Winger, Final UK Show, London 2024 Review and Photos by Dawn Osborne

Opening act Joel Hoekstra and Brandon Gibbs brought a mixture of originals and covers performed in one of the most stylish acoustic sets I have ever seen. Starting with Devil City Angels track ‘Boneyard’ they soon transition into massive crowd pleasers Poison’s ‘Every Rose Has Its Thorn’ and (introduced by Hoekstra in his best David Coverdale impersonation voice) ‘Love Ain’t No Stranger’. This gets everyone singing all the words and warms up the audience very nicely indeed for some solo material. Firstly  ‘Until I Left You’ from Hoekstra’s ‘13’.  Next, a touching personal introduction from Gibbs to his song ‘This Town’ including a story that, even though his father struggled to afford work shoes, he found the money to buy Gibbs his first guitar.

After an interlude of some beautiful fast acoustic playing from Hoekstra and a jokey Metallica riff from ‘Enter Sandman’ they ride to the end with a surprise cover of AC/DC’s ‘Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap’ with Hoekstra rough Rock ‘n’ Roll vocals making a decent fist of what would normally never be performed except full-on electric style. Building on the very good reception of Whitesnake songs they finish with ‘Is This Love’ and ‘Here I Go Again’ with rich toned solos from Hoekstra who, of course, toured with Whitesnake extensively, performing these songs with Coverdale until relatively recently . They finish with a mock pushing contest like two young stags underlining the friendship which underlies their professional collaboration.

Winger started off with an ideal opener the aggressive ‘Stick The Knife In And Twist’ from the latest album ‘Seven’: the band look serious and mean business. An early appearance of ‘Seventeen’ got a delighted murmur of surprise from the crowd as it is usually near the end. Followed by ‘Can’t Get Enuff’, featuring two heavyweight songs near the beginning is a smart move for crowd buy in, however as the final UK show this crowd is full of afficianados and there’s no need to save the big songs for a finale as they appreciate all the band’s material, even obscure tracks equally. ‘Down Incognito’ another favourite follows with Reb on harmonica and featuring a rollicking solo from Howie Simon (stepping in currently for John Roth) before a stomping finish.

Kip introduces ‘Proud Desperado’ as the first single from the first album and all seems right with the world until Kip has a senior moment and can’t remember the first line. Let’s face it we’ve all been there. It actually hugely endeared him to the crowd as he stops the band and asks the front row to remind him of the missing lyric, which they duly do. There’s nothing a huge fan loves more than to show they know more about the band than the band remembers. Armed with the necessary info the song then goes without a hitch. As Kip says it proves they are a live band!

The band seemed very heavy tonight with the bass very high in the mix, hey the bass player is the boss and we get a rockin’  screamin vocal for ‘Junkyard Dog’. Kip is kicking and twirling.  As Kip said after the first few songs the band are ‘amigos’, they line up to survey the crowd as a gang, they are preaching to the converted here. Piercing falsetto backing vocals show that Howie also has some pipes!

Kip thanks the crowd for supporting the band for 35-40 years as they launch into ‘Hungry’ with the beautiful melodies of the first verse ‘I hear the tickin’ on the clock’. Kip delivers the high falsetto just like the old days, his vocal prowess undimmed.

Kip thanks the crew and name checks most of them personally proving he actually still has a pretty good memory despite forgetting the lyrics earlier. He acknowledges Paul Taylor on keys and guitar for writing ‘Miles Away’ before delivering a harder version of that song than I have been used to hearing lately on Kip’s solo tours, and no duet with a crowd member either, it’s way too loud for that! However, it’s not too loud to hear the whole crowd singing, which they do from their hearts without being asked.

 

As I think Kip mentioned in an aside, the sound is not up to his usual standards, although to be fair his bar is in the stratosphere, but it’s during ‘Rainbow In The Rose’ that, at least in the balcony, where I was, the mix seems a bit muddy with the vocals sometimes struggling to cut through the bass.

But it’s onto Reb’s solo and we get shredding, finger tapping, bent notes and whammy bar like a freewheelin’ car, plus, of course, a boatload of his idiosyncratic facial expressions. I notice Joel Hoekstra has snuck out sidestage to check it out.

At this point Kip acknowledges Dave Ling in the audience as a writer for Classic Rock and a good friend, before giving the crowd a choice whether to hear ‘Pull Me Under’ or ‘Time To Surrender’ or both. Silly question! The answer is both!

After a drum solo with a taped musical accompaniment Kip comes back and namechecks Samir a fan that is known for constantly shouting ‘Time To Surrender’ during Kip’s solo shows and for drunk texting the band. Kip no doubt has in mind that Samir finally got his wish as Kip solo never played the song he kept shouting for, for him acoustically. After joking that anyone who came to the solo shows in question knew Kip wanted to punch the overzealous fan in the face, Kip concedes that the band loves Samir, “he’s such a good fan”.

In ‘Headed for a Heartbreak’ the band are totally on a roll engaging the crowd, we get loads of that falsetto I love, including a long high note that would make a Broadway star proud. ‘Easy Come Easy Go’ follows, once again it’s all going so well Kip pirouetting with his bass up (after all he used to be a ballet dancer) and massive solos from Reb. As we get into final song ‘Madalaine’ it seems we are there! Kip asks are you still with me and there’s a huge roar! Until all of a sudden Kip kicks out one of Howie’s leads. Ever the perfectionist Kip restarts the extended instrumental outro, not once, but twice, in order to get it right. None of the audience are surprised. You don’t get nominated for a Grammy by letting things slide.

As the final ever UK show this was always going to be special for the fans. It was a fond farewell and I don’t think anyone will mind if he does a Motley Crue and they are back next year!

Dawn Osborne