Winger just can’t get enuff of the stage.
After playing their purported final shows last year, the “Seventeen” rockers have a handful of dates booked for 2026. Drummer Rod Morgenstein explained the band’s decision to continue playing in a new episode of The Classic Metal Show.
“Well, let me start by saying last year turned out to be a very rough year emotionally for me because I didn’t realize how much my life and my vision of who I am is tied up in my band,” Morgenstein told host Chris Akin. “And I think a lot of musicians understand that, but a lot don’t really until it hits them in the face.”
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How Winger Left the Door Open for Future Shows
Morgenstein — who played with Dixie Dregs before joining Winger — said much of the decision to stop touring dealt with the physical demands on lead singer and bassist Kip Winger, who’s known for his stratospheric high notes.
“So we’ve been talking about the end of the band for years,” the drummer added. “Hindsight is 20/20. When the band formed, Kip and Reb [Beach, guitarist] and Paul [Taylor, keyboardist], they were in their twenties, I was in my thirties. For a singer to sing in the stratosphere, it was no problem. Well, when nearly 40 years later, all you’re doing is detuning your guitars and basses a half-step, which is not very much, singing in those registers becomes an issue for every singer.”
Still, Morgenstein said Winger was careful not to announce their definitive end. “So we knew it was coming,” he explained. “And the last gig that we did, and at the concert, instead of saying, ‘This is the last show. You’ll never see Winger again,’ we said, ‘Never say never. Circumstances change.’ And sure enough, we have four shows on the books this year — a festival in Brazil, a festival in Cancun.”
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Kip Winger Didn’t Want to Pull a Kiss With Winger Farewell
Morgenstein’s insights echo Kip Winger’s previous statements about the end of Winger.
“At some point I’m gonna play a final show with the band,” the frontman said last March. “I don’t know when it is. But that’s not to say I might not do a cruise or something. I don’t really know. I’m not going, ‘Hey, this is the last show we’re ever gonna do,’ because, well, hey, Kiss did it for 10 years, so … [laughs].”
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The bandleader, who’s pursued classical music more intensely in recent years, also revealed which parts of being in a touring rock band he won’t miss — specifically, the touring itself.
“The biggest thing is the traveling,” Winger said. “If you do 40 gigs in a year — and sometimes we do more than that — you have twice that many days on each end traveling. So, you spend half of the year of your life sitting in an airport, and it really … Listen, we’re not a huge band — we don’t fly around in our own Learjet — so it tends to take a toll on you. And then, all of a sudden, all my personal goals just end up drifting away in an airport somewhere in Chicago. So my life will be different in that way.”
Winger released their most recent album, Seven, in 2023. So far, they’ve got two 2026 tour dates listed on their website: April 26 at Bangers Open Air in Sao Paulo, Brazil, and Aug. 27 at the Devon Lakeshore Amphitheater in Decatur, Illinois.
See what other rock bands are hitting the road in our 2026 rock tour guide:
2026’s Biggest Rock Tours
Rock reunions are creating some of the biggest headlines for 2026 – but there are lots of other huge shows on the way.
Gallery Credit: Nick DeRiso
