Review: The Rock Doesn't Stop — But Is Anyone Paying Attention?

Michael Christopher of Pop Matters reports that when the Rock Never Stops tour "limped into Trenton [last month], the Sovereign Bank Arena wasn't even a third full. Chalk it up to the fact that whatever the quality of the music played, the headliner [WHITESNAKE] and the supporting acts [WARRANT, WINGER and SLAUGHTER], while somewhat similar, were ultimately a mismatch in draw. It was '80s metal meets rock icon, and only the hardcore for each made the trek.

"Few hit wonders SLAUGHTER were always middling near the bottom of the bill even at the height of the hair band days, and not much has changed (as it should be). With no pointed lack of effort, singer Mark Slaughter was determined to make it seem as if 30,000 strong were milling about the floor as opposed to the maybe few hundred, but the songs carry as much weight as bassist Dana Strum's reputation as a swell guy, i.e., not much.

"Mere minutes after the stage had been cleared, a bloated and disheveled gent wearing old jeans and a baggy gray shirt ambled out a lone microphone stand checking the levels of the acoustic guitar slung around his neck. Not until he actually started playing did most of the audience realize it was really KIP WINGER, who did about 25 minutes unplugged before politely thanking the crowd and walking off. Beavis-and-Buttheaded to death for much of the '90s, he left naysayers little to grate on with his ballsy stroke of displaying the absolute antithesis of everything that the '80s represented in music. Those who came to heckle the singer were left with mouths agape while his commanding yet unassuming presence produced 'Headed for a Heartbreak' and 'Seventeen' in a way that temporarily replaced the images of the a sweaty MTV pretty boy with that of a true musician. Shocking indeed." Read more.