Hinder Congress Theatre Review
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
By Aaron Keker
CONGRESS THEATRE, Chicago – Last night the Oklahoma band, Hinder, played for a roaring crowd at the Congress Theatre in Chicago, IL.
The night started out with a meet and greet with the band. My executive producer and I met Austin Winkler, Joe “Blower” Garvey, Mark King, Mike Rodden and Cody Hanson. In my observation, as successful as their Multi-Platinum debut album, Extreme Behavior, they are very friendly and pretty down to Earth. Austin was quiet and reserved, reserving his voice for their performance in about two hours. After the meet and greet, we went back and to our seats.
Five minutes later, Black Stone Cherry opened the concert. About an hour later, Finger Eleven performed on stage. As Finger Eleven concluded you could feel the anticipation of the crowd as the stage unfolded.
Austin and the guys came on stage as Austin belted out the first verse of “How Long” from Extreme Behavior. The next song that followed “How Long” was “Homecoming Queen.”
After “Homecoming Queen,” Hinder sang “Bliss (I Don’t Wanna Know).” This is another really good song from Extreme Behavior. Four songs later, one of their best songs was about to be played.
Austin sang, “I think you can do much better than me.” The crowd knew what song it was and started to sing “Better than Me” with Austin. Always Acoustic™ Exclusive: for those of you waiting to see the video, you do not have to wait any further. I asked Mike when are we going to see the video. He informed me that they would begin filming the video in the next several weeks. So, you figure after production, you should see it in the next month or so.
After, “Better than Me,” Hinder sang “Take Me Home Tonight” by Eddie Money. It was an awesome rendition. Austin had the crowd participate in singing the chorus. When “Take Me Home Tonight” concluded, there was anticipation in the air of when their mega hit would be played.
All of a sudden, the lights dimmed and the acoustic guitar was being strung when those eight most famous words were sung. “Honey why are you calling me so late.” The crowd exploded with excitement and started to sing along with Austin, “Lips of an Angel.” After several verses were sung the acoustic guitar transitioned to electric guitar. As the last few verses were sung it transitioned back into the acoustic guitar.
“One Last Stand” is the last song Hinder sung before the encore. As the song started to come to a conclusion, the crowd near the stage started to jump up and down. When the song concluded and Hinder left the stage the crowd noise intensified.
As Austin and the guys walked back on stage he remarked, “Chicago, I would not leave you hanging like this.”
The first song after the encore was “Running In The Rain” from Extreme Behavior. Austin sung the song solo with a piano melody. If that song was not rocking enough then came the acoustic version of “Thing For You.” Quote me on this song, “it will be a hit on the new album!”
The grand finale song was Hinder’s other mega hit “Get Stoned.”
So, what is my final opinion of the show?
The entire show was amazing from the meet and greet to the final curtain call. The crowd came, heard and enjoyed some modern rock and roll. I really enjoyed the transition from electric to acoustic guitar on “Lips of an Angel.” With their awesome performance that night, I cannot wait for the new album to be released. I am sure it will be another Multi-Platinum album like Extreme Behavior, especially because “Thing for You” is an awesome song.
If you have never heard of Hinder’s music, check out their website at www.hinderonline.com or their Myspace page at http://www.myspace.com/hindermusic. After that research and you still would like to purchase their album, you can pick it up at any music store or iTunes, etc. I would recommend purchasing the import album at www.towerrecords.com because it not only has the song “Running In The Rain,” but every other song on the album is really good.
Finally, I would like to thank the guys and the “Chief” for making this happen and I look forward to interviewing Hinder in the future.
Here is the Chicago set list:
- “How Long”
- “Homecoming Queen”
- “Bliss (I Don’t Wanna Know)”
- “Room 21”
- “By the Way”
- “Nothin’ Good About Goodbye”
- “Better than Me”
- “Take Me Home Tonight”
- “Lips of an Angel”
- “One Last Stand”/Intro to Band
- “Running in the Rain”
- “Thing for You”
- “Get Stoned”
