Newcastle City Hall 13th June 2011
Newcastle City Hall 13th June, The bluesy sounds of the Union, followed by the Rock deluge of Whitesnake.
It was on a Monday afternoon that we found ourselves travelling up the A1 and heading North to Newcastle to witness once again the delights of Whitesnake having seen them several times in 2009 and their Def Leppard/Thunder/Black Stone Cherry outings.
We stayed in the Newcastle Gosforth travelodge which was tantalisingly priced at only £19 for the room, and was surprisingly easy to find, recently refurbished and near to a pub and fast food outlets. Nice and handy. A taxi ride was less than £10 to Newcastle city centre, and it was shortly after 7pm that we found ourselves taking our balcony seats right on the back row.
City Hall is quite a small venue, smaller than Sheffield City hall, but a similar grandish, old, style. The only negative aspect was that it was very hot in there, particualrly after the place filled up to capacity (as it was full).
The Union
The Union are a fairly recent band and were formed about 18 months ago after the demise of Thunder when their lead guitarist Luke Morley, teamed up with other Thunder Band-mate Chris Childs (Bass) and with Peter Shoulder handling the vocal duties.
Their style is Blues influenced and a combination of mellow slower paced tracks mixed in with some rockier but still blues oriented material. Listening to them live however, the experience is harder-edged than the album and was very impressive indeed. Their short 30 minute set was over too soon, and it was good to hear the new "Sirens song" track aired, having just released their 2nd album. Watch this band, as I think they will be headlining the smaller city hall type venues themselves very soon. (one notch up from their recent O2 academy solo outings).
Unfortunately the pictures taken on the camera phone were bad.... so no pictures.
The Union Setlist
Easy Street
Sirens song
Black Monday
Saviour
Step up to the Plate
Watch the river Flow
Whitesnake
Whitesnake 2011 - David Coverdale, as ever master on vocals, lead guitar pair Reb Beach & Doug Aldrich, Michael Devin on Bass guitar, new drumer Brian Tichy and Brian Ruedy on keyboards. Promoting their new album "Forevermore", arguably their best album for many years. They were in fine form for 2011!
Coverdale had vocal issues in 2009, and cancelled some shows, but tonight he was back with vengeance. It was obvious throughout the performance he had to conserve his voice but this was probably expected, and longer than perhaps usual guitar and drum solos allowed him breaks. However, when he did need to hit the higher more strenuous notes, though it was not in a manner that left you impressed, all things considered it was impressive enough - job done.
With Whitesnake you get what it says on the tin - no fancy tricks, screens, pyros or displays, just simplt presented , hard rock with a lead singer with showmanlike charisma (and impressive "Pearly Whites!) , humurous interaction with audience and an impressive band backing him and working together as a solid unit producing that renowned Whitesnake sound.
Good enough! Entertaining Enough! to want to see them perform again and again.
After running through a mix of new and old (including tracks from the latest "Forevermore") the lively crowd having sung through many of the old "Hits" it was over all too soon before the familair "We Wish You Well" rang out and the band exited stage left.
Whitesnake Set List
Best Years
Give me all your love
Love ain`t no stranger
Is This Love?
Steal your heart away
Forevermore
Love will set you free
Guitar Duel
My Evil Ways
Drum solo
Fare Thee well
Aint no love in the heart of the city
Fool for your lovin`
Here I go Again
Still of the night (Encore)
We wish you well
Our Ratings:
The Union 7/10
Whitesnake 8/10
