When we did our career retrospective interview with Reb Beach (episode 223) he mentioned the depth and complexity of the Winger catalogue and that the majority of people had no clue it existed bar the hits. Being a huge fan of the band as well as Kip’s solo material this was one show I couldn’t wait to see and boy was I not disappointed. There’s nowhere to hide for the artist when they do an acoustic show, the songs have to be there and the performer has to be able to pull them off live. The stories and between song banter with the crowd count for a lot too and there has to be some level of spontaneity. The artist who can cover all of this make you feel they are playing just for you in your living room and on Sunday night that’s how I felt.
You could tell straight away that not only has Kip been doing these shows for a while but he has a ton of fun up there on stage. He talked and joked with members of the crowd for a couple of minutes before opening with Cross from his solo album Songs From The Ocean Floor. Requests were taken from the audience and after playing Runaway he said he couldn’t believe he remembered the words. An audience member was even invited to sing Miles Away and he nailed it with Kip stepping away from the mike at the end to let the guy finish the song, he was that good.
Some of the deeper Winger cuts were dusted off including Under One Condition from In The Heart Of The Young, Spell I’m Under and Who’s The One from Pull and Blue Suede Shoes from Winger IV. Ben Hans accompanied Kip on percussion for a couple of tunes including Deal With The Devil and a killer version of the instrumental solo track Free. The icing on the cake was the return of support act Stomping Melvin to back him up for rocking versions of Rat Race, Can’t Get Enuff and Seventeen. Closing the near 20 song set with Van Halen’s Ain’t Talking Bout Love rounded off one of the best shows I have seen in a while. If he’s playing in your area go see him.
Richie.
