The Winery Dogs Show Put

The Winery Dogs Show Put "Super" In Supergroup

For the last ten years, since their scorching eponymous 2013 debut album, The Winery Dogs have been putting the “Super” in the word “Supergroup” like no other. Throughout their following two releases – 2015’s fantastic follow-up, “Hot Streak”, and their long-awaited, shiny new third album, barely  a month old, simply and aptly titled “III”, the Dogs have only gotten progressively better with each new release as the chemistry of the three virtuoso players who make up the band, Richie Kotzen (Poison/Mr. Big) on lead vocals, guitar and keyboards, Billy Sheehan (David Lee Roth/Mr. Big/Talas) on bass guitar and backing vocals, and Mike Portnoy (Dream Theater/Sons Of Apollo/Avenged Sevenfold) on drums and backing vocals has only deepened and coalesced into the well-oiled engine of rock & roll excellence they’ve become.

This was immediately evident this past Sunday night, March 26, 2023, at the Plaza Live in Orlando at 9 o’clock on the dot as the final strains of George Clinton’s “Atomic Dog” intro ended and the Winery dogs took the stage with a pair of instant classics from the new record – “Gaslight” and “Xanadu” before revisiting Hot Streak with the funky and groovin’ hook-fest “Captain Love”. Despite an at times dubious mix, the band was on fire and had the nearly capacity Plaza Live crowd in the palms of their highly-skilled hands for the entire show! For the remainder of the 17 song, 90-plus minute set they weaved their way through a great selection of material from all three records, including fan favorites such as “Hot Streak”, “Time Machine”, “Mad World”, “The Other Side” and “I’m No Angel”, before wrapping up the night with the two encore songs “Regret” and “Elevate” to the appreciative roar of the rowdy Orlando crowd. The ageless wonder that is the now 70 year-old Billy Sheehan also turned in a blistering bass solo, melting the faces of the audience with his simply insane chops, honed through untold thousands of shows over a 50 year career in the rock & roll business, this man has earned his “Legend” status! The band apparently also filmed some of the footage for their upcoming video for “Breakthrough” off the new record at this show, which put an extra-special touch on the evening.

All-in-all, in spite of the aforementioned occasional sound issues, this was a great show put on by one of the best rock bands on the planet today, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t take the time to single out and mention what an absolute STAR Richie Kotzen has become. With his soulful, at times uncanny Chris Cornell-esque vocal delivery, mixed with his incredible fingerstyle guitar heroics and equal skill in front of an electric piano, not to mention his ability to mix such high-level musicality with great hooks and melodies to craft catchy, grooving, truly memorable songs, it’s a short list indeed of people who currently inhabit the same stratosphere of talent that Richie does.

Simply put, if you enjoy catchy, classic, 70s-inspired, melodic hard rock power trio songs played by three of the most elite musicians in all of rock & roll today, do not miss The Winery Dogs if they play anywhere near your town on their current “202III World Tour”! For more information, check out: www.thewinerydogs.com

Shane Handke
GetAMPED Magazine