20/6/2011 Whitesnake @ Hammersmith Odeon

Subject	Whitesnake @ Hammersmith Odeon
DateCreated	6/23/2011 3:16:00 PM
	I've never been much more than a casual Whitesnake fan, and even then only since 1987. I've enjoyed the more recent albums but never seen the band live, so I thought it was time to put that right. So I find myself at a packed Hammersmith Odeon - like Lemmy, Mr Coverdale also refers to the venue by it's former name - a fact much appreciated by the crowd! Like the previous album 'Good To Be Bad' I found the band's new album 'Forevermore' a bit heavy on the ballads, but otherwise a quality piece of work. David Coverdale obviously also thinks the new one is a quality album as the band start their set with the album's opening song 'Steal Your Heart Away' - fortunately a riff laden rocker of a song rather than a ballad! Whitesnake take a braver stance than many big bands with a new album out - where most might only play a couple of new songs, Whitesnake fill a large part of their set with material from their current album. It's good to see a major and long established band have such confidence in their new songs. Obviously there are plenty of the old favourite crowd pleasers in the setlist too - I'd have been disappointed if there weren't. However, there were some glaring omissions - no 'Cheap An' Nasty' or 'Slide It In' for instance.  I found the absence of these two particularly surprising as live versions of both were released as bonus tracks on the 'Classic Rock' magazine version of the new album and are also featured on the newly released live at Donington in 1990 live set. No 'Would I Lie To You' either, but obviously they can't fit ALL the big songs in. I did find the seemingly endless solo spots tedious.  I find this sort of self indulgence boring at the best of times. Tonight we get a solo spot from Doug Aldrich that seems to go on 'Forevermore'. There is no doubt he is an amazing guitarist but... Then Winger's Reb Beach also gets a long solo spot - although Reb play's '2nd fiddle' to Doug in Whitesnake and is technically not as flash I find his guitar spot more soulful and interesting - I think he expresses himself better rather than Aldrich's admittedly impressive 'look at me' axe pyrotechnics. Poor old Michael Devin only gets about 2 bars of mid song bass solo, although I think he looks the part (like he'd fit into the original band) more than any of the other current members. We have to endure a long drum solo as well. I was very impressed by Briian (the double 'i' is deliberate not a typo) Tichy's drumming in Foreigner but I soon lose interest during his lengthy solo tonight. One thing that particularly winds me up about all these long solo spots: You know those favourite songs of yours that they didn't play tonight because there wasn't time? Well if they'd left out those solos they would have had time to play them! There is an acoustic part of the set in the middle, which features the entire band (drummer included) on acoustic guitars - something Motörhead have done very successfully in the past. Mr Coverdale said earlier that there would be some surprises tonight.  It's getting near curfew time and there haven't really been any. Then, finally we get one single 'surprise' - but it's a good one! David introduces Bernie Marsden on guitar for 'Fool For Your Loving' and the song he co-wrote and then 'lost' 'Here I Go Again'. This is certainly the icing on the cake. It transpires later that Jimmy Page was at the gig too - a pity he couldn't be persuaded to strap on a Les Paul, but then again he was never in Whitesnake - unlike nearly everyone else apart from Richie Blackmore and Tony Iomi! The show ends with David returning the the stage alone, and singing a solo piece. Was this in answer to any doubters who questioned his ability to perform without backing vocalists or recorded backing vocals? During the acoustic section of the show David had five singers backing him. This final part of the show proves he can still do it even if he can't hit the high notes he used to - his voice is still strong and there was no way he could have pulled off miming this unaccompanied. It was an impressive performance for a man who will be 60 next birthday. I certainly enjoyed my first Whitesnake show. It was pretty good, but certainly not the best show I've been to this year. I did appreciate that the stage production was unusually low key for such a big act - no pyro or massive light show or fancy effects. They just let the music do the talking. A lot of bands (no names no pack drill) use massive 'productions' with loads of 'smoke & mirrors' to distract attention from the fact that the performance or songs aren't all they could be. Whitesnake just come on stage with minimal razzmatazz and get on with playing a bunch a great songs really well. David Coverdale is certainly one of the best rock frontmen and he still has 'it' - personality and charisma in spades. His voice isn't what it was and he can no longer hit the notes he once could, but he's pushing 60 now so what can you expect? Led Zeppelin had to change the key of a few songs at their O2 show as Percy can't hit the high notes any more. Gillan can't either. Ol' D.C. can still sing with soul and passion though - and entertain an audience. And he looks like he still genuinely loves doing it too. Certainly a good evening's entertainment, and much better value for money at under £40 face value for a ticket compared to the likes of Bon Jovi and Aerosmith.