Winger (supported by Hoekstra/Gibbs) Islington Assembly Hall, London Friday 7th June 2024

It was a beautiful, warm day in the UK’s capital as Winger rolled into the city fresh from an appearance at the Sweden Rock Festival. It was clear that most of the audience were Winger aficionadas who, like me, had travelled from various parts of the UK (and even further afield) to catch the band’s final performance in ‘Dear Old Blighty’. The fact that this was the only UK show made it even more necessary for me to wake Mrs Griffiths at 3am to drive ‘miles away’ (see what I did there!) to Edinburgh before catching an early morning flight to London! But surely it would all be worth it to see such a talented, criminally underrated and dare I say… legendary… rock band from the heyday of the genre one last time?

Last year, I had the pleasure of seeing opening act Hoekstra/Gibbs, featuring Whitesnake’s Joel Hoekstra and Brandon Gibbs (Devil City Angels) in Glasgow and had the opportunity to interview them before the tour, finding them to be incredibly decent human beings with an incredible musical talent. So, I was delighted to learn that they would be providing support to Winger at the London show, particularly as other commitments meant I couldn’t attend their set in Edinburgh the previous week. Walking onstage with their acoustic guitars, they were the perfect support act for a rock crowd, encouraging a feel-good, sing-along atmosphere in the venue as they played a set of well-known covers and a few originals. Starting with the bluesy rocker ‘Boneyard’ by Gibbs’ band Devil City Angels before going straight into a wonderful version of ‘Every Rose Has Its Thorn’ by Poison (another band Gibbs has performed with), there was a communal atmosphere as the audience formed a backing choir. The Whitesnake classic ‘Love Ain’t No Stranger’ gave the crowd another chance to sing along before the duo played one of Hoekstra’s solo songs, ‘Until I Left You’. Brandon Gibbs performed ‘Rich for Life’, one of his solo efforts, explaining that it was dedicated to his father who had recently recovered from illness and who had worked so hard to provide for his family when Gibbs was a young boy, buying him his first guitar and setting him off on his musical journey. Being a Scot in London, I was delighted to hear them play a barnstorming cover of ‘Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap’ by AC/DC (they are definitely Scottish!) before a double Whitesnake finale of the beautiful ballad ‘Is This Love’ and megahit ‘Here I Go Again’, accompanied by the impromptu choir formed in the audience. It was a quick 45-minute set but Hoekstra/Gibbs certainly made an impression, with a tired Mrs Griffiths (remember… she’d been up since 3am!) exclaiming “I could listen to them all night”. High praise indeed! Let’s hope their spring/summer acoustic sojourns in the UK continue into next year and beyond.

There was a considerable delay before Winger arrived onstage to signal the start of their final UK show, with some in the crowd becoming understandably restless as the sound check took what seemed like an eternity. But all was forgiven as Kip, Reb, Paul and Rod greeted the audience along with touring guitarist Howie Simon, who has been standing in for the absent John Roth on and off since 2018. In their last few albums, Winger’s sound has been considerably heavier and that was apparent in show opener ‘Stick the Knife in and Twist’ from latest album Seven. From there, it was straight into the big hitters, with fan favourite ‘Seventeen’ from their 1988 debut and the rocking ‘Can’t Get Enuff’, the opening track from sophomore album In the Heart of the Young. It was a great start and the band members were clearly loving their time on the London stage… but to me, the sound was woeful, with Kip’s bass and Rod’s drums far too heavy in the mix to the detriment of Reb and Howie’s guitar solos. After all the extended sound checking beforehand, that was a bit of a disappointment.

Fortunately, the sound started to improve with ‘Down Incognito’ from 1993’s Pull featuring Reb Beach on harmonica and Kip proving the point that Winger is a true live band by forgetting the opening words to newer song ‘Proud Desperado’ and starting it again after being reminded of the lyrics by a fan near the front row. The Metallica-style heavy riffing in ‘Junkyard Dog (Tears on Stone)’ again proved that Winger are far from the ‘soft rock band’ that the uninitiated believe them to be, before the moody ‘Hungry’, which Kip announced is one of their most requested songs, took the audience back to the debut.

It's been great to see Paul Taylor back playing with Winger in the last few years and to be recognised by Kip as a key component of the band’s early success, particularly as he was the sole songwriter of mega-ballad ‘Miles Away’. Being a bit of a sucker for a power ballad packed with keyboards, power chords, guitar solos and huge choruses (my extensive power ballad playlist is a thing of beauty… and legend!), I always look forward to seeing Winger playing this song live and tonight, as I watched it played live for potentially the final time, I was reminded of its stature in the world of power ballads. It’s right up there with best! But there was no time for cutting onions, as another big song from In the Heart of the Young, the almost-proggy ‘Rainbow in the Rose’, with its wonderful guitar outro by Beach and manic, animal-like drumming by Morgenstein filled the hall. Those two songs were the big ones for me!

Reb Beach is a phenomenal guitarist who has very much been in demand by rock bands throughout his long career. Winger, Dokken, Whitesnake… the list goes on. However, this often means that his excellent solo work is overlooked and that’s a real shame, as some of his solo work competes with some of the instrumentals of the metal guitar greats. But there was a chance to hear some in London, as his shredding solo spot led into a band jam (with Howie on bass) of his solo track ‘Black Magic’, recently redone for his 2020 solo album A View From The Inside. Magnificent stuff!

“Will we play Pull Me Under or Time to Surrender?” asked Kip. Both was the answer, as Beach ripped into the opening riff of the track from 2009 album Karma before a rousing and powerful Time to Surrender took many in the audience back in time, with fists pumping in air from the front to the back of the venue. Drummer Morgenstein is now in his early 70s and had been touring with Dixie Dregs only weeks before this Winger tour… but he showed that age is only a number and tiredness is for wimps with a thrilling and energetic drum solo that led to rapturous applause from the London crowd. It’s abundantly clear why he is so revered in drumming circles.

Kip Winger returned to the stage wearing a blast from the past; a face mic (if that’s what they’re called!). Ironically, as the show approached its climax, it was the clearest that his voice had been in the sound mix all night but it was great to hear it in all its glory, showing that he still has the vocal chops 36 years on. ‘Headed for a Heartbreak’ was sublime with another wonderful guitar outro (fun fact: Kip told me during an interview last year that he always writes the last song of an album with a guitar outro for Reb) before the show ended with the double whammy of ‘Easy Come Easy Go’ and the ultimate Winger song, fan favourite ‘Madalaine’. As if to prove the point that Winger are musical perfectionists, the extended outro was stopped and started to allow the show to finish as the band had planned. As mentioned before… a real live band!

36 years is a long time for any band to exist and to still be recording new material and playing live. Musical tastes change and the chart trends seems to change every year, forcing many bands to take a hiatus or even call it a day. I’m sure we can all name a hard rock band from the late 80s/early 90s that we believed would be invincible but who were swept aside by Kurt Cobain and the emergence of grunge. But Winger survived. Yes, they took a break and did other things for a while but when the time was right, they re-emerged… and they weren’t content to be a heritage band living off past glories. Hell, no! Indeed, their latest album is possibly one of the strongest they’ve made whilst live performances have been powerful and full of energy.

There’s surely plenty of life left in the band yet? Well…yes. But as I looked at an adoring and almost sold-out crowd saying goodbye to Winger as they left a UK stage for the last time, it struck me that maybe this is the right time to sign off. They’re going out on a high, having proved beyond doubt that they’re rock survivors. They’ve achieved what they set out to do, playing great rock music for crowds throughout the world… and they’ve endured for 36 years. Perhaps more bands should do that. So, if this the last time we’ll see them live, thank you Winger. Thanks for the music, the memories and for allowing us to be part of your journey. However… should you choose to do a Motley Crue and play some sneaky shows in a few years’ time, none of us will complain. We’ll be there! As the last song of the last Winger album says, often “it all comes back around”.