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Whitesnake cancels US tour
Coverdale’s management has issued the following statement to the media:
Unfortunately, last night at the Red Rocks Amphitheater, Denver, Whitesnake had to cut their performance short due to Mr Coverdale experiencing considerable pain in his vocal chords. He was immediately taken to a specialist for examination. The specialist discovered that David was suffering from severe vocal fold edema and a left vocal fold vascular lesion. He was instructed to cancel all performances for the next two weeks & then undergo a further examination. The doctors told us we were fortunate this was caught at a stage where no apparent permanent damage has been caused. We therefore regretfully have to announce that Whitesnake will not be appearing on the remainder of the US tour with Judas Priest, Whitesnake sincerely regrets any disappointment this may cause.
Thanks to Daniel Bengtsson for the info.
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing
Hey guys, how’s everybody doin? I hope all is well. Well Tracey, I told you I’d give you an honest review of the Cincinnati Ohio gig on the 21st. The show was truly rockin!! The only problem, is they only got 60 min, supposedly 50 min, but due to encores, it went to sixty! DC, at this point on tour sounded fine no vocal strain noticeable! I did notice that the rest of the band beside the drummer sing quite a lot with DC! But the sound was awsome, an amphitheatre, they played a couple off the new cd, Best Years-Goof to be Bad-Lay Down Your Love-sadly no Slow an Easy, also Is this Love has been dropped for All I Want, All I Need But Whitesnake only getting 50 minutes was very upsetting, hell I drove 7.5 hrs to go see them, I stayed for about 60 min into the Priest show. They were extremely loud and slightly distorted, but Halford can still belt it out. Whitesnake live is still one of the best bands out there, if you get a chance to go see them, by all means go!!! Bill Pierce
August 12th, 2009 at 17:03Well I just read on the Snake site that yes they have cancelled the rest of the US tour, because of the nodules on his vocal chords and the Edema, I guess they luckily caught it in time, so no permanent damage! The Ohio gi that I was talking about before was no sale out, I think they said that the capacity crowd ther was 4200, I think it looked at my guess around 3400 people showed up, but it did sprinkle the rain for awhile, so that may have had a little to do with it, Sad thing, all our vocal heroes are starting to get older and I guess it’s a little hard to deal with that! But Big Ian and DC, we have been fortunate enough to see you all these years! So let’s keep our fingers crossed for a few more years. Cheers Bill
August 12th, 2009 at 17:33The ravages of time all seem to catch up with us at some point. not just for David, but for Ian as well in his struggles with vocals. I hope a little rest will do the trick,but I dought it. It wiil be a sad day when they decide to call it a day. been a fan since 1972 from the ripe ol’ age of 10!! LOL!!!
August 12th, 2009 at 23:16Glad I saw Whitesnake back in July before David’s vocal cord problem occured. Best of luck David. Be safe, be happy and don’t let anyone make you afraid. We Wish You Well!
August 13th, 2009 at 00:17George Martin
I hope DC recover quickly.But he might stop singing in that high pitch,allmost screaming,he have been doing and probably cause the problem.I love the low register from the old days such as in Hold On.This is what DC is all about.
August 13th, 2009 at 00:22Hey Bill,
Thanks for your consideration on the review.
I saw them also in Nashville on July 22nd. I have to concur on your review here. DC seemed to have very little problems with the tunes they did. I was very displeased though with the feeling that they were just an Opening Act for Priest. They should have shared the bill a little more evenly than that. Priest did sound much better. Whitesnake’s sound was quite distorted and hard to make out much of the time. We were at a around the 12th row back on the left side. Seemed to be the Bassiest side of the stage. As with your description, the other band mates do a lot of back-up vocals, and DC uses the crowd quite a bit as filler on the main Hooks of the songs for sing alongs, and obviously voice salvation, but it works and they played great. They need to fire their sound guy. Loved the ‘Dueling Guitars’ and the version of ‘Still of the Night was awesome.
Set List Here was:
1. Bad Boys
2. Love is No Stranger
3. Slow and Easy
4. Lay Down your Love
5. Guitar Solo Battle (Reb Beech and Doug Aldridge)
6. Cryin’ in the Rain (with Drum Solo)
7. Is This Love
8. Give Me All Your Love Tonight
9. Here I Go Again
10. Still of the Night
One Hour of Whitesnake is nowhere near enough!!!!
Though they only played ’87 tunes and later, all in all it was great. Had they added another half hour and some tunes from vintage Snake, it would have been Awesome. Especially had the sound guy done a proper job….
Cheers
August 13th, 2009 at 00:55Hey Tracey, Yea man I told you I’d give you an honest review, their sound was really good in Cincinnati, but the bass was a little loud, strange but I miss Neil Murray real bad, a helluva bass player, or even Marco Mendoza, he’s also great! Strange but your set list got Slow & Easy and we didn’t, and they didn’t do Is This Love, thank goodness they did All I Want All I need, I was glad gor that they also did Good to Be Bad and Lay Down your Love, off the new one! I liked the Guitar solo battle, Reb & Doug did, But on their UK road trip last time, I heard that Doug & Reb set up acoustically and did the intro for A’nt Gonna Cry no More, Now I would of loved that!! Oh well got to go to work, Tracey, thanx for the Review man we’ll talk again soon But I’m like you at least equal billing, not just 50 min plus encore, that sucked! Cheers Bill
August 13th, 2009 at 18:26@ 6
Confusing post.
Lots of things not ok but you still went bonkers?
And I always thought 2, 3, 6 and 9 PRE DATED 1987.
Bernie, Micky and Neil, still missed. Not to forget Paicey and Lordy.
August 15th, 2009 at 10:22I must say I am not surprised to hear such news.
I am rather surprised that David’s voice box has endured the abuse for so long.
If you listen to his speaking voice you discover it’s a rather mid-low pitched voice, and it’s a sheer miracle which notes he was able to reach with that voice – even managed to sing Robert Plant’s vocal lines in his Coverdale Page project, and Robert’s voice is almost an octave higher – rather a woman’s pitch than a man’s.
So he has indeed been “screaming his balls off” for all these years, driving his voice over the limit night after night.
Ian Gillan – with also a fairly higher voice than DC – made the same mistake in the 80s, when he finally surrendered to the “faster, higher,further”competition after having written fairly comfortable vocal lines in the 70s (Child in Time being a notable exception). I think thats how he destroyed the better part of his voice. But those fairly comfortable vocal lines of the old classics are one reason why he can still somehow deliver them, now that his voice seems to have dropped about 4 notes (if you listen to him talking).
I think DC would love to sing a lot more gentle stuff which also wouldnt strain his voice so much, but its the dick rock shows that fill the arenas.
August 16th, 2009 at 11:04About time he takes some time off and nurse his voice back to shape if possible, it´s been shot to hell for a long time now ! Take care & get well soon David ! ROCK ON !
August 16th, 2009 at 13:51#8
In response to your account of my posting….
You wrote:
“Confusing post.
Lots of things not ok but you still went bonkers?
And I always thought 2, 3, 6 and 9 PRE DATED 1987.”
1. I don’t see anywhere in my post whereby I ‘Went Bonkers’. On the contrary. I hit the low points and the high points, but Never did I ‘Go Bonkers’.
2. As far as the ’87 and later songs, OK you are correct there….somewhat. Yeah, #2 and #3 are from the prior album, “Slide it In” from ’84. But it was the beginning of the ‘Hairband Version’ of Whitesnake, and I put in the same era or category. #6 and #9 were originally on ‘Saints and Sinners’ from ’82, but didn’t get the notoriety until they were Redone and included on the ’87 album, whereby they became a ‘Must Play’ as with all Hits that bands are compelled to play over and over again…..
Come on Pries, stop splitting hairs…..
Point I was making regarding the songs on the set list was that there was nothing from OLD Whitesnake, except for the ‘Reworked Versions’ that later got attention. And, the set was too short….
Cheers
August 18th, 2009 at 02:27hey guys lets not kid ourselves dave admitted it himself it is the marlboros and jack daniels that he thanks the most for that special quality of his voice. saw them on the 5th out here in calif. got to say the show was pretty good slow and easy, still of the night and love aint no stranger probably being their best songs played two new songs and two of the old ballads but lets not kid ourselves SNAKE was at their best when the brothers Paice and Lord were members Mr Coverdale was really screaming and aldrich is becoming quite a good guitarist not a Satriani or Blackmore in say their prime but very fluent. got to say Priest and Halford were almost flawless and should I also say lawless on this night I am a Purple and Sabbath man but Halford and KK Downing were just ripping it up. maybe I should have phrased it differently but for 50 year old byatches it was almost like a cozy powell drum clinic it was smokin get better dave loved the new album may I recommend a couple 80 packs of halls and whole bunches of coors it works for me.
August 18th, 2009 at 06:22@9 you are right, I heard DC singing “Black Dog” with Jimmy Page on youtube and he hits all of Plants notes very well…Incredible for a Baritone! A lot of what he sang on the 1987 album was pushing the top end of his amazing vocal range too far hence the vocal problems recently.
Good luck with the vocal problems David!
August 18th, 2009 at 11:00@ 12
Did you attend a Cozy Powell drumclinic?!
You lucky bastard!
Hehehe
Fortunately I did attend one by Bobby Rondinelli, a few years ago.
Almost a one man comedian show, laughed my ass off.
Way to fo Bobby!
See ya around in The Netherlands on the 24th of October!!!
And please think about some of my suggestions for the SETLIST?
And Hey Tony Carey, if you are still there reading…..
Sad I ll be missing out on you man, there ll probably be no second chance this lifetime to have that opportunity again…..
Hope you re doing fine
Cheers, Mark
August 18th, 2009 at 11:48Hi Tracy
PointS taken…..
And I did not write to split hairs.
Hair always should be without damage, hehehe
I think I felt I recognised something in your post.
Even if the quality of a show was not what it should be I often tried to get into it anyway, be forgiving and excusing for shortcomings, and so on…..
It sometimes got me into somekind of flow of enthusiasm and or exitement.
And that without alcohol!!!!
But 9 times out of ten I found myself later on calming down and feeling sad because I realised things were not as they used to be.
I have missed out on lots of old sera incarnations of DP and co groups but but was lucky enough to witness some Rainbow since 1980 and Whitesnake with the Saints and Sinners tour in 1983.
Unnecessarily I missed out on Gillan, MSG with Cozy in the early 80 s.
I started my love for everything Purple at the end of 1977 so up till this day I feel sad having missed the Rainbow shows with Dio as well…..
Before 1980 I guess I was too young and just trying to find my way into PurpleJungle……So much to catch on….
And before 1977 I NEVER listened to music anyway.
That all changed after hearing Live In Japan.
So I feel free to say they are guilty of changing my life profoundly….
Oh man, the effects it has had on my life, both financially as socially
Cheers
PS
Unfortunately I m not in a situation of spending much money on travelling.
Otherwise we could drink a beer and level things out here and there.
Espescially with your expertise in equalisers, hehehe
August 18th, 2009 at 12:01Well I had the luck to watch him in San Diego Ca las august fourth and he was amazing, I was completely satisfied with his performance, the band played with perfection, the sound was loud and clear and the venue was full, with a lovely summer afternoon.
The setlist was nice and had all the hits, with a band full of power, David gave them the chance to show their skills, motivational I guess, I just missed Burn!
Sorry that he have developed such vocal condition, but I’m sure he will recover and will say “HERE I GO AGAIN”
By the way, after the show I was thinking, why Deep Purple can’t make a tour like whitesnake did this summer in the United States?
Can somebody tell me why?
August 18th, 2009 at 18:38Well just for the record here you can listen what happenend at Red rocks
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PoBKdGAbJ4g
And here you can see (and listen) how David was doing that day
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBrU2nALdrE
Finally, here you can listen with pretty good sound quality how was few days before at the Sleep Train Amphitheatre, Concord, California 7/31/2009
Slow and Easy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4QUbf5d2-A
Here I Go Again
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_VBLON68wm8
Cheers!!
August 19th, 2009 at 05:40Hey Tracey, and everyone else hope all’s well with all of us Purple and Snake heads out there, I made a mistake before when I was reviewing and I’m just setting it straight! They didn’t play Best Years, sorry bout that one got a little carried away there folks, and I didn’t see #6 post confusing, but everybody’s semms to be moderating here a little to much guys and gals. Anyway the one thing I’ve always said is DC has that special quality in his voice that i can only describe as compression, the best example I can give is on Saints & Sinners, the track Victim of Love with the vocal intro there, thats definitely what I call compression!!! now I used to sing in a band a long time ago and thats probably not exactly what the term is, but on Cryin in the Rain, the same thing!! I, like most of you guys, love his lower register, Blindman is my all time favorite Whitesnake tune, maybe my all time favorite song!! Along with most of Ready n Willing, But he sing or writes a lot of compression type songs Still of the Night-Lay Down your Love-Sloe an Easy-Easy Does It, off Coverdale Page CD, just to name a few but The River Song is awesome with his lower register!! so who knows. Also loved that classic lineup with Lord & Paice in there, but also loved what John Sykes brought to the table! But I think Steve Vai ruined Slip of the Tongue, way to American and slick, I think Vandenberg or Sykes or even Aldrich or Beach would’ve improved it immensely!! just listen to Judgement Day live, and theres the writing on the wall right there, oh we’ll rambling on a bit sorry, but you all are the only ones that I get to talk to about Rock!! especially Purple & Snake, my wife listens to country almost all the time now! she used to be a rocker but has faded! and you all know what your talking about so thats that Cheers people Bill
August 19th, 2009 at 17:03Hey Guys, My computer’s going for an over haul, so I’ll ben gone for a little while, so everybody be good, I’ll see ya, ASAP Bill
August 19th, 2009 at 17:23Watching the Red Rocks debacle (thanx Martin!),it suddenly reminds me of what I saw in Copenhagen last december…….D.C. with a beer gut!!!! Come on David, shame on you!
You used to be such a lean,mean,blues & rock machine….What the F**K happened ?? Is life in Lake Tahoe to comfortable or have you just adopted the American way of life and becoming a fat f**k ? Just beacuse you have become a American citizen, doesn´t mean you have to adopt all their bad habits, does it ?
Nahh, while you´re at it nursing your voice back to shape, get yourself a physical trainer at the same time ! I´m confident you can come back and stun us all both vocally and physically if you put your mind to it!
August 19th, 2009 at 21:37Best of luck David !! ROCK ON !!
Thanks Martin, it was sad to watch and especially hear DC in such bad shape (although he was honest about it) I hope he recovers his great voice. Lets see…Areosmith/ZZ Top canceled…Whitesnake…canceled… Our DP still going on , you gotta love it!!
August 19th, 2009 at 23:01@ 20
Very subtle reaction.
August 21st, 2009 at 13:33He ll probably listen to that……
Priest….my dear, It´s called “tough love” no point beating around the bush….is there ? I´m quite sure he´s not as sensitive as you Priest and can read between the lines ! Familiar with the expression “Tounge in cheek”…? ROCK ON !
August 21st, 2009 at 21:00I just feel that he does not people with approaches like you to shape up.
In many cases someone shows a problem there is often a reason for that.
And although I dont think DC is some kind of Einstein, or Billy Shakespeare as he once replied when he was confronted again with someone who questioned the level of his lyrics, I m convinced HE KNOWS whats going on.
Leaves the question WHY he goes on like he does……
Maybe he s just getting old and lacks the mental strenght AT THIS MOMENT to stop smoking and drinking like so many others?
August 25th, 2009 at 21:32Need
August 25th, 2009 at 21:32David just doesn’t take care of his voice. He has a fragile vocal box which has been damaged a few times now. Yet he finds it necessary to spend most of the tour Screaming his lungs out instead of just singing some songs. I know he feels compelled to do all those popular songs from the late ’80s and later which are very demanding and mostly above his true vocal range. It’s time he returns to the Bluesier based Whitesnake and put out a record of that type to tour on, and go back to the pre-hairband Snake days and do some Real Singing that he still has the chops for….Nothing wrong with throwing in a couple of the Screamers like ‘Still of the Night’, but keep it to a minimum….
Cheers
August 31st, 2009 at 18:40Oh well
September 2nd, 2009 at 10:32Scary hairy!!!!
We agree!!!!
DC should repeat an old move……
The back to the roots tour of the late 70 s
Setlist should contain gems like
Only My Soul
I aint gonna cry no more
Walking in the shadow of the blues
Blindman
Go for it David!
Just quit the bad habits and the 1987 format
End in style…..
BTW, when are you going to release all those old recordings we REALLY want?
Maybe you should talk about it with Bernie?
We need FULL live recordings of the CLASSIC line ups.
Thanx
September 3rd, 2009 at 14:14A Northwinds tour!
September 7th, 2009 at 13:18Actually, I think a perfect approach for Coverdale should be to do as ‘Molly Hatchet’ did and do an album of their old classics, re-corded with their present line=up. Then go out on tour to promote the New Release of his old Classics more ‘voice friendly’ and it would reintroduce the Real Whitesnake. Even if using the present line-up. Those old songs, reworked in the Studio and then Touring on them would be a great way to get back to that era of Whitesnake, and thus the newer fans of the Hair Days would get a Taste….
Cheers
September 7th, 2009 at 19:50Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmhhhhhhhhhhhhh, it seems that there are more people who admit that sometimes the old days are preferable?
I dont share views like being stuck in the past and so on…….
But werent you guys who branded me for staying behind, having a limited taste and so on~?
Btw, even The Morse era by now is very very OLD……
September 8th, 2009 at 00:29Time to evolve…..
Id love to hear some of the earlier Whitesnake stuff live and re-recorded. Its been a long time.
Like any band you cant sum up Whitesnake up on its last release. Whitesnake has a long history, why shouldnt they mix old with new? It aint admitting the past was better, the past is part and parcel of the experience.
September 9th, 2009 at 09:23I kinda liked the re recordings of Crying In The Rain and Standing in the Shadows of Love, although I still think Mel gally played a blinder with his solo on those tracks. RIP Mel
But I preferred the OLD versions of Here I go again and Fool For Your Loving.
I really could not empathize with John Sykes words about the Hammond in Whitesnake.
Saying that that ancient instrument threw them back into the stone ages is….
1 Not very complimentary to Lordy s great addings to the OLD Whitesnake sound
2 Kinda ironic when you witness Sykes doing a decade long tribute tour of THIN LIZZY with an almost unchangeable setlist.
I enjoyed gigs of this so called Thin Lizzy outfit but enough is enough.
Change the setlist or do a recording, a good suggestion Tracy often does, but stop milking Phil s baby!!!!
September 10th, 2009 at 16:23Great Point at the end of your entry Priest. As I Have Always Stated….Nothing new and original from a new line-up of a band and only touring on past line-up songs makes them a TRIBUTE BAND. I saw Lizzy twice when they were supporting Purple. They were great and I truly thought by now, the Thin Lizzy Tribute Act would have verified their claim with a New Record. Now they have proven to be nothing more than the OTR of Tribute Acts, and as OTR didn’t use the name RAINBOW, Lizzy should change their name to something else also. Or, PUT OUT a FRIGGIN’ RECORD.
Now as far as I guess responding to my point regarding Coverdale and doing a redo of the old songs on record, I did in no way elude to the fact that I prefer the old songs. I only made the point that I believe Coverdale should be touring on most of the old bluesy tunes due to his voice complications, and feel the Molly Hatchet approach would be a good way to launch that type of tour. Better yet, a NEW Album of fresh new Bluesy tunes, accompanied by a separate disk of re-recorded classic from the past. That would be a classy way to reintroduce that era and also stay fresh with new material.
Yeah, I know…..I’d be a great promoter for them and Purple with my ideas…..but they seem happy with how they do it….Oh Well..
Cheers
September 11th, 2009 at 17:48I saw you coming there, Tracy
Hehehehe
Does not matter
Everyone is entitled to have an opinion
We ll talk the thing later on when they WILL make a record
I read somewhere that something has been written right now……
Anyone feeling willingly to TRANSLATE the latest efforts in Bulgaria on the Rainbow Fanclan Site?
September 11th, 2009 at 20:11many didnt believe but i read on whitesnake official website that he recovered his doctor said so
September 15th, 2009 at 15:33I just found some YouTubes made by a certain armouredamazon of the gig in Brussels, Belgium.
I m not a fan of this line up but it rocks!!!!!
The sound of the recording is amazing too.
David sounds quite fine to me.
What a surprise.
I had the impression based on several Tubes over the last year he really could not deliver anymore.
My first option would have been the 013 gig in Tilburg because thats closest to home.
Was this in the same week?
The tubes of 013 seemed to prove it was wise to stay away…..
Did I judge too harshly at the moment or was the quality of the 013 tubes bad?
Kinda sad now I was not there in Bruxelles…..
Mon ami en Belgique……
I apologize if I let you down….
Maybe next time?
September 29th, 2009 at 13:45That’s what happens when you shunt out line-ups due to being too loyal to those who are no longer in a band. YOU MISS THE BOAT, and it ain’t comin’ back. So just stand at the water’s edge and look out across the vast ocean and count the waves you missed riding…..
Cheers
September 29th, 2009 at 18:17Correction
I did witness this line up a few times before so I did not miss anything apart from a good show by accident
Everyone knows that the statistics showed us that DC is more in a bad shape than not.
So this was very surprising.
Like I said, I saw this line up before.
I did not it like it then
The news and Tubes since then were not encouraging
The main reasons I did not go was the latter and money which I have to divide…..
Referring to the DP line ups?
I saw DP with Morse and even Airey lots of times.
Maybe you forgot again…..
Does not matter
We all get older
September 29th, 2009 at 21:17I`m 31 years old and i still recall those golden years when i was just 12 in the end of `80’s, when i was learning each single day bands, like Rainbow, Whitesnake, Floyd, Maiden, Heep etc. Real treasure.
You know it’s not just music and commercial releases. It’s a miracle. An invincible inspiration. I am very proud of my own CD collection which i managed to get after blood, sweat and tears. Long live…
David Coverdale and Whitesnake was, is and will be one of my eternal friends. Especially on a hard period of mine in `90’s, when i listened to songs like “Only my soul”, “Blindman”, “Help me thro’ the day”, along with “Fools” from Purple and “Rainbow eyes” from Rainbow, i felt so, so much power coming from my soul. We are not talking just about music. We are talking about something more. Something which in nowdays is dead and gone…
I felt so sorry about David’s accident. Thank God i managed to watch Deep Purple on 23rd of July in Athens and Whitesnake in 2003, 2006 & 2007. On Purple’s live, I looked at Ian, Roger, Don, Ian & Steve and i felt that these guys were big friends of mine. All those musicians of the Purple / Rainbow / Snake family, have the age of my father but i feel that they are younger than me.
I am sure David’s voice will return. All those guys have already given much more from what a music lover could imagine. I really feel lucky for being a rock fan. It’s not a simple thing.
I really thank you for your time and space. I dedicate to all of you the feeling that derives from the song “Pavane” from Jon Lord’s “Sarabande”. I love to hear this song while driving in rain…
Greetings to all fans. Greetings to all musicians, from Tommy Bolin to Mel Galley, from Ronnie James Dio to Roger Glover, from Micky Moody to the man in black…
Paul
October 4th, 2009 at 23:31Great post Paul.
October 15th, 2009 at 15:13Will David be able to tour this summer?
January 25th, 2010 at 03:48