Whitesnake   IJsselhallen-Zwolle   Jun 05, 2003


 
At 19:00 hours the doors of the IJsselhallen went open to let in this still pretty huge crowd of fans of the good ol’ rockers of Whitesnake. Rockezine also was present with a small promo stand, so at first we had to make sure all visitors got up to date with our latest activities. Still busy spreading flyers; I heard the support act Prodigal Sons kick off, so I had to hurry for the report.

Prodigal Sons
Prodigal Sons, hailing from Zwolle (and around), were playing in their hometown, and judging from the reactions of the audience, which were quite loud for a support act, they had brought some friends. During the first couple of songs the band (and the sound) still had to get warmed up. Pretty mellow, sometimes even dully performed standard seventies rock songs.

Halfway during the set, the acoustic one-man show of singer/guitarist Erwin Nijhoff was impressive. But maybe in combination with the not so sparkling ode to Boudewijn de Groot (a Dutch singer-songwriter) that followed, this laid-back part of the set was a little long winding. In the last part of the set, the band started to really rock more solidly and put more energy into the performance. They weren’t always tight, but that’s a matter of practice. Hopefully Nijhoff can drag along the rest of the band in his conviction; then these guys, who have been around for some time, still have the chance to do some great things.

Whitesnake
Whitesnake is celebrating their 25th anniversary, and David Coverdale is still screaming (and trying to look) like in the early days. The sound is better than I ever experienced in this place, and Coverdale and his bunch give away a solid, sometimes even slick, rock show. All the ingredients are there: solo spots, involvement of the audience, and the whole box of rock poses and language.

The greatest hits set list contains mainly songs from “1987” and “Slide It In”, and includes the re-released songs “Here I Go Again”, “Crying In The Rain”, and “Fool For Your Loving”. Pity both Doug Aldrich and Reb Beach don’t really have enough blues for a song like “Ain’t No Love In The Heart Of The City”. Very impressive were Tommy Aldridge’s drum solo with his bare hands, and the vocal/bass solo of Marco Mendoza. The vocal capabilities of Mendoza were also highlighted in the blues jam ending of Doug Aldrich’s guitar solo spot.

Maybe also due to the pretty high average age of the audience, they were having a good time, but the crowd wasn’t going wild. In need of some response Coverdale even joked about the city name Zwolle, mistaking it with “Swallow”. Some people kept on calling for the former Dutch band member Adje “Adrian” Vandenberg. They got rewarded with the final song “Here I Go Again”, when Coverdale’s “young Dutch brother” came on the stage to join the band for one song. The almost shy Dutch guitar hero modestly accepted the honours.

There was time for one encore: a stomping extended “Still Of The Night”. After a two hours’ show, the three generations of audience could go home with an averagely satisfied feeling of “We got what we came for”.

(Review: Cor Schilstra)

 

© Rockezine.com Jun 05, 2003, viewed 1415 times since 666
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