It’s the last day of June, its
hot and there is a Snake loose in the desert tonight.
The Marquee Theater in Tempe is
nice from the outside and when you first walk in, you see the bar with
bartenders lined up to take your request. They are a welcomed sight after
having to trek up half a mountain to get to the venue from the parking area
I got stuck in. As hot as it is tonight, they are going to be busy. Going
in to the venue itself, it reminds me of the shows during the late 80’s at
the Santa Monica Civic. There’s no seats tonight and the crowd mingles
during Radiobox’s opening set. The band’s performance wasn’t too memorable,
as the anxiety in the air was clearly due to waiting for the night’s
headliner.
Once Radiobox finished their set,
and drinks were replenished, Whitesnake hit the stage with a vengeance as
they tore in to Burn. The crowd answered with frenzied enthusiasm.
During Burn, the band played a segway in to Stormbringer and
then back to Burn. The surprise of the night was the ancient
Ain’t No Love in the Heart of the City, which David Coverdale explained
hadn’t been part of the US set, but rather, was a staple of the European
tours instead. At the crowd’s reaction David commented “Well then, maybe we
should add that one”.
The band was tight!
David, being the energetic front showman, sounded as strong as ever.
However, I did notice that while he could hit the high notes, if he tried to
hit too high of a note he sounded like Axl Rose. Luckily, it didn’t happen
often. The band is rounded out with members Timothy Drury on keyboard, Doug
Aldrich on guitar, Tommy Aldridge on drums, Reb Beach on guitar, and Uriah
Duffy on bass. For the life of me I cannot figure out how Tommy has not
aged. Good or bad, the man looks exactly as he did when he was playing with
Randy and Ozzy in ’82. He’s hitting his drums just as hard – if not harder
– than he was over two decades ago.
They played their usual hits
which consisted mostly from the Whitesnake album. Also thrown
in to the mix was Judgment Day, Love Ain't No Stranger, Slow and Easy,
etc. The enjoyable thing about this show was due to the high energy
from the band, it didn't feel like a nostalgic outting, even with not having
a new album to promote.
If the Whitesnake Rock & Roll
Rhythm & Blues Show is coming to your town, go. Its well worth the price of
admission to witness a finely tuned, high energy performance.
Special thanks to Renee for
setting this up.
