I saw Whitesnake opening for Alice Cooper last Friday.
Rumors that Coverdale's voice is so shot by now (I still think his mid-eighties vocal cords operation is to blame for it, he reached stratospheric heights on the 1987 album - and he doesn't naturally have a voice like that at all -, but never sounded like himself again live) that he mimes part of Whitesnake's performance on this tour have abounded on the net and on youtube.
I did not want to believe it - EX-DP members don't do that my fervent loyalty to the cause told me.
So I stood real close when Whitesnake hit the stage. The Coverdale voice coming out of the speakers on the first few songs was either inaudible/badly mixed/distorted or it was clean and clear, totally disassociated from the music and what was going on on stage. We all know how heavy microphone breathing is Coverdale's trademark - you hear none of that. He stretches the mike farther away from himself, yet his voice gets louder. He holds the mike frequently into the audience for sing-along chorusses and beams happily, yet at the same time you hear the chorus sung by the band
with his lead voice prominently in front. Sad. This is the same guy who auditioned with DP and got the job of following Gillan as an unknown on the strength of singing bluesy versions of the Beatles' Yesterday and Nilson's Everybody's talking "without hardly ever using the original melody" (Ian Paice).
What he obviously has is a guide/safetynet vocal track running throughout and he sings along with that sometimes (and not very well as regards pitch). Two acoustic songs were done (Deeper the Love and Ain't gonna cry no more) and while they were in a deeper register where his voice can still sound rich, even those weren't live all the way through. It was horrible.
His backing band ain't bad, I liked Aldrich's and Beach's guitar interplay, the new drummer has more feel than Aldridge and the Asian bass player is cute (and knows it), I was sometimes wondering whether he and Herr Beach have become an item ... not creating rumours here!!! With a better singer they could be quite some band.
I've meanwhile heard from someone who mixed Whitesnake in the past that Coverdale has been working with a vocal backing track to some extent on former tours too, but that these tricks pale in comparison to the mass deception of this tour.
It hurt to get that out. If essentially a dance act like Madonna does a couple of tracks with playback I don't mind, she has other things to do and think of after all. But Coverdale? It's time to get a haircut, David, let some grey show, stop the botox, tune a few steps down and sing in that rich baritone that got you out of Redcar in the first place. As a performer you should now be orienting yourself more on vintage Van Morrison than a young Robert Plant which you never were in the first place. When he left DP, Coverdale mouthed off that he was "sick and tired of screaming his balls off over the music". Ironically, that is what he has been doing without DP for the better part of the last three decades.
How was Alice Cooper? Great - I've seen him twice before (early eighties as an anorectic alcoholic on the Special Forces Tour at Cobo Hall, Detroit, and comparatively recently opening for DP), he was never nearly as good as this. Cooper has never been a great singer, he has no depth and a limited range and overall vocal agility, on harder songs he quickly sounds brittle, but he is wise enough not to overstep his limits. And you know something is very wrong (with Coverdale) if Cooper's ten years senior voice sounds fuller and more agile than Coverdale's. Great young band too (all of them unknown to me, except for Eric Singer on the drums who is very entertaining to watch and listen to, all 5 foot 2" of him!
). It was heartwarming to see them hit the stage with a Gibson Les Paul, a Gibson Explorer and a Gibson Thunderbird, you can't get more iconic, can you?
Uwe
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