Posts Tagged ‘whitesnake’
Whitesnake & Whitford-St. Holmes Concert Review, San Antonio, TX, June 6, 2016
Last night was quite a night. I had just seen Whitesnake a year ago in Austin and I’ve never seen Whitford-St. Holmes, only Whitford with Aerosmith several times. Whitesnake is doing a greatest hits tour and I do like them enough to continue seeing them when it’s convenient. When Whitford-St. Holmes was announced as the opener, it made my decision to go even easier. Especially since they added an affordable meet and greet option.
I arrived in San Antonio around 5ish, parked and found a bar to grab a drink and a bite to eat prior to the meet and greet. The tour manager called me told me when/where to meet, which was at the backstage door at 6:30PM. I got to that spot around 6:15 and there were about 7-8 people hanging out that I thought were all part of the meet and greet. Come to find out, none of them were. They were all there to try and meet Coverdale and they all knew each other. Autograph seekers. I asked if they were going to the show and got a resounding “hell no” from all of them. Apparently they all just hang out before shows to see who they can meet. One of the guys, easily 60 years old, got a call and said, “He’s about to pull up in a black SUV.” I asked if they had a spy network and was told “yes.”
As Coverdale got out of the SUV, the security guy tried to usher him in the backstage door and he said, “Give me a minute, let me take care of these people.” As he walked up, he said, “Just one item each, make it your best one and I’ve got to go.” I was last and asked him to sign The Book. “This is different,” he said. I asked for a picture, he obliged. I hit a wrong button and he saw the screen go black and thanks everyone and walked away. No photo. I was a bit bummed to not get that photo but super stoked to get him in The Book. Immediately after that, the autograph seekers all left. One dude walked up after and he was the only other person there for the meet and greet. I was a bit surprised that there weren’t more.
A few moments later the tour manager escorted us through the door and into the basement to the dressing rooms area. He stated that Brad was finishing dinner and to just hang out in the hallway until it was time. No problem. All of a sudden, there’s Coverdale walking by us and the guy next to me asked for a picture. He obliged and I mentioned that the one I tried outside failed. “Well let’s make that right, then.” The dude took a few pics of us and I said, “Thanks, Dave. It’s quite an honor to meet you.” He replied very politely with, “Please call me David, alright? It’s much better than Dave. I don’t like that name.” I apologized, thanked him again and called him Mr. Coverdale. He smiled, shook my hand and said, “Enjoy the show, gents” and walked away. Down the hall I heard one of his roadies call him “DC” and he said, “Why can’t you bloody just call me David?!” haha.
Right after that we were escorted to the Whitford-St. Holmes dressing room. Since there were only two of us, it made things nice and casual. I spoke with Derek for about 10 minutes as we discussed his time in Blood of the Sun and I asked him about the time he spent in The Michael Schenker Group in 1983. You can see some vids of him on rhythm guitar and backing vocals from that ’83 tour. He told me some great stories and asked what I had to sign so I showed him The Book. He was really into that thing and read the entire sections for Nugent and MSG. I got the impression that he and The Nuge weren’t friends nowadays based on some comments he made. I had him sign my Blood of the Sun CD and the two tickets I had, the other being for my friend, Rodney. Derek was a super guy.
Then we switched and I got to talk to Brad for about 10 minutes. Let me tell you, it was almost difficult to say anything as I was just humbled to even be next to that guy. Aerosmith runs deep in my rock and roll history thanks to my brother, Robert. I was a bit miffed that I couldn’t find my Draw the Line CD, my favorite album by them. He, too, was interested in The Book and asked how to find one. I told him about seeing them a few times in the late 80s/early 90s. He was so laid back and extremely friendly. I was really just blown away. He signed The Book and those 2 tickets and then we did some photos.
Derek made it a point to show Brad the MSG section that he was in
They both thanked us and were escorted back out. Reb Beach was standing on the sidewalk and I just shook his hand and said, “Have a great show tonight.” I got him in The Book a couple of years ago in Houston.
I walked around to the front entrance, met up with Rodney, passed off his ticket and in we went. The tour manager found me and handed me the swag bag from the meet and greet which included a copy of the latest album. It has a bonus disc of the first album on it, too. Whitford-St. Holmes came on right at 8PM and they sounded great. Unfortunately they didn’t play anything from their debut album. I was hoping to at least hear Sharpshooter. The played a partial version of Aerosmith’s Last Child with the keyboardist on vocals. That was my brother’s favorite track. Then a partial version of Nugent’s Hey Baby followed by a partial version of Train Kept A-Rollin’. They closed the show with Stranglehold.
After about a 20 minute stage change, Whitesnake came out to Bad Boys and Slide It In. They sounded as good as they sounded last year and the backing vocals helped carry Coverdale throughout the show. They played everything you’d expect them to play on a greatest hits tour. I totally could have done without the guitar and bass solos and especially Tommy Aldridge’s boring ass drum solo. Double bass, double bass, quads, quads, ohhh some triplets, more triplets. Wait, more quads! Look, ma! No sticks. Hands-only solo now! Quads with the hands! Double bass! Wake me when it’s over, please. But overall the band sounded great. It was a fun show. Coverdale is the consummate front man.
I will say that in meeting him, it was quite intense. He exudes so much personality and energy all the while remaining a gentleman.
The “covers” listed in the Whitesnake set were taped intros/outros, not anything performed live.
Whitesnake and The Dead Daisies Concert Review, Austin, TX, August 9, 2015
The Dead Daisies opened the show and I had not heard of them until right before showtime. They are sort of an all star lineup featuring John Corabi, Marco Mendoza, Dizzy Reed, Richard Fortis, Brian Tichy and Damon Johnson. They came out and got the crowd warmed up pretty easily and were a good fit to open for Whitesnake. Musically I was pretty bored. Too much hand clapping and “Hey!” type rock for me. The crowd seemed into it though and that’s what mattered. They were solid and Corabi’s voice sounded great. They did a quick free meet and greet immediately after their set which was cool. I spoke to Marco for a moment recalling the times I saw him with Thin Lizzy in Virginia and Maryland. He’s got a good memory, “Phil Lynott tattoo on your arm, right?”
I saw Whitesnake for the first time about 10 years ago to the day (August 7, 2005) in Norfolk, VA and they were good. Good enough, anyway. Coverdale, who’s no spring chicken and should not be expected to sound like he did in the 70s and 80s, sounded good. Last night was no different.
They had a taped opening of The Who’s My Generation then went right into Burn by Deep Purple, Slide It In and Love Ain’t No Stranger. Great way to open a show! They played some more Deep Purple songs (this is dubbed the Purple Tour) and some other Whitesnake tracks including Bad Boys from the 1987 S/T album. I was a little surprised that they’re not playing Stormbringer on this tour, but oh well.
The band was super solid and their backing vocals helped Coverdale sound better for sure. He’s got Reb Beach, Joel Hoekstra, Tommy Aldridge, Michael Devin and a keyboard player that I’m too lazy to look up. Both Reb and Joel were tearing it up on guitar and Aldridge bored me to tears like he always has. I could never get into his playing.
The show didn’t sell out, not even close. It was a great time with great friends during and after the show and I’ve got a little rock and roll pneumonia today to show for it!
Whitesnake – Box O’Snakes: The Sunburst Years 1978-1982
Whitesnake. A band that I loved to hate in the late 80s. Their videos were annoying and I never saw the allure of Tawny Kitaen. Then in the late 90s when I started getting into Thin Lizzy and investigating John Sykes’ material, I bought 1987 and realized how great that album was along with Slide It In. About 10 years ago I heard the pre0Sykes version of Slide It In and thought it was really great in a 70s rock sort of way and started delving backwards into Whitesnake’s back catalogue. All of their pre-Slide albums are about 50/50 with me. There are some really great songs and some real duds. Nonetheless, it’s good stuff overall.
In November of 2011, EMI will release Box O’Snakes: The Sunburst Years 1978-1982. This looks like a nice collector’s piece with all of their pre-Slide studio and live albums along with a DVD and book. I think I want one!
Check out more details here and on the photo below.
It was a cold night in February 1988…
…when I met Nicko McBrain. He had come to town to do a drum clinic for Sonor Drums and Paiste Cymbals. As a zit 
-faced, poofy-haired kid who loved Iron Maiden more than just about anything, this clinic was like a taste of Heaven. There were only about 30 people there as Whitesnake were in town touring for the ’87 LP. I was one of 2 people who actually got to get up on stage and play his drums with him standing right there. It was awesome. During one of his rambles, he mentioned the size of the crowd being small due to Whitesnake being in town. Under my breath from the front row I said “Fuck Tommy Aldridge.” Nicko stopped his speech and said, “Steve, give that man a beer!” So his tech handed me an ice cold Heineken which I had Nicko autograph after the show. I still have that bottle, unopened and it’s all chunky inside. I didn’t drink at the time so there was no reason to open it.
Here it is:
Quiet Riot – Metal Health (1983)
Let’s just be straight here, I love this album. I have since it was released. 1983. I was 13. It was a tough year for me…I 
guess 83-85 were a little difficult. Not necessarily because of going through the typical teenage bullshit, but there were other things going on that really made those some tough years. But hey, I got through it. I spent a lot of days and nights listening to this album. I used to have this little one speaker GE boombox that I would put under my pillow at night to keep listening to music as I went to sleep and so my parents wouldn’t hear it. Not that they had a problem with QR, they just had a problem with my obsession with music. haha It was a thin cassette player so I only needed to remove my bottom pillow to make it fit and not kink my neck. Usually sometime in the middle of the night the player ended up on the floor and the second pillow was back in its proper place.
I picked this up right after hearing Metal Health on the radio. “huhuhuhuhuh, the song says bang your head.” It was catchy. I never cared for Cum On Feel The Noize. It was goofy…still is. I was never a Slade fan, but I don’t dislike them, just never really got exposed to them beyond the 2 songs that QR did, which are goofy. Beyond the goofiness of COFTN, this album is pretty great. Especially songs like Breathless, Run for Cover, Don’t Wanna Let You Go…the whole damned thing. When I pop in the CD I never skip any tracks, not even COFTN, it’s just part of the flow of the record.
In 1999 I got to see them with this lineup. They did an autograph signing earlier in the day at Mars Music and of course I went. They were all in good spirits except for Frankie Banali who seemed to have his ass on his shoulders a bit that day. I brought a few things to get signed like some odd QR EPs, a few CD covers and a few WASP CD covers. Apparently Frankie didn’t have one of the WASP CDs that I brought and asked if he could have mine. I told him no and he got a little peeved about it. “Well I’m not signing anything else.” “Fine, dude, no biggie,” and I finished out my time with the rest of the band who were gracious. Cavazo gave a head nod towards Frankie and just shook his head at him in disapproval. They had about 200 people show up to meet them which I thought was a decent showing for a concert that was getting no promotion and was at a shitty venue.
I came home after the signing to chill out for a while before the show and realized that I had 2 of the WASP CD/EPs so I brought it to the show. We got to the Riverview Theater and I swear it looked closed. This place was trying to get revitalized and they were bringing some decent bands there but it never seemed to take off for them. For this show only about about 40 people showed up…FORTY PEOPLE. I felt really bad for them. They came out and played like there were 20,000 people there. Kevin never once commented on the size of the crowd. They were awesome. After watching Cavazo play I gained a lot more respect for him as a guitarist. That guy is really friggin’ good.
After the show the band came back out to hang out with everybody. I was talking with Rudy Sarzo about his days with Whitesnake and such Frankie came up to me and said, “Hey, come here a second.” “Sorry I was such a dick earlier. I was having a bad day.” I told him it was no big deal and pulled out the spare copy of the WASP EP that I had and handed it to him. He was shocked and gave me a big sweaty hug. haha. “Until today I didn’t even know that this EP existed.” I ended up talking with him quite a bit for the time they hung out. I told him that his first 2 albums with QR were big influences on me when I was learning how to play drums. All of them were nice and Kevin seeked out every person in the room and thanked them personally for coming out. That wasn’t the asshole Kevin Dubrow that I had read about in the ‘zines, this guy was actually nice.
It was a fun day and night and I finally got to meet a band that I had loved for 16 years. The news of Kevin’s death in 2007 really brought me down. I had read just prior to that that he had gotten himself clean and sober. It was too bad that those demons continued to haunt him and that he wasn’t able to continue down that path to recovery.
RIP Kevin.
The Metal Files 
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