Author: Peter Podbrežnik
Venue: Hala Tivoli, Ljubljana
Concert date: 12.07.2016
Attendance: 2000
Ticket price: 33/44€
Whitesnake are another cult band from the golden age of classic rock, and with the current ‘The Greatest Hits’ tour they’re slowly saying goodbye to their loyal followers, that is, if we can believe the words of their charismatic founder, chieftain and singer David Coverdale that this is their final concert odyssey. David, who won worldwide fame as the vocalist of the legendary Deep Purple, even before he created Whitesnake after a short solo adventure, first as a blues rock collective that then mutated in the second half of the eighties into a commercially super-successful hard rock/metal behemoth, will in any case march into history as one of the best rock singers of all time.
In the last few years David’s vocal cords had really started acting up, but after a short break from frequent touring they’ve mysteriously regenerated, and now he’s singing the old classics the way they deserve again. Not like he could in his prime, of course, since the man turns 65 this September, but a lot better than we were used to hearing him at shows over the last few years.
Whitesnake opened their current tour at Ljubljana’s Hala Tivoli, so this night was something special either way. Northern Irish support act The Answer, with their blues-tinged hard rock, came across as a perfect clone of the legendary Led Zeppelin, so they thrilled Zep devotees the most, even though in their competently played set they showed precious little original sonic approach. The only thing missing among the Led Zeppelin imitations was their version of »Stairway to Heaven«, but that would probably have been too complex a feat for a band that mostly swears by directness and compactness. The two rare moments when the Northern Irish hard rock entertainers tried to sound a little more their own came out pretty drawn-out and pale, so they’d really do better to keep faithfully copying their great role models in the future. The band is rescued from mediocrity by charismatic singer Cormac Neeson, who overdid it a bit egging on the small and not terribly interested crowd, but anyway, if nothing else, The Answer were at least a pretty good stylistic pick for a support act and deserve a thumbs-up for that alone.
David and his Whitesnake crew of top-notch instrumentalists strode onto the stage with the expected authority, and with the opener »Bad Boys«, from their famous, super-successful album »Whitesnake« (1987), they sent the crowd into delirium in an instant. Mr. Coverdale still radiates incredible vitality and charisma on stage, and with his recognizable stage moves and the occasional doglike howl he still recalls that untamed charmer from the music videos who won over actress and (now long-time ex-) wife Tawny Kitaen in the eighties, even though he’s been a proud grandfather for a while now. The Whitesnake hits came one after another, though, as expected, the more commercially successful material from the second half of the eighties dominated, when David and his comrades were darlings of the ‘MTV generation’ for about three years and their videos were on TV day in, day out.
There were, as expected, far fewer performances from the blues rock era, not counting the fact that the original versions of the hits »Here I Go Again« and »Crying In The Rain« were created back in 1982, which of course isn’t right, but David can always shrug it off by saying that the current tour is simply called ‘The Greatest Hits’. Of course, »Fool For Your Loving« and »Ain’t No Love In The Heart of the City« didn’t go missing either, the latter also including a snippet of the »Slip of the Tongue« (1989) standard »Judgement Day«. Of the ‘old guard’, only drummer Tommy Alridge remains in the current band, while Reb Beach (Winger, ex-Dokken) has finally earned the status of lead guitarist after fourteen years. Michael Devin has been in the band for six years, which isn’t bad for a Whitesnake bassist, while guitarist Joel Hoekstra (Night Ranger, Trans-Siberian Orchestra) and Italian keyboardist Michele Luppi (Vision Divine, Secret Sphere), otherwise experienced masters of their instruments, are still fairly fresh newcomers in the role of Whitesnake members. Both guitarists and Devin got their moments in the spotlight, as expected, while Alridge’s pompous drum solo, which includes pounding the drum kit with bare hands, came right after »Crying In The Rain«.
A minor surprise this evening was »Slide It In« from the album of the same name, since they rarely play anything else from it besides »Love Ain’t No Strainger«, which was the evening’s third evergreen, even though it’s one of their best albums. They also surprised us with another »Slide It In« standard, »Slow ‘an Easy«. No less of a pleasant surprise was the »Slip of the Tongue« (1989) love ballad »The Deeper the Love«, which mostly stirred up all the lovestruck ‘lovebirds’ in the crowd. »Give Me All Your Love« was another expected »Whitesnake« standard that can’t be missing from any show by David and his brothers-in-arms. Of course, they didn’t forget the two ultra hits either, »Is This Love« and »Here I Go Again«, which, as expected, got the crowd going the most, and the crowd even helped out quite commendably by singing the choruses. The performance by the ‘white snake’ and his crew wrapped up in a quick encore in a pretty predictable way with the unforgettable drama of »Still of the Night«, which is one of their rare metal moments. With the vocally most demanding performance of the night, David confirmed at the end that his vocal cords are ‘obeying’ him a lot better again than not long ago, when he really struggled, especially hitting the higher vocal notes.
The concert by the hard rock legends turned out really nicely as a whole, despite quite a few skeptics who feared the show might not even happen, even though attendance was far from ideal. If this was one of the last Whitesnake shows in Coverdale’s mighty career, you can say the still-vital old-timer is saying goodbye to his fans in more than a dignified way. Despite a pretty sorry picture before the show, the crowd grew to at least a relatively inoffensive number, including quite a few young people, who deserve special praise for going to this kind of concert instead of turbo folk. Still, that doesn’t give much hope that interest in the rock scene in Slovenia is improving in any way.
photos: Klemen Udovč
Setlist
1. Bad Boys
2. Slide It In
3. Love Ain’t No Stranger
4. The Deeper the Love
5. Fool For Your Loving
6. Ain’t No Love in the Heart of the City / Judgement Day
7. Guitar solo
8. Slow an’ Easy
9. Bass solo
10. Crying In The Rain / drum solo
11. Is This Love
12. Give Me All Your Love
13. Here I Go Again
—encore—
14. Still of the Night
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