Archive for the ‘Answer’ Category

Whitesnake Newcastle City Hall 27th June 2006

Whitesnake Newcastle City Hall 27th June 2006
whitesnaketix2006Support from The Answer
A lot of water had passed under the Whitesnake bridge (22 years to be exact) since I last had the pleasure of seeing David Coverdale. The line-up of the band was completely different (other than, of course, Coverdale) to all the previous line-ups I had witnessed and was David Coverdale (vocals), Doug Aldrich and Reb Beach (guitars), Uriah Duffy (bass), Timothy Drury (keyboards) and Tommy Aldridge (drums). Whitesnake 2006 was a honed heavy metal machine, a million riffs away from the soulful bluesy unit of the early ’80s. And they were LOUD.
whitesnakeprog2006Whitesnake exploded onto the stage with an amazing version of the Deep Purple classic “Burn”, which then went straight into another Purple classic “Stormbringer”. The crowd were up on their feet from the word ‘go” and Coverdale looked and sounded great. There were, however, times when you could see he was having a little difficulty with his voice (some of the earlier shows on the tour had been cancelled because he had been unwell) but overall this was a great performance. Highlights for me were ‘Walkin’ in Shadow Of The Blues’ and ‘Soldier of Fortune’ as a final encore.
Setlist: Burn / Stormbringer; Slide It In; Love Ain’t No Stranger; Walking in the Shadow of the Blues; Lovehunter; Slow an’ Easy; Is This Love; Ready an’ Willing; Blues for Mylene; Snake Dance; Crying in the Rain; Ain’t No Love in the Heart of the City; Give Me All Your Love; Here I Go Again
Encore: Take Me with You; Still of the Night
Encore 2: Soldier of Fortune
That concludes my Whitesnake ramblings. I’ve spent the last week or so listening to, and watching, Whitesnake, and it has reminded me just how great this band were, and what an amazing rock vocalist and performer David Coverdale is. Next time he tours, I’ll make sure I’m there.

The Who Wireless Festival Harewood House Leeds 25th June 2006

The Who Wireless Festival Harewood House Leeds 25th June 2006
whoprog2006Support from The Flaming Lips; The Zutons; Eels; Super Furry Animals; Robyn Hitchcock; The Answer; Casbah Club
Went with David to see The Who at the O2 Wireless festival at Harewood House, just outside Leeds. The ticket was a barcode on my phone, so no stub to post here 😦 The supporting line-up was strong with great performances from The Answer (an Irish rock’n’blues band in the mould of Free and ’70s rock), Eels, Robyn Hitchcock (retro psych genius) and Casbah Club (super modster band featuring Simon Townshend) performing on the main stage and in a marquee. The best performance, other than the Who, came from The Flaming Lips, with a spectacular theatrical show which featured front man Wayne surfing across the crowd in a giant hamster ball 🙂
The Who’s performance featured several new songs which would appear on their 11th album “Endless Wire”, the usual Tommy segment, old faves and some unexpected classics including “The Seeker” and “Relay”. Great stuff.
Setlist: Who Are You; I Can’t Explain; The Seeker; Anyway Anyhow Anywhere; Sound Round; Pick Up The Peace; Endless Wire; We Got A Hit; They Made My Dream Come True; Mirror Door; Baba O’Riley; Drowned; Relay; The Kids Are Alright; Behind Blue Eyes; Mike Post Theme; Cry If You Want; Pinball Wizard; Amazing Journey; See Me Feel Me
Encore: Substitute; Won’t Get Fooled Again