Author: Urban Bolta
Location: Hala Tivoli / Ljubljana / Slovenia
Concert date: November 29, 2011
Attendance: 6,300
Ticket price: €31 (stands) / €34 (floor)
A good five years after Whitesnake first visited the land on the sunny side of the Alps, David Coverdale and company came back to our capital. Unlike on their previous visit, this time Whitesnake had a very decent current record up their sleeve, “Forevermore”, which, after the lukewarm “Good To Be Bad” (2008), proved that the band’s studio firepower hasn’t quite run dry in the years since the reformation.
Before the stars of the evening took the stage, the Northern Irish greenhorns The Answer got 40 minutes in front of an already almost full Tivoli main hall. These guys have been seriously active on the live circuit for the past half decade. In that time they’ve put out three studio albums and shared stages with rock giants like the Rolling Stones and AC/DC, and last year they even played the main stage of the prestigious High Voltage festival in London. In short, in ten years of existence they’ve achieved more than most of their peers ever will. The Answer bet on raw, stripped-down blues-rock rhetoric in the Led Zeppelin mold. Led by charismatic frontman Cormac Neeson (who, intentionally or not, reminds you of Robert Plant), the Irishmen brought an energetic hard rock show to the stage, with the occasional detour into calmer bluesy waters. Neeson himself now and then rounded out the sound with some harmonica playing, making it clear that the band finds its idols among the musicians of the sixties and seventies. Among their own material, spiced up with tracks from the current album “Revival”, The Answer slipped in the classic Rock ‘n’ Roll Outlaw by Australian rascals Rose Tattoo, warming up the backsides of the older folks in the crowd. This young Irish outfit turned out to be a smart choice for an opener, they did their job with flying colors, and the beer after their set was more than well earned.
Then came a long, half-hour wait for the start of the Whitesnake show, which kicked off after a taped version of The Who classic My Generation. The musicians took their places on the dark stage and, hard rock bulldozer style, opened with the punchy Bad Boys and Give Me All Your Love, before sending us back to 1984 with the phenomenal Love Ain’t No Stranger.
David Coverdale is a man worthy of respect, with a unique vocal and stage charisma, but it’s clear that at sixty-odd years old his vocal cords no longer obey him as much as he’d like. Already in the opening stretch of the show, Coverdale, like the sly old foxes of the trade, left the choruses to the crowd, and the other musicians pitched in with backing vocals more than once. Not to mention that some of the highest vocal registers were the product of a pre-recorded vocal track! But let’s be honest, most of those present weren’t too bothered by this kind of cheating. Later in the evening, the packed Tivoli hockey arena filled up with the sound of songs from the current album “Forevermore”, Stel Your Heart Away and the title track Forevermore.
The name Whitesnake has always stood for a crew of exceptional musical masters. Their mastermind Coverdale has always been surrounded by big talents, who rotate through the lineup relatively often. For the past decade he’s had an outstanding guitar duo for company, Doug Aldrich (ex-Dio) and Reb Beach (Winger), who even before the midpoint of the show displayed a true arsenal of guitar tricks and left Tivoli dazzled with their fast-fingered moves. Then the band returned to the stage, and with them the metalized Can You Hear The Wind Blow, the only visit this time to the album “Good To Be Bad” (2008), which, precisely because of its aggressive production, was received poorly on release by the band’s sworn supporters. In that respect, the B.B. King cover Rock Me Baby came in more than handy, since blues crumbs have always been the band’s trademark. The first single from the current album, Love Will Set You Free, also got a warm reception, and then the spotlights swung to the drum kit and the man in charge of it, Brian Tichy. He showed off the full range of his skills and thrilled the crowd with some proper show stunts, while I was wondering whether a 15-minute drum solo is really what I’d want from a Whitesnake concert. I don’t think so.
Next came a surprising section, a stroll through the most recognizable rock’n’roll melodies of the sixties and seventies, made up of classics by Free, Queen, Cream and Survivor, and as the cherry on top, Coverdale and the gang seasoned the “medley” with half a performance of one of their most erotic songs, Slow ‘n Easy. The string of songs felt very relaxed for the band, and the musicians, in great spirits this evening, proved with it that they’re not only a well-oiled machine but also a collective that knows how to swap routine for spontaneity at just the right moment. Without a doubt one of the best moments of the evening.
In the closing stretch of the show, Whitesnake ran through their best-known radio hits and sent the entire hall into ecstasy. Whether you like it or not, you simply can’t do without Is This Love, Fool For Your Loving or Here I Go Again. When the noise died down, Coverdale, with a slightly rusty voice and no accompaniment, sang the immortal Deep Purple classic Soldier Of Fortune and, together with the whole band, tipped it over into two more dusty Purple gems, Burn / Stormbringer. As a farewell to Ljubljana, as expected, they served up the sturdy melodic rock creation Still Of The Night, a vocally demanding composition that a visibly worn-out Coverdale could barely keep up with.
What to say after a spectacle that drew more than six thousand souls, young and old, to Tivoli? Anyone who came to have a good time certainly got a healthy dose of hard rock marching anthems, while those of us who follow the band more closely have long known that Whitesnake’s live reach has shrunk over the years. Coverdale’s frayed vocal cords are the product of a harsh reality that, at his age, simply can’t be escaped, so long-winded solo spots (by otherwise well-schooled musicians) and similar “cheats” have become a staple. I’ll let you judge for yourselves whether Coverdale, and with him the entire Whitesnake legacy, is ready for retirement or not… let me remind you that, after the accusations about his form two or three years ago, the offended old fella has already “threatened” this possibility in public.
Setlist
1. Bad Boys
2. Give Me All Your Love
3. Love Ain’t No Stranger
4. The Deeper The Love
5. Steal Your Heart Away
6. Forevermore
7. guitar solo
8. Snake Dance
9. Can You Hear The Wind Blow
10. Rock Me Baby
11. Love Will Set You Free
12. drum Solo
13. medley: All Right Now / Sunshine Of Your Love / Another One Bites The Dust / Slow ‘n Easy / Eye Of The Tiger
14. Is This Love
15. Fool For Your Loving
16. Here I Go Again
17. Soldier of Fortune / Burn / Stormbringer
18. Still Of The Night
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