Winger Islington Academy 4th April 2010


Tonite I have looked forward to for the last 6 months after Winger released the excellent "Karma"cd but as is the norm these days we have 2 support acts first.
Unlike the recent Trivium gig tonite we had 2 excellent bands to watch.  First up Furyon from Brighton.  Wow is all I can come up with.  Crashing riffs the size of elephants,solos,huge choruses,hair,and the stage presence of seasoned pros they blew the place apart. The twin geetar team of Pat Heath (ex Danny Vaughn and Peter Frampton) and Chris Green were immense.Chris joined Winger later in the evening on bass for the 3 ballads allowing Kip to go on keys for Rainbow, Headed and Miles Away. Matt Mitchell on vox led from the front and their 30 minute set went past in a flash.
Their debut cd called "Gravitas",recorded in the US is out in the summer and they have a myspace site with 3 songs on it which they also have out as an ep. "Disappear Again"the first song on it is brilliant and went down a storm live. Goto www.myspace.com/furyon to check it out and roll on the summer when the cd is out.
Now after that you really need to be good to stand out and luckily next up was Airrace.  Famous for having Jason Bonham on their only cd Shaft Of Light released 25 years ago and recently remastered and put out by Rock Candy Records. With Keith Murrell(vox)(ex Mamas Boys)in fantastic voice and Laurie Mansworth on lead geetar they ripped through most of the fore mentioned cd with special mention to "First One Over The Line","Open Your Eyes"and "Brief Encounter" all sounding heavier on stage than cd. With quite a few family and friends adding to the ambience their 40 minute set again flew past.  A new cd is being recorded so I look forward to that one too.
Winger really needed to be on top form after those 2 I can tell you and like the consummate pros they are we had no worries.  I first saw them 19 years ago supporting The Scorpions then after being dismantled by Beavis and Butthead split up and have come back stronger.
Heres the setlist they could have played all nite for me.
Pull Me Under
Blind Revolution Mad
Easy Come Easy Go
Stone Cold Killer
Rainbow In The Rose
Deal With The Devil
Down Icognito
Your Great Escape
You Are The Saint I Am The Sinner
Headed For A Heartbreak
Can't Get Enuff
Seventeen
Encores Miles Away
Madalaine
Helter Skelter(Beatles number)
Great sound excellent crowd and a superb performance from all.
Reb Beach(busy man with his Whitesnake job too)showed us his chops with a stunning solo and Rod Morgenstein(drums)also had one too.
We also had an extended geetar solo from John Roth(the new lead geetarist of Giant on the stunning Promise Land out on Frontiers). When geetarist number 2 is so good it shows the incredible talent in this band.
Up front Kip was a great frontman and seemed to be having a ball which blows away the memory of the Firefest show of a few years back.
After 80 mins they called all 3 bands up to celebrate the end of the UK tour and with the promoter Steve Strange on drums hit us with a great Helter Skelter. It was funny seeing Kip ask Keith from Airrace to sing with him when he clearly didn't know the words.
So after the dissappointment of 2 weeks ago tonite showed a 3 band bill can work.All 3 were superb and for £18 a really fantastic nite out.


ps: I knew my old rock n'roll brain wasn't going mad but in moving all my cd's around I found the cd's Far From The Edge and Signs Of Purity by Pride.Stunning cd's then disappeared.The singer Matt Mitchell and Chris Green(geetar) are now in Furyon.

10/10

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