Winger

Winger, live at O2 Academy, Islington - 4th April 2010

Easter Sunday and everyone gathered at the Academy are in fine spirits, even the miserable door staff that I have had to endure for years are smiling! With a very reasonable turnout all the openers “Furyon” had to do was turn up plug in and go for it which is exactly what they did. Playing the sort of music that Metallica and Maiden have made so popular over the years, this 5 piece from Brighton not only have the looks but more importantly some great material.
Next up was the wonderful “Airrace” who seem to have beefed up their sound in the six Months since they played Firefest 6 and have honed themselves into a very tight stage act with the impressive “Laurie Murrell” peeling of the riffs like is life depended on it. Obviously the album “Shaft of Light” was the main focal point of the set but the group did throw in a new
track from the upcoming album.
Headliners “Winger” or should that read “The Reb Beach Show” were as reliable as ever. Touring in support of the “Karma”
album the group hit the stage running opening up with “Pull Me Under” and “Blind Revolution Mad” with the crowd singing along word for word. Although Kip did sound a bit croaky on the first few numbers his voice soon settled down. The one
advantage that this American band has over so many other so called 80’s groups is not only some good songs but the inspiring Mr Beach on guitar, you just get sucked into the simplicity of the way it’s delivered but the technical side of it is one that few guitarists could ever dream of matching. Towards the end of the set we got what the crowd had come for the triple whammy of “Seventeen”, Miles Away”, “Madalaine” and a very confusing version of “Helter Skelter” where all 3 groups got up on stage and made a complete racket which no one seemed to mind. The full track listing for “Wingers” set was as follows
“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”, “Reb Beach Solo”, “You Are The Saint”, “Drum Solo” “Headed For A
Heartache”, “Can’t Get Enough”, “Seventeen”, “Miles Away”, “Madalaine”, “Helter Skelter”.

I will also let everyone into a secret as the crowd wouldn’t have seen this I was down in the photo pit and saw the roadies tape all the set lists to the stage floor as per usual and next to Kip’s monitor they wrote in black marker pen “LONDON” just in case he forgot where he was!! To sum everything up its not often you get a 3 band bill where all the artists play a blinding set but on this occasion we were spoilt rotten.

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