The opening act was The Jason Bonham Experience, who play several Led Zeppelin songs. Jason Bonham is Zeppelin's drummer John Bonham's son. This lineup was weird in that earlier played the more I wanted to see them. I wanted to see Jason Bonham's band most, Whitesnake second most and Foreigner the least. The bands played in inverse order to that. Anyway due to my own incompetence we got to the concert venue late. I was working into the venue when Bonham's band started playing "Stairway To Heaven". We got to our seats, finally, after they left the stage.
The roadies were awesome and switched out the stage in about 10 minutes. Whitesnake roared on to the stage. The current members of Whitesnake are:
- David Coverdale – lead vocals (1978–1991, 1994, 1997, 2002–present)
- Tommy Aldridge (who has also played with Ozzy) – drums, percussion (1987–1991, 2002–2007, 2013–present)
- Reb Beach (who has also played with Winger and Dokken) – guitar, backing vocals (2002–present)
- Michael Devin – bass, harmonica, backing vocals (2010–present)
- Joel Hoekstra (who has played with Trans-Siberian Orchestra and Night Ranger) – guitar, backing vocals (2014–present)
- Michele Luppi – keyboards, backing vocals (2015–present)
I knew that we had good seats, but I didn't realize we were sitting on the fifth row. My friend almost was decapitated when Whitesnake's drummer, Aldridge, tossed some drumsticks out into the crowd. She didn't even get to grab the stick. Yes, we were that close. Whitesnake played just shy of a hour. They played the below 9 songs as well as had a drum solo and a guitar duel. Before Whitesnake took the stage we saw Hoekstra, who was a contestant for most work done, getting prepped for the show. He seems to enjoy the spotlight and who can blame him?
The members of Whitesnake are a talented band and Coverdale still has that powerful howl. With being so close to the stage we didn't listen to the music so much as be pummeled by it. That's not a complaint, we were just right there in the heart of the action.
Whitesnake played all the songs you think they'd play and then closed out with the 1 2 punch of "Here I Go Again" and the Zeppelinesque "In The Still of the Night". The boys are getting on in years, David Coverdale is damn near 67 and he's still in fine voice. Despite the advanced age, they still were kicking butt. I wouldn't say that they played music, they were mostly playing throbbing slabs of rock meat. It was a pounding and the pounding was enjoyable.
I had seen Whitesnake before, back in their heyday when they had Steve Vai playing guitar for them. I wasn't impressed with them on that night, they were missing something. I had higher expectations for them when I saw them originally. However on this night my expectations weren't as high, I just wanted to enjoy some live rock music. On this night they were very good. Whitesnake are great musicians and Coverdale is an affable front man. Though with all their songs about sex I did wonder more than once just how many groupies he had backstage waiting for him and his white snake.
1) "Bad Boys":
2) "Give Me All Your Love":
3) "Love Ain't No Stranger":
From where this video is being taken, this is about where we sat. We sat right in front of the drummer.
4) "Slow An' Easy":
5) "Crying In The Rain":
6) "Is This Love":
7) "Slide It In":
8) "Here I Go Again":
9) "Still of The Night":
themusicaddict
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