Tom Keifer brought what would have been an arena tour back in the 80’s to Foxwood Casino‘s Great Cedar Showroom with Lita Ford and Winger opening the evening. It was a sold-out show at this 1400-seat theater and the crowd was ready to rock decked out in their 80’s metal attire along with lots of hair, well most of them.
Lita Ford was one of the few women of metal in the 80’s. Many who weren’t hardcore fans would certainly know her for her duet with Ozzy Osbourne “Close My Eyes Forever”, or possibly her time in The Runaways back in the 70s alongside Joan Jett and Cherie Currie. Lita hit the stage at 8:00 pm with her Black Widow guitar, decked out in black leather pants, jacket, and boots to match. They opened the night with “Gotta Let Go” and the crowd was on their feet. With only a half-hour set, they had to stick with the most popular songs. One cover song she performed was Elton John‘s “The Bitch is Back”. Next was the obligatory “Cherry Bomb” by The Runaways. Playing bass was Martin Andersson who has played with Steelheart, Lynch Mob, and Lizzy Borden. Bobby Rock always does a killer job on the drums, and the super-talented Patrick Kennison plays guitar and sings. Speaking of that, his vocal duet with Lita on “Close My Eyes Forever” is nothing less than stellar. They closed the super short set with “Kiss Me Deadly” which left the crowd wanting more.
Lita Ford is:
Lita Ford – Lead vocals, guitars
Patrick Kennison – Guitars
Bobby Rock – Drums
Marten Andersson – Bass
Setlist:
1. Gotta Let Go
2. Larger Than Life
3. The Bitch is Back (Elton John cover)
4. Cherry Bomb (The Runaways song)
5. Close My Eyes Forever
6. Kiss Me Deadly
Winger was second to take the stage in front of a packed house. Kip made a comment about keeping the talk to a minimum due to the shortened set. Earlier I heard the person working their VIP group say they were playing for 45 minutes, but apparently, that got cut by 15 minutes. Kip didn’t seem happy about it. As always, these guys put on a killer show with Reb Beach slaying it on guitar, Rod Morgenstein pounding the drums, and Paul Taylor on keys and guitar. Kip Mentioned that he along with these 3, are all original members of the band. Howie Simon was filling in for John Roth, another original member, while he is out on tour with Starship. At the end of “Headed for a Heartbreak” Kip gave Rod a little time to showcase his talents on the drums. They stuck with their most popular songs to keep the fans happy and ended the set with the crowd singing along to “Madalaine”.
Winger is:
Kip Winger – Lead vocals, bass, acoustic guitar, keyboards
Reb Beach – Guitar, backing vocals, harmonica
Rod Morgenstein – Drums, percussion, backing vocals, piano
Paul Taylor – Keyboards, guitar, backing vocals
Howie Simon – Guitar, backing vocals filling in for John Roth
Setlist:
1. Can’t Get Enuff
2. Seventeen
3. Miles Away
4. Headed for a Heartbreak
5. Easy Come Easy Go
6. Madalaine
Tom Keifer was best known for being the frontman of the band Cinderella. It may be lesser known that part of the reason Cinderella stopped playing was that Tom had paralysis of his left vocal cord, underwent several surgeries, and had to relearn how to sing. He started concentrating on his solo work since then and hit the stage with “Life Was Here”, a solo song from his 2019 album entitled Rise. #KEIFERBAND has been together since 2013. Tom has one of the most passionate performances of all of the 80’s hair metal singers. Along with his talented band of musicians, they performed 12 Cinderella songs, 3 originals, and one Beatles cover. Tom’s amazing voice is backed by his wife Savannah, and Tanya Davis, who sing backup on almost every song along with playing tambourines. Tony Higbee rocked the double-neck guitar during “Nobody’s Fool” and “The Last Mile”. U.S. Navy Veteran Billy Mercer does a fantastic job holding down the bass guitar duties. Tom got the crowd involved a few times by getting them to hold up their cell phone lights like we would do with our lighters in the 80s. They played through all the fan favorites before Tom came out for the encore got on the keyboards with Savannah and sang “Don’t Know What You Got” at the front of the stage. Then everyone joined in for a heartfelt rendition of The Beatles’ “With a Little Help from My Friends”. This has my vote for the most passionate performance of the year.
The 80’s metal fans in attendance at Tom Keifer show at Foxwoods Casino went home with their ears ringing and feeling like they just walked out of a rock show in the 80’s. You can catch Tom Keifer on tour through the end of August. Lita is on tour through December in the US with various bands and solo shows and Winger has shows booked through November as well as the Monsters of Rock Cruise in 2025.
Tom Keifer Band is:
Tom Keifer – vocals
Savannah Keifer – keyboards, vocals
Tony Higbee – lead guitars, vocals
Billy Mercer – bass guitar
Tanya Davis – vocals
Jarred Pope – drums
Kory Myers – keyboards, vocals
Setlist:
1. Life Was Here
2. Hot and Bothered (Cinderella song)
3. Heartbreak Station (Cinderella song)
4. The Death of Me
5. Bad Seamstress Blues/Fallin’ Apart at the Seams (Cinderella song)
6. Coming Home (Cinderella song)
7. Nobody’s Fool (Cinderella song)
8. Solid Ground
9. Night Songs (Cinderella song)
10. Somebody Save Me (Cinderella song)
11. The Last Mile (Cinderella song)
12. Shake Me (Cinderella song)
13. Shelter Me (Cinderella song)
Encore
14. Don’t Know What You Got (Till It’s Gone) (Cinderella song)
15. With a Little Help from My Friends (The Beatles cover)
16. Gypsy Road (Cinderella song)
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