Archive for the ‘Whitesnake’ Category
18
May
Posted by vintagerock in Europe, Foreigner, Whitesnake. Tagged: classic rock, concert, gig, music, rock. 16 comments
To my shame, I arrived late and missed. I have never seen them and “Final Countdown” is a great rock song and one of my daughter Ashleigh’s favourite songs. She told me off later for missing their set. My carer Jan and I arrived just in time to buy a couple of programmes and take our seats as had just started their set. This was not your regular “support act”. Foreigner are, of course, a massively successful band and worthy of headliner status themselves. Therefore they played a full length set comprising major hits including “Cold As Ice” and closer singalong “I Want to Know What Love Is”. It is a long time since I have seen Foreigner, the last time being as support act for Led Zeppelin at their reunion concert in the O2 London. Before that I think it was at the Reading Festival in the late 1970s when they were just breaking through as a major act. I had forgotten just how great they are, how many classic rock songs they have produced and I must say I was incredibly impressed by them; their songs, the performance and the musicianship. The band’s lineup has changed many times over the years and now comprises only one original member, Mick Jones who hails from the UK. Mick was originally a member of Spooky Tooth, a 1960s progressive rock band, before he left for America, wrote a bunch of great songs and formed Foreigner to perform them, along with ex-King Crimson member Ian Macdonald (who left the band a long time ago).
The rest of the members of the band are all American, hence the name Foreigner (the band being UK/American and thus “foreign” in both countries!) I was looking around the stage, wondering where Mick Jones was. He came on to join the rest of the band for the last three songs playing guitar and keyboards. I am not sure if he is unwell, but he looked great and it was wonderful to see him again with the rest of his band. By the way, this takes me back to my long-time question “when is a band not a band?” Before Mick Jones joined the band on stage the Foreigner performing in front of us had no original members. However this did not detract from their performance. Many of the crowd may not have realised or even cared. To summarise, Foreigner were excellent and the 10,000 capacity crowd were really hyped up for the final act and headliner, Whitesnake.
David Coverdale, Whitesnake and I go back a long way since I first saw him fronting Deep Purple as their new vocalist on the Burn tour at Newcastle Odeon in 1974. I remember being very nervous and curious, wondering how anyone could replace Ian Gillan as lead vocalist. I need not have worried. David Coverdale came onstage and blew us away with his tremendous presence and powerful vocals on now classics such as title track “Burn” and my personal favourite “Mistreated “. I then saw him in an early band at Redcar Coatham Bowl (Coverdale
comes from Saltburn in the Middlesbrough area) and in various incarnations of Whitesnake at Newcastle City Hall, Reading Rock Festival and Donington Monsters of Rock. Throughout the years the line-up of Whitesnake has changed, starting off with a UK lineup featuring former Deep Purple members Jon Lord and Ian Paice, alongside guitarists Mickey Moody and Bernie Marsden. Coverdale then went to the USA and surrounded himself with a new American band. Worldwide fame followed! Throughout these times David Coverdale has continued to front the band taking the lead with tremendous soaring, screaming, screeching, excellent vocals.
Coverdale was on excellent form, taking total command of the audience who sang along with him and followed his every move, as he threw the mic stand up in the air and led his band through classic tracks including my favourites “Ain’t No Love In the Heart of the City”, “Fool For Your Loving” and “Here I Go Again”. I was hoping he would sing “Mistreated” but instead Whitesnake closed with an incendiary version of the Purple classic “Burn”. Just as good. Coverdale’s voice was as powerful and strong as ever. Amazing. Jan and I both agreed it had been a fantastic concert.
One final Whitesnake memory. Coverdale and his band headlined the final, Sunday night of the Reading Festival in 1980. My friend Davey and I returned to our tents. “I’m sure my tent was here” I said to Davey. I walked round and round and sure enough there was an empty space where my tent had been. Someone had stolen my tent! I crawled into Davey’s small tent where we both lay squashed for the evening. Happy days.
Whitesnake Setlist: Bad Boys; Slide It In; Love Ain’t No Stranger; Hey You (You Make Me Rock); Slow an’ Easy; Ain’t No Love in the Heart of the City; Fool for Your Loving; Crying in the Rain; Is This Love; Give Me All Your Love; Here I Go Again; Still of the Night; Burn
17
Feb
Posted by vintagerock in Answer, Whitesnake. Tagged: blues, classic rock, concert, concerts, gig, gigs, heavy metal, heavy rock, music, rock, rock n roll. Leave a comment
Whitesnake Newcastle City Hall 27th June 2006
Support 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.
Whitesnake 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.
16
Feb
Posted 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
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.
15
Feb
Posted by vintagerock in Diamond Head, Dio, Meat Loaf, Twisted Sister, Whitesnake, Z Z Top. Tagged: classic rock, concert, concerts, gig, gigs, heavy metal, heavy rock, music, rock, rock n roll. 4 comments
Whitesnake Monsters of Rock festival Donington 20th August 1983
Line-up: Whitesnake, Meat Loaf, Z Z Top, Twisted Sister, Dio, Diamond Head. DJ: Tommy Vance.
Aah! The Monsters of Rock festivals. Up early, on with the denim jacket, into the car, pick up my mates, and down the A1 and M1 we went. Three hours or so, and 165 miles (according to AA route planner), later and we joined the metal hordes in the Donington Park Race Circuit. We knew we were there when we saw the Dunlop tyre bridge.
Its funny what I find when I’m constructing these posts. “Chris Evans has bought Donington Park race track’s famous Dunlop bridge. The 30-year-old structure was sold during a racing memorabilia auction, for about £300, in aid of a Leicestershire charity. On his show, Evans said the bridge was a national landmark and appealed for help getting it from the track. Evans joked he was going to put up the bridge, which is over 70 metres (230 ft) in length, in his garden over the top of his neighbour’s house.” [Wonder if he did that 🙂 ] (from BBC News site).
Back to rock. First up in 1983 were Diamond Head. We listened to them while we had a little wander around the site. I will have bought my programme, we’ll have consumed our first burger of the day, and made our first visit to the beer tent [as designated driver, I would be limited to one pint early on in the day 😦 ]. Next was Dio, his operatic vocals drifting over the crowd, and the smell of burgers and beer, and lifting the mood on classics such as “Holy Diver”, “Stargazer”, “Heaven And Hell” and “Man On The Silver Mountain”. Classic.
It was probably about this time that the can fights would start. You had to watch out for them; a can on the back of your head could do some serious damage. Twisted Sister were next. Dee Snider and Co captured the crazy metal mood of the event perfectly and went down well. Dee understood metal and its antics and lapped up crowd reaction, both positive and negative; a few cans or bottles thrown on stage didn’t bother him. After all “You Can’t Stop Rock N’ Roll”. Next up was Meat Loaf, who didn’t take kindly to the sea of bottles and cans which were thrown at him throughout his set. Nonetheless he played on and treated us to “Bat Out Of Hell”, “I’m Gonna Love Her For Both Of Us”, “All Revved Up With No Place To Go”, “Midnight At The Lost and Found” and “Two Out Of Three Ain’t Bad”. Great stuff. Back to the beer tent, another burger, and a walk around the tyre to stretch our legs, and then meander and squeeze our way as close to the stage as we could safely get. Things were about to get even better.
This was our first exposure to Z Z Top, their beards, and that relentless, often tongue in cheek, Texan rock’n’roll boogie: “Gimme All Your Lovin'”, “Sharp Dressed Man”, “Pearl Necklace”, “Arrested For Driving While Blind”, and set closer “Tush”. Amazing. Two years later they were back as headliners; and rightly so. Another burger, avoid a few more cans and bottles, final visit to the beer tent, and back down front.
The day belonged to Whitesnake. The deserved it, and didn’t let us down one little bit. Whitesnake’s set was recorded; you can find it on YouTube. Mistreated is here (and is a simply awesome performance by Coverdale): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BZprpxhyMk
Coverdale opens the song thus: “We’ve got an old song for you. I think this may be the last time we’ll ever play it [it wasn’t]. Please enjoy it. It features my good friend Mel Galley on guitar”.
Whitesnake setlist: Walking In The Shadow Of The Blues; Rough An’ Ready; Ready An’ Willing; Guilty Of Love; Here I Go Again; Lovehunter; Mistreated; Soldier Of Fortune; Ain’t No Love In The Heart Of The City; Fool For Your Loving; Thank You Blues; Don’t Break My Heart Again; Wine, Women An’ Song.
In 1983 the ‘Snake were: David Coverdale (lead vocals and 110% rock godliness); Micky Moody (blues guitar); Jon Lord (swirling Hammond); Mel Galley (rock guitar); Colin Hodgkinson (thumping bass); and Cozy Powell (powerhouse drums).
Back in the car. An hour or two to get out of the car park. My mates would fall asleep and snore. I would drive back up a lonely and empty M1 and then the A1. Back home in the early hours. Denim jacket hung up again. Happy happy days 🙂
14
Feb
Posted by vintagerock in Samson, Whitesnake. Tagged: blues, classic rock, concert, concerts, gig, gigs, heavy metal, heavy rock, music, rock, rock n roll. Leave a comment
Whitesnake Newcastle City Hall 14th December 1982
Support Samson
When David Coverdale returned in late 1982 with a new Whitesnake. Only Jon Lord and Micky Moody remained from the old band with Bernie Marsden, Neil Murray, and Ian Paice being replaced by guitarist Mel Galley from Trapeze, bassist Colin Hodgkinson, and drummer Cozy Powell respectively. Micky Moody had actually also left the band and rejoined. Whitesnake released the album “Saints & Sinners” which was another Top 10 UK album and contained the hit single “Here I Go Again”.
Micky Moody explained the changes thus: “By ’81 people were becoming tired. We had too many late nights, too much partying. We weren’t making nowhere near the kind of money we should have been making. Whitesnake always seemed to be in debt, and I thought ‘what is this?, we’re playing in some of the biggest places and we’re still being told we’re in debt, where is all the money going?’. 
We hadn’t got much money out of it and to be told you’re £200,000 in debt, when you just had six golden albums. It wasn’t just me, cause everybody was getting tired, p***ed off and losing their sense of identity. It was over by then, we couldn’t get any further. It’s difficult for a band to go more than three or four years without getting tired of each other and losing ideas. Nothing lasts forever. Everybody wanted to do something different after a few years, a solo album or write with someone else.” The changing line-up didn’t seem to impact upon the band’s popularity. They toured the UK in late 1982, playing to packed out halls everywhere. The tour called at Newcastle City Hall for 3 nights, and the concert was as explosive as ever.
Support for the tour came from Samson featuring new vocalist Nicky Moore, who had replaced Bruce Dickinson, who’d left to join Iron Maiden.
Setlist: Walking in the Shadow of the Blues; Rough an’ Ready; Ready an’ Willing; Here I Go Again; Don’t Break My Heart Again; Lovehunter / Steal Away; Crying in the Rain; Soldier of Fortune; Ain’t No Love in the Heart of the City; Fool for Your Loving; Wine, Women an’ Song
13
Feb
Posted by vintagerock in Billy Squier, Whitesnake. Tagged: blues, classic rock, concert, concerts, gig, gigs, heavy metal, heavy rock, music, rock, rock n roll. Leave a comment
Whitesnake Newcastle City Hall 24th May 1981
Support from Billy Squier
In 1981 Whitesnake recorded “Come an’ Get It” which made No. 2 in the UK lp chart. It was kept off the No. 1 slot by Adam and the Ants’ Kings of the Wild Frontier. Two singles were released from the album: the Top 20 hit “Don’t Break My Heart Again” and the Top 40 hit “Would I Lie to You”. The band toured the UK in Spring, and this time their popularity had grown to the extent that they could sell out multiple nights at the top concert venues, including two nights at Newcastle City Hall. I went to the first night, and it was another great gig. Whitesnake were now one of the top heavy rock acts in the UK. A Whitesnake gig was heavy rock with a soul, featuring extended yet measured guitar and organ solos which came from the heart, rather than for flashiness or effect. And Coverdale was nothing short of amazing, his passion for the blues ripping and screaming its way through his performance, and his vocal ability simply outstanding.
I saw the band a few months later when they appeared second on the bill to headliners AC/DC at the Monsters of Rock festival at Donington.
After the 1981 tour David Coverdale took time out from music, as his daughter was not well, which put Whitesnake on hold for a short while. Coverdale also felt that some of the members of the band were becoming a little complacent. There were also rows over money, and Coverdale felt that the rest of the band lacked his ambition to push Whitesnake onwards and upwards, so he ultimately came to the decision in early 1982 to disband the line-up entirely. There were shortly to re-emerge with a new line-up, but more of that tomorrow.
Setlist from City Hall 1981: Walking in the Shadow of the Blues; Sweet Talker; Ready an’ Willing; Don’t Break My Heart Again; Till the Day I Die; Lovehunter; Mistreated; Soldier of Fortune; Belgian Tom’s Hat Trick; Ain’t No Love in the Heart of the City; Fool for Your Loving; Take Me with You; Come On; Wine, Women an’ Song
11
Feb
Posted by vintagerock in Gary Moore, Whitesnake. Tagged: blues, classic rock, concert, concerts, gig, gigs, heavy rock, music, rock, rock n roll. Leave a comment
Whitesnake Newcastle City Hall Newcastle City Hall 18th June 1980
Support from Gary Moore’s G Force
The 1980 tour programme gave a great build-up for a great concert: “To categorise Whitesnake as a heavy metal band is something like passing off Bob Dylan as a folk singer. Certainly there are those root elements, but anyone with the ability to peer over the obvious can see that Whitesnake are far more than a headbanging storm machine. One of the strongest influences in creating the thunderous hard rock they belt out is the blues and not just a token wail and groan here and there, but a sincere realisation of what the blues is all about. Good times, no nonsense progressive rhythm and blues, that’s what Whitesnake is all about and they’re ready an’ willing to prove it.
With Whitesnake onstage we get David Coverdale throwing back his head in a halo of curling hair, exploding in vocal dynamic, teasing and pleading for us to join in singing and share the whole experience together as one….Two of the best blues-rock guitarists in the business: Micky Moody and Bernie Marsden firing on all six and generating truly awesome electric guitar virtuosity tempered with raunch and taste….Jon Lord, the Maestro, with his battery of keyboards providing a sweeping sound of colours, fusing rock and classical roots to paint the backdrop of Whitesnake….Neil Murray’s strong, me.odic bass-playing which rises above and expands on normal bass riffing to give a definite extra edge and subtlety to the rhythm lines created by…..Ian Paice, considered by many to be the Guv’nor drummer. As any of you who saw Ian’s welcome return to the rock and roll stage on Whitesnake’s ’79 UK tour can testify, he is the consummate drummer. 
This is what we get….from a whisper to a scream……Whitesnake!”
Bernie Marsden was recently given a video featuring unseen live footage of this gig. Taking about the video Bernie says: “This video is very special. A few months ago I was given a reel of film by a fan of a Whitesnake gig at Newcastle City Hall on the “Ready an’ Willing” tour in 1980. It is unique and unseen footage of the classic early Whitesnake line up…. It’s a little grainy, but it is the real deal, watch Jon Lord in classic style on the Hammond organ. Many thanks to the people of the North East in the film, and of course the whole of the Whitesnake army out there. Special thanks to Mark Smith for his camera work and great editing. Hope you enjoy it, those on-tour Snake memories flood back!” You can see the video here: http://classicrock.teamrock.com/news/2014-10-21/premiere-bernie-mardsen-s-trouble-feat-coverdale
Setlist: Come On; Sweet Talker; Walking in the Shadow of the Blues; Ain’t Gonna Cry No More; Lovehunter; Mistreated; Soldier of Fortune; Nighthawk; Belgian Tom’s Hat Trick; Ain’t No Love in the Heart of the City; Fool for Your Loving; Take Me with You; Ready an’ Willing; Lie Down (A Modern Love Song)
10
Feb
Posted by vintagerock in 01 Band, Angel Witch, Broken Home, Budgie, Def Leppard, Fischer Z, Gillan, Girl, Grand Prix, Hellions, Iron Maiden, Krokus, Magnum, Nine Below Zero, Pat Travers, Praying Mantis, Quartz, Reading festival, Red Alert, Rory Gallagher, Samson, Slade, Sledgehammer, Trimmer & Jenkins, Tygers of Pan Tang, UFO, White Spirit, Whitesnake, Writz. Tagged: classic rock, concert, concerts, festival, gig, gigs, heavy metal, heavy rock, music, NWOBHM, rock, rock n roll. 16 comments
Reading Festival 22nd – 24th August 1980
DJs: John Peel, Bob Harris & Jerry Floyd
By 1980, the Reading Festival had become a heavy metal extravaganza. Headliners were Whitesnake, UFO and Rory Gallagher, with a full supporting heavy rock cast including new up-and-coming NWOBHM (New Wave Of British Heavy Metal) bands Def Leppard and Iron Maiden. It was the 10th anniversary of the festival being at Reading, and the 20th anniversary of the national jazz and blues festival.
Friday line-up: Red Alert (a heavy rock band, I think and not the North East punk band of the same name); O1 Band; Hellions; Praying Mantis; Fischer Z; 9 Below Zero (a great R&B set); Krokus; Gillan (always a good solid set); Rory Gallagher.
The highlight of Friday was, without a doubt, the reappearance of Rory Gallagher. Rory was a hero of mine, a class act, an amazing guitarist, and always came over as a regular down-to-earth guy. By 1980, Rory had moved to a harder rock sound, dropping many of the classic bluesy tracks which had been staples of his set throughout the 70s. So he was no longer playing Bullfrog Blues or Messin’ with the Kid, as part of the main set, although he would sometimes play one or two of them during the encore. Instead his set was focussing on tracks from his most recent albums; Top Priority, Calling Card and Photo-Finish. But these are minor quibbles; Rory’s performance at Reading in 1980 was, as always, outstanding.
Rory setlist: I Wonder Who; Follow Me; Wayward Child; Tattoo’d Lady; Bought And Sold; Country Mill; Hellcat; Out On The Western Plain; Too Much Alcohol; Going To My Hometown; Moonchild; Shadow Play
Saturday line-up: Trimmer and Jenkins, Quartz; Writz; Broken Home (featuring Dicken from Mr Big); White Spirit (North East NWOBHM heroes featuring Janik Gers); Grand Prix; Samson (the drummer played from inside a cage!); Pat Travers Band; Iron Maiden; UFO
Highlights were Pat Travers who played an intense set, Iron Maiden with original singer Paul Di’Anno at the time of the anthemic “Running Free” and headliners UFO. UFO had released their eighth album “No Place to Run” and the line-up was Phil Mogg (vocals), Paul Chapman (guitar), Paul Raymond (keyboards), Pete Way (bass) and Andy Parker (drums). I was a fan at the time and it was good to see them headlining, and hear heavy rock classics like “Doctor Doctor” and “Lights Out” and more gentle tracks like “Love to Love”.
UFO setlist: Lettin’ Go; Young Blood; No Place to Run; Cherry; Only You Can Rock Me; Love to Love; Electric Phase; Hot ‘n’ Ready; Mystery Train; Doctor Doctor; Too Hot to Handle; Lights Out; Rock Bottom; Shoot Shoot
Sunday line-up: Sledgehammer; Praying Mantis; Angelwitch; Tygers Of Pantang; Girl; Magnum; Budgie; Slade; Def Leppard; Whitesnake
Sunday belonged to two bands: Slade and Whitesnake. Slade first. Metal legend Ozzy Osbourne was billed to play on the Sunday with his new band Blizzard of Oz, but he pulled out at the last minute and was replaced by Slade. I have already written about Slade’s amazing performance, and have reproduced some of my previous post here. Slade appeared after glam heavy metal band Girl, and just before NWOBHM heroes Def Leppard. The field wasn’t that full as Bob Harris announced that Slade were taking the stage. Their entrance was greeted with a hail of cans. Noddy wasn’t phased at all by that, and asked everyone if they were “ready to rock”. And then they launched straight into “Dizzy Mama”. And then it started to happen. Slowly at first, the crowd began to cheer. People wandering around the outskirts of the site started to run towards the stage. Slade knew they had to win the crowd over and were working so hard, rocking so hard, and playing the hits. The area around the stage was soon completely rammed and the whole field was going crazy. Amazing. Slade nailed it, and in the space of one hour made sure that they were well and truly back. Dave Hill: “One heck of an experience, ‘cos I wasn’t going to do that gig. Slade manager Chas Chandler talked me into it…the confidence came when there was a reaction, as it built and built, sort of got bigger and bigger. I mean getting that lot to sing “Merry Xmas Everybody” was amazing.” The event was recorded and a few tracks were released as an EP.
Def Leppard appeared after Slade and didn’t go down too well with the crowd. Joe Elliott: “The legend about us getting bottled off at Reading 1980 is a myth really – we got an encore at Reading. We probably had six or seven bottles of piss thrown up – and maybe a tomato – but it didn’t put us off. That ‘backlash’ was all blown out of proportion. We’re living proof that bad reviews make no difference.” Actually they were pretty good.
Whitesnake consolidated their position as worthy festival headliners. They’d closed the festival the previous year, despite not receiving top billing in the pre-festival publicity. This year, however, their headline status was clear, and they deserved it. They had just released Ready an’ Willing their third studio album, which reached No. 6 on the UK Albums Chart, and featured the hit single: “Fool for Your Loving”. This was a great Whitesnake performance; their set now included classic Purple tracks “Soldier or Fortune” and “Mistreated” and new favourites the aforementioned “Fool for Your Loving”, along with “Walking in the Shadow of the Blues” and “Ain’t No Love in the Heart of the City.”
Whitesnake setlist included: Sweet Talker; Walking in the Shadow of the Blues; Ain’t Gonna Cry No More; Love hunter; Mistreated; Soldier of Fortune; Ain’t No Love in the Heart of the City; Fool for Your Loving
I got back to the camp site after Whitesnake and discovered that someone had nicked my tent 😦 Oh well, you can’t win them all. It was a cheap crappy tent anyway. This my last visit to Reading. The following year my mates and I decided to stay up North and attend the Rock on the Tyne festival, and once the annual cycle of attending Reading was broken, we never returned. For me, family and the pressures of parenthood kicked in, and the heavy metal dominance within the line-up made the Reading festival seem a little less attractive. I’d been 9 years in a row, seen the emergence of Quo, Genesis and Thin Lizzy, the re-emergence of Slade, great sets by the Faces, Rory and Yes, festival favourites like Edgar Broughton and Hawkwind, my personal favorites like Stray, the introduction of punk and new wave to the bill, and the recent growth in popularity of (new) heavy metal. Over the years I have toyed with the idea of returning to the Reading festival, or going to the more local Leeds festival, but have never got round to doing so. I suppose I fear that if I do, I will feel too old, and too out of place 🙂 I had some great, crazy times at Reading; maybe it’s best to leave the memories as they are. If I did go along, it could never be the same as when I was young.
9
Feb
Posted by vintagerock in Marseille, Whitesnake. Tagged: blues, classic rock, concert, concerts, gig, gigs, heavy metal, heavy rock, music, rock, rock n roll. 12 comments
Whitesnake Newcastle City Hall 18th October 1979
Support from Marseille
Former Deep Purple drummer Ian Paice joined Whitesnake in 1979. The band now included three former Purple members in Coverdale, Lord and Paice, and the new line-up recorded “Love Hunter”. This was the album that defined the early band, consolidated their position as heavy rock champions and started a journey to stardom which would continue on an upward trajectory for the next decade. The album features the excellent blues-rock anthem “Walking in the Shadow of the Blues” and the title track is a fine slab of rock which showcases Moody’s slide guitar. The unforgettable and controversial cover art, which was also on the tour programme, features a naked woman riding a great big snake. The woman is clearly mesmerised by the evil looking snake (which surprisingly isn’t all white).
Whitesnake toured in October 1979 to promote “Love Hunter”, still on a high from the success of closing the Reading festival. Support for the tour came from Liverpool rockers Marseille, who had been the first band to win “UK Battle of the Bands” in 1977. I saw Whitesnake when they returned to Newcastle City Hall on 18th October for a triumphant performance.
In 1979 Whitesnake had everything going for them; a rock god vocalist with the most powerful and soulful voice you could find on any stage, a pair of excellent blues guitarists, the best Hammond organ player in rock, and now a legendary rock drummer.
Add to that a growing collection of blues rock classics and you had the recipe for a great rock performance. And that is exactly what Whitesnake delivered. But there was much more to Whitesnake than heavy rock; this band had a soul, a passion and a feel for the blues unlike any other band.
When Coverdale sang “I love the blues, They tell my story, If you don’t feel it you can never understand” in “Walking in the Shadow of the Blues” you felt that he meant it.
Setlist: Come On; You ‘n’ Me; Walking in the Shadow of the Blues; Ain’t No Love in the Heart of the City; Steal Away; Mistreated; Belgian Tom’s Hat Trick; Lovehunter; Lie Down (A Modern Love Song); Take Me with You
Encores: Breakdown; Statesboro Blues/Rock Me Baby.
Thanks to Mitch for his photo, taken at this gig.
8
Feb
Posted by vintagerock in Bite the Pillow, Bram Tchaikovsky, Cheap Trick, Climax Blues Band, Cobbers, Cure, Doll by Doll, Fame, Gillan, Inner Circle, Jags, Little Bo Bitch, Members, Molly Hatchett, Motorhead, Movies, Nils Lofgren, Peter Gabriel, Phil Collins, Police, Punishment of Luxury, Reading festival, Root Boy Slim, Scorpions, Speedometors, Steve Hackett, Terra Nova, Tourists, Whitesnake, Wild Horses, Wilko Johnson, Yachts, Zaine Griff. Tagged: classic rock, concert, concerts, festival, gig, gigs, heavy metal, heavy rock, music, new wave, pop, rock, rock n roll. 7 comments
Reading Festival 24th – 26th August 1979
This was my 8th visit to Reading. The line-up was a predictable mix of new wave and heavy rock. It was also a year of line-up changes. Two of the main bands who were billed to play: Thin Lizzy and The Ramones did not appear. Thin Lizzy pulled out at a few days notice due to Gary Moore’s departure from the band. Lizzy were replaced by Scorpions and The Ramones by Nils Lofgren. Both of these changes were major disappointments. The weather wasn’t bad and the event was well-attended, but didn’t sell out. My recollections of the weekend are below:
Friday line-up: Bite the Pillow, The Jags, Punishment of Luxury, Doll by Doll, The Cure, Wilko Johnson, Motorhead, The Tourists, The Police.
Friday was the “new wave” day. I watched all of the bands from Punilux onwards. Highlights were The Cure who impressed me even though the only song I had heard before was “Killing an Arab”, and Wilko and Motorhead, both acts going down a storm with the crowd, who preferred their rock heavier and more traditional. The Police were riding on the crest of a wave of success, and were amazing, Sting had the crowd in the palm of his hand, and the entire field sang along to the hits. It was great to witness a band at their peak.
The Police setlist: Deathwish; Next To You; So Lonely; Truth Hits Everybody; Walking On The Moon; Hole In My Life; Fall Out; Message In A Bottle; The Bed’s Too Big Without You; Peanuts; Roxanne; Can’t Stand Losing You; Landlord; Born In The 60s
Saturday line-up: Root Boy Slim; Fame; The Yachts; Little Bo Bitch (not sure that they played?); The Movies; Bram Tchaikovsky; Gillan; Steve Hackett; Cheap Trick; Inner Circle; Scorpions
We spent much of Saturday enjoying the delights of local hostelries and didn’t venture into the arena until later in the day. To be honest, looking at the line-up now, it was pretty uninspiring. We made it into the festival for Gillan onwards. Gillan seemed to play everywhere at the time, and were always good fun. I’d seen them so many times that I was getting to know the new songs, but I also always looked forward to hearing Purple classics, which they did including ‘Smoke on the Water”. Steve Hackett played “I Know What I Like” which prompted a mass crowd singalong. The highlight was Cheap Trick with crazy antics from Rick Nielson and an exquisite performance by Robin Zander. A video of their performance that night is on YouTube. You can find “I Want You To Want Me” here, a bit rough, but still amazing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTLEYcO2VnE
For the encore Cheap Trick were joined onstage by Dave Edmunds and Bad Company guitarist Mick Ralphs for a rendition of The Beatles’ “Day Tripper”. Classic 😄
Inner Circle’s reggae rhythms went down well. Scorpions were great (I really liked “Loving You Sunday Morning” at the time), but we were disappointed that we weren’t seeing Lizzy who had become a Reading favourite and were massive at the time.
Sunday line-up: The Cobbers; Terra Nova; Speedometers; Zaine Griff; Wild Horses; The Members; Molly Hatchett; Climax Blues Band; Nils Lofgren; Peter Gabriel; Whitesnake.
Sunday highlights for me were The Members who were in the charts with “Sounds of the Suburbs” and got a mixed reaction from the crowds with some people liking them, and others lobbing cans, and Peter Gabriel who started with “Biko” and played classic solo tracks like “Moribund The Burgermeister”, “Solsbury Hill” and “Here Comes The Flood”. Phil Collins joined Gabriel for the end of his set for “The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway”. Whitesnake closed the evening and were worthy headliners (although they weren’t billed as so, with Peter Gabriel and non-showers The Ramones having shared top billing in the pre-festival publicity). They started with an amazing new song “Walking in the Shadow of the Blues” which set the tone for the evening. Ian Paice had just joined on drums and Whitesnake now had three former Purple members (Coverdale, Lord and Paice).
Whitesnake setlist: Walking In The Shadow Of The Blues; Ain’t No Love In The Heart Of The City; Steal Away; Belgian Tom’s Hat Trick; Mistreated; Soldier Of Fortune; Love Hunter; Breakdown; Whitesnake Boogie.
An enjoyable Reading weekend, if not one of the strongest line-ups.
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