rainbow In The Rose, Deal With The Devil, Down Incognito, Your Great Escape, You Are The Saint I Am The Sinner, Drum Solo, Headed For A Heartbreak, Can't Get Enuff, Seventeen. Encore: Miles Away, Madalaine, Helter Skelter.

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