I am not gonna lie to you and give the truth saying that I am not a die-hard WINGER fan; of course I would not miss them here in Chicago because the last time the band was in Greece I wasn't in the mood for them. So, once again I took the yahoo maps and made my way downtown for the first time. Chicago is quite an impressive town with all these skyscrapers, the bridges and the fine architecture.

After I parked my car in a nearby parking lot (and paid 25$ for it) I found my way to the House of Blue to realize that this is a beautiful venue. Consider a nice rock bar (you can also eat there) with a big arena and a big stage. The decoration is really impressive and gets you in the mood for some Rock 'n' Roll. There are two lofts were you have a nice view of the stage but that day were close since the attendance was not that big. I think I gave you a rough of image of the venue so let me talk about the concert itself.

THE BLACK MOLLYS was the supporting act and the three piece band took over the stage right on time. This band from Chicago plays a mix of alternative Rock with Punk additions in the vein of GREEN DAY, OFFSPRING and FOO FIGHTERS that are definitely out of my league. Despite my artistic difference with them I can say I enjoyed their show since they were in a really high mood especially Tory who is responsible for the guitars and vocals. In the middle of their performance the audience seemed to have a good time giving them something more than a warm applause. Personally I enjoyed the catchy Erica, the up-tempo Girlfriend, I'm So Ordinary with the cool lyrics and Rock Whore where the crowd helped them during the chorus. The bottom line is that THE BLACK MOLLYS did very well on stage and personally I think they sound way better there than in the studio. You can check below their video for the track Holywood or here some more tunes in their MySpace page by clicking MySpace.Com/TheBlackMollys.

After 20 minutes WINGER were on-stage with an excellent and loud sound. The reunited band seemed that was in the mood for the show although the first moments were kind of numb. Fortunately, things warmed up as WINGER performed classic hits like Down Incognito, Easy Come Easy Go and the new recording On The Inside from their best of compilation. Kip's voice is in a very good condition and things got even better for him (and eventually for us) when he took his 12 string classic guitar and performed Who's The One where the crowd helped him big time with the lyrics. I am leaving behind the useless and pretty boring solos (drum and guitar) to move on to the excellent and kind of heavy Junkyard Dog where I might be the only one who was headbanging(!!!) or the groovy dirty rocker Can't Get Enough followed by the even more classic Seventeen that comes from the band's first album that I think (help me Greg) is also called the Sahara album. Reb Beach was restless that night and seemed to enjoy every moment of the show especially when it was time to do a solo! Kip warmed up somewhere in the middle of the show giving some signs that this reunion can actually work. Of course, the setlist could not do without the slow (and kind of mellow) glam moments with songs like Rainbow In The Rose, Miles Away (where Kip sat behind the keyboards) and Headed For A Heartbreak. The show ended with the best impressions after one encore with Madalaine as the closer song.

So, despite the fact that I am not and WINGER fan I can surely say that I enjoyed the show that had some vintage atmosphere all around comprising all these early 90s hits. The question is can this band go on and produce a new album that could gain a place it their back catalogue? Well, will see about that in the near future, I think. In the meantime, watch the Seventeen video below and enjoy the concert photos.

(photos by me)

WINGER