Whitesnake Newcastle City Hall 10th March 1984
Support came from LA hard rock band Great White
Things were about to change again in the Whitesnake camp. In late 1983, they recorded the “Slide It In” album. Shortly after completing the album Mick Moody left the band: “Me and David weren’t friends and co-writers anymore. David never said anything to me. He just didn’t socialise with me anymore. David was a guy who five, six years earlier was my best friend…..Then one night we were in Germany and we did kind of a mini festival with Thin Lizzy and John Sykes was on guitar. Back at the hotel we were all sitting around and David was really talking a lot to John Sykes. I was sitting there quietly and David just turned around to me, pointing his fingers and said, ‘Don’t you ever turn your back on the audience again’. I went, ‘Pardon?’ He said, ‘That’s really unprofessional’, in front of John Sykes to make me look small and I thought to myself, ‘That’s it’….I decided to leave after finishing the end of the tour. The last gig was in Brussels in Belgium in October 83.” This led to John Sykes joining the band. At the same time Colin Hodgkinson left and Neil Murray rejoined. The vibe of the band and their music was changing from the bluesy rock of the early band to a heavier and more adult-oriented rock, which helped the band to break in the US. 
The new line-up of Coverdale, John Sykes, Mel Galley, Neil Murray, Jon Lord, and Cozy Powell toured the UK in March 1984, calling at the City Hall for two nights. It was a good concert, but Whitesnake were becoming a very different animal.
Setlist: Gambler; Guilty of Love; Ready an’ Willing; Love Ain’t No Stranger; Here I Go Again; Slow an’ Easy; Crying in the Rain/Soldier of Fortune; Ain’t No Love in the Heart of the City; Fool for Your Loving; Thank You Blues; Slide It In; Don’t Break My Heart Again.
Mel Galley suffered a broken arm in an accident during the tour. He never recovered full use of his arm, and fitted having “the Claw” to his hand in order to to play the guitar.”It was the most devastating thing that could happen to a guitarist. One minute I was playing with one of the biggest bands in the world, next minute finding it very hard to even scratch my own arse. Thankfully, with the aid of the Claw, even though told by doctors I would never play again, determination made me prove them wrong.” A few weeks later, Jon Lord left to reform Deep Purple.
It was 22 years until I saw Whitesnake again. I’ll write about that tomorrow, to conclude my series of Whitesnake memories.
16 Feb
Whitesnake Newcastle City Hall 10th March 1984
Posted February 16, 2015 by vintagerock in Great White, Whitesnake. Tagged: blues, classic rock, concert, concerts, gig, gigs, heavy metal, heavy rock, music, rock, rock n roll. 2 Comments
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Posted by Bryan Neighbour on March 8, 2022 at 5:20 pm
Sadly even though they are one of my favourite bands I only saw Snake twice. This tour was the first. Followed by a later tour when they released a (laughable really) greatest hits album. Both at Hammersmith. I just feel sad I never saw the classic line up I fell in love with. The second tour they were supported by FM who I love and literally blew them away.
Posted by vintagerock on March 8, 2022 at 9:30 pm
Hi Bryan I am off to see Whitesnake soon, after not having seen them for some years. I love Coverdale since I first saw him in Purple in 1974. Mistreated is pure class. Hope his voice is okay. Cheers Peter