WINGER
Le Batofar - Paris, France
November 24, 2009

What? Winger live in Paris? Well, that’s something I would have never expected!
Finally those guys were coming back to Europe and a date in France was scheduled.

The concert was held at the Batofar, a ship over the Seine River.
Quite strange, as in general only local bands play there (see The Sticky Boys review), but according to a promoter all other venues were booked that night.

If you’re thinking about a romantic cruise in Paris that’s not the case, the boat remains docked during the show.

So, here they were finally on stage.

The stage of the Batofar is quite small so the musicians couldn’t move a lot.
Also there were very few lights.

But this was compensated by the performance of the band.
There were a few sound problems on the first couple of songs, but the engineer did a good work and those were quickly solved.

All band members were in a very good shape and delivered a great performance.

Kip Winger’s voice was doing great, and we all could see how a talented bass player he is too.

I’ve often seen Reb Beach with Whitesnake and it seemed to me that he’s like the “second” guitar player, Doug Aldrich getting more attention.

Well, tonight Reb Beach was the man.
I’ve never noticed before, but that guy doesn’t only play guitar solos. No. He also does face solos! He can’t stop pulling faces while he plays, there’s a lot of feeling on what he does.

I’m glad to have seen this facet of his playing; he does a lot more with Winger than with Whitesnake.

But Winger has two lead guitar players, and John Roth is not to be left behind.

He is fast and technical, and keeps headbanging throughout the show.

His melodies are a n incredible asset to the band.

Well, what can I say about Rod Morgenstern?
That guy is a remarkable drummer.

From fast rhythms to little fills that make a song unique, this guy knows how to rock.

Besides their guitar parts, those folks also accomplished another great part of Winger’s music: the choruses.

Reb Beach and John Roth sang a lot of backing vocals during the show, giving the songs a great dimension, just like on their records.

Kip Winger sat on keyboards twice, while the band played some of their ballads.

As the stage was small, the keyboard was on the right side, a bit hidden.

During those songs, Luigi Frati from Markonee, the opening band, replaced him on bass.

Winger’s setlist was composed of great versions of classics and new songs. But the guys know they're not in their 20's anymore: During the last refrain of the song "Seventeen" the changed the lyrics to "She's only 25"! Quite a fun moment!

After the show I waited for the musicians to congratulate them and spent some time with them.

Something funny happened to me a few days later. On the next weekend I was flying to Estonia via Frankfurt and I met Kip, Tod and John at the airport. What a great surprise!

These folks are legends, they have a great band, and not to mention that some members have played with Alice Cooper and Whitesnake. I really hope that they’ll tour Europe again soon.

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Setlist Winger – The Batofar, Paris, France – November 24, 2009

01. Pull Me Under
02. Blind Revolution Mad
03. Easy Come Easy Go
04. Stone Cold Killer
05. Down incognito
06. Miles Away
07. Rainbow in the Rose
08. Deal With The Devil
09. Your Great Escape
-- Reb Beach guitar solo --
10. You're the saint, i am the sinner
-- Rod drum solo --
11. Headed for a Heartbreak
12. Can't Get Enuff
13. Seventeen
--------------------------
14. Junkyard Dog
15. Madalaine
16. Helter Skelter (with Fiona)
17. Honky Tonk Women (avec Fiona)

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