Winger – Rocking my world at Hard Rock Cafe, Rio de Janeiro
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| Kip Winger and me after the concert. |
I was in the line for another concert when I received a pamphlet about this Winger concert that would be held one week later. And that surprised me a lot, because since I live in Rio de Janeiro , I am getting used to travel at least to São Paulo
Anyway, I’ve got the pamphlet and I said out loud: Winger? Here? Are you kidding? And the guy just answered: Yeah, the whole band! Well, that was enough for me to lose the focus in the gig I was about to see. By the way, it was a Bon Jovi show, but we’ll talk about it some other time...
One week of expectations later, there I was in Hard Rock Cafe waiting for Winger!
And they didn’t disappoint me! On the contrary, they’ve played wonderfully and with that strong spirit that Rock’n’roll demands.
They’ve opened the concert with the great “Pull me under”, from the new album “Karma”, released last year. Besides being a good song, this works very well to open a rock concert, with its riffs and catchy chorus. And I would also like to highlight Kip’s voice here: the man seems to be singing even better now.
But they soon hit some of the old stuff, playing Blind revolution mad and Easy comes, easy goes, with the crowd singing along each and every word of the last one.
With the crowd warmed up (there was no opening band – but I can assure that this wasn’t an issue), it was time for another song of “”Karma”: Stone cold killer. I dare to say that Karma is one of the best (if not the best) new records I’ve heard in the last 10 years. It’s still Winger, but they are more mature, without losing the power of 80s/90s.
And they kept alternating new and old stuff with the same vibe, showing a bunch of songs that were part of the soundtrack of many lives (mine including), like: the power ballad Rainbow in the rose, the powerful Deal with the devil, Down incognito, You are the saint I am the sinner, Headed for a heartbreak, until they ended the gig with Can’t get enough and Seventeen.
Just a few minutes later, they returned for the encore with probably the most expected song of the night, Yes, I am talking about Miles Away, which is very famous in Brazil
And another big hit, Madalaine was supposed to be the last song. However, it was such a good night, with such a good vibration flowing from the stage to the crowd and vice-versa, that they also played Helter Skelter from The Beatles, as they have been doing in some of their last gigs.
After the concert, they’ve just spent some time with the fans that were still in Hard Rock, showing a lot of patience and good will in answering requests for pictures or autographs. That was the moment when I’ve cursed myself since I have left all Winger stuff that I have at home! But they signed my ticket and I came home happy with my pictures and especially happy for seeing a great gig and for the chance to tell Kip Winger how his songs are part of the soundtrack of my life.
The only complaint I have is about Hard Rock Cafe: when the band played the first chord, the sound just blews. And it took some time for the roadies to fix it with the band already on stage. At some point, Kip asked to turn off the TVs, because while they were playing, the TVs in the venue were showing a lot of other video clips’ images, in a total lack of respect. I sincerely hope that the managers at Hard Rock have learned the lesson, so that other concerts can be held there.
Fortunately, that wasn’t enough to harm a perfect night.
Set list:
Pull me under
Blind revolution mad
Easy comes, easy goes
Stone cold killer
Rainbow in the rose
Deal with the devil
Down incognito
Your great escape
You are the saint, I am the sinner
Rod Morgenstein’s solo
Headed for a heartbreak
Can’t get enough
Seventeen
Encore:
Miles away
Madalaine
Helter skelter
:)
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