Although I've enjoyed David Coverdale's voice and music for as long as I've been a rock fan, I've had to wait until the day after my 38th birthday to finally check out Whitesnake in concert. While they are way past their prime, and the musicians are mostly all faceless sidemen, it was still a great show thanks to a near-perfect setlist.
No new album to promote, no Deep Purple tribute, just hits and classics. I would have loved more (or any, really) of the bluesier songs from the early albums, but overall it was great. Coverdale's voice, sadly, is not what it once was but the musicians are there to back him up. Like KISS, it won't be long until this becomes unsustainable but for now it works.
Tommy Aldridge however is still an animal on the drums, and the guitar duo of poseur extraordinaire Joel Hoekstra and Reb Beach (formerly of Winger) gave the whole thing an endearing flair of 80's cheese.
While his role model Robert Plant refuses to let himself be trapped by his hard rock past and become a caricature of what he once was, Coverdale embraces it all: the excess, the nostalgia, the corniness, and most of all the fun.
