Oct 21
On a rainy night in London town…a Whitesnake rose
Whitesnake
Hammersmith Carling Apollo
London
20 October 2004
Last night saw Coverdale and Co. deliver bluesy hard rock at the highest level. It was a sheer triumph of music ability and master showmanship. The fact that Whitesnake have such a treasure trove of songs to call on does not hurt either. Coverdale covered all aspects of his career from the storming version of Deep Purple’s Burn, through acapela versions of some of his solo material as requested by the audience, through hits from all eras of the band. With few exceptions the sell-out audience knew every word to every song and loved every minute of this tour de force. The stage set was simple and David was dressed as the elegant louche. Coverdale, the ever consumate showman, looked completely at ease as he held the stage, completely not non-plussed the gig was being filmed for a DVD. I did not expect this to exceed Whitesnake in their late 80s prime. I was proven wrong in extremis. Not only was this the best Whitesnake gig I have ever seen, it just might be one of the best gigs I have ever attended. Coverdale may be over 50, but boy has he still got it.
Rating: 5/5
3 Comments so far
I had a tape of Whitesnake’s first tour, in a little club. The tape recorder was under the stage, so the sound has his boot stamping all the way through, but it was a suprisingly good bootleg. Perhaps ‘76.
Alas, the tape is long lost to the mists of time.
A friend of mine called Horry attended the event and said it was fabulous, and was sorry he did get to meet you, Andrew.
I was sorry I didn’t manage to hook up with Horry as well. I think the fact it was coming down in biblical proportions upon our exit had something to do with it.