A couple of weeks back we went to see David Coverdale and Whitesnake live on their Forevermore (the name of their latest album) tour.
My favourite Whitesnake album is Slip of the Tongue, primarily because of the outstanding guitar work by Steve Vai. It is probably the last album that Vai appeared on before he went solo.
Slip of the Tongue probably marked the last of the Whitesnake albums to achieve mass popularity. Soon after, hard rock/ heavy metal in general went on a downturn as the music world turned its attention to grunge for several years.
Whitesnake probably has the most number of songs in any bands repertoire to feature the word 'love', both in the song titles and in the lyrics! While many other rock/ metal bands sang about war, satan, madness, science fiction and fantasy, Whitesnake always kept it simple.
The Whitesnake set in KL included a good mix of hits, dating back from the late '70s right up to the title track from the latest album. It was great fun listening to and singing along with the old favourites - Give Me All Your Love, Love Ain't No Stranger, Is This Love, Love Will Set You Free, The Deeper the Love, Fool for your Loving (you get my point about the 'love' word), Here I Go Again and Still of the Night.
Coverdale's voice has not survived the ravages of time. His low notes were fine and his famous high-pitched scream/ yell was also in astonishingly good shape. But his entire middle range was gone, reduced to a scratchy growl, frequently requiring the support of backing vocals from his musicians. Fortunately, the songs are well know enough that the crowd was singing along and able to overlook the fact that the lead singer was struggling to keep up.
Speaking of musicians, I must say, David Coverdale over the years has consistently put together a great group of professionals who have worked together well. The current line up has Reb Beach (ex-Winger and ex-Dokken) and Doug Aldritch (ex-Lion and ex-Dio) on guitars and Brian Tichy on drums. Tichy drum solo was awesome in its ferocity and seemed to go on forever. Beach and Aldritch featured in an engaging guitar duel just before the half-way point of the set.
At the end, there was a wonderful surprise, with Coverdale singing Soldier of Fortune and then a medley of Burn and Stormbringer which had the crowd on its feet. No prizes for guessing the average age of the audience that night if the biggest cheers came for his Deep Purple songs from 1974.
Keeping in mind the condition of his voice, I can't imagine that Coverdale (now aged 60) will be doing too many more concerts. Am happy I had a chance to see the man in action!
My favourite Whitesnake album is Slip of the Tongue, primarily because of the outstanding guitar work by Steve Vai. It is probably the last album that Vai appeared on before he went solo.
Slip of the Tongue probably marked the last of the Whitesnake albums to achieve mass popularity. Soon after, hard rock/ heavy metal in general went on a downturn as the music world turned its attention to grunge for several years.
Whitesnake probably has the most number of songs in any bands repertoire to feature the word 'love', both in the song titles and in the lyrics! While many other rock/ metal bands sang about war, satan, madness, science fiction and fantasy, Whitesnake always kept it simple.
The Whitesnake set in KL included a good mix of hits, dating back from the late '70s right up to the title track from the latest album. It was great fun listening to and singing along with the old favourites - Give Me All Your Love, Love Ain't No Stranger, Is This Love, Love Will Set You Free, The Deeper the Love, Fool for your Loving (you get my point about the 'love' word), Here I Go Again and Still of the Night.
Coverdale's voice has not survived the ravages of time. His low notes were fine and his famous high-pitched scream/ yell was also in astonishingly good shape. But his entire middle range was gone, reduced to a scratchy growl, frequently requiring the support of backing vocals from his musicians. Fortunately, the songs are well know enough that the crowd was singing along and able to overlook the fact that the lead singer was struggling to keep up.
Speaking of musicians, I must say, David Coverdale over the years has consistently put together a great group of professionals who have worked together well. The current line up has Reb Beach (ex-Winger and ex-Dokken) and Doug Aldritch (ex-Lion and ex-Dio) on guitars and Brian Tichy on drums. Tichy drum solo was awesome in its ferocity and seemed to go on forever. Beach and Aldritch featured in an engaging guitar duel just before the half-way point of the set.
At the end, there was a wonderful surprise, with Coverdale singing Soldier of Fortune and then a medley of Burn and Stormbringer which had the crowd on its feet. No prizes for guessing the average age of the audience that night if the biggest cheers came for his Deep Purple songs from 1974.
Keeping in mind the condition of his voice, I can't imagine that Coverdale (now aged 60) will be doing too many more concerts. Am happy I had a chance to see the man in action!
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