whitesnake 1978 tour

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When Whitesnake Played Their First Concert

Former Deep Purple singer David Coverdale and his new group Whitesnake performed their first concert on March 3, 1978, at the U.K.'s Lincoln Polytechnic.

Deep Purple's collapse was one of the most spectacular of the '70s. Band members were scattered to the four winds, amid their all-too public split in the spring of 1976. Founding guitarist Ritchie Blackmore had actually quit one year prior, and was already off and running with the successful new venture Rainbow , but the majority of the band would need years to recover, emotionally and professionally.

Some, like Mark IV guitarist  Tommy Bolin , would sadly die trying. In the case of Coverdale, who'd been plucked out of obscurity to replace Ian Gillan in late 1973, getting back on his musical feet meant, first and foremost, overcoming his confessed terror of "living without Deep Purple."

Secondly, it required coping with tax exile, as the singer was simultaneously forced to move his family to Germany in order to safeguard his voluminous earnings with Deep Purple against Britain’s inordinately high taxes, a situation that added feelings of severe displacement to his existing disappointment over the group's demise.

From there, Coverdale set to work composing songs with guitarist Micky Moody for the purpose of recording a pair of solo albums – the prophetically named White Snake , released in February 1977; and Northwinds , from March 1978.

Even prior to the latter's public unveiling, however, Coverdale had been cleared to return to England and, eager to get back to work, assembled a new band composed of Moody, fellow guitarist Bernie Marsden, bassist Neil Murray, keyboardist Pete Solley and drummer David "Duck" Dowle.

Originally billed as David Coverdale's Whitesnake, this was the band that was supposed to debut at the Sky Bird Club in Nottingham, England, on Feb. 23. That show was canceled, and a few weeks later, on March 3, 1978, the group performed its first show.

By April 1978, the now road-tested Whitesnake was prepared to release their first batch of songs via the Snakebite EP. That was followed just a few months later by the long-playing debut Trouble , which featuring newly recruited Deep Purple keyboardist Jon Lord . Combined, these projects served to officially launch the second act of Coverdale's remarkable career in rock.

After extensive success in Europe and the Far East, there followed yet another act involving a more bombastic hard-rock style, prettier band members, models humping automobiles and lots of peroxide. All of that, with an assist from MTV, helped pave the way for Whitesnake’s belated conquering of America, a journey which started right here.

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For the first few years of the 1980s, David Coverdale was an incredibly busy man.

After the demise of Deep Purple , the band he’d sung with since 1974 and that had made him a star, he embarked on a solo career, which eventually morphed into the tight, swaggering blues rock outfit known, with a lascivious chuckle, as Whitesnake.

Starting in 1978 with the seminal Snakebite EP, featuring one of the band’s trademark songs, a cover of soul standard Ain’t No Love In The Heart Of The City , David’s new project swiftly became one of the most popular hard rock bands in the UK, releasing a steady stream of well-received albums including classics like Lovehunter , Ready An’ Willing and Saints And Sinners . 

Always an ambitious man, David was never going to be content with simply following the usual album/tour/repeat schedule when there was a whole world out there waiting to be conquered, and so by the time Whitesnake arrived at their sixth album, Slide It In , he decided that a whole new approach was called for.

“I wanted Whitesnake to be leaner, meaner and more electrifying,” he says. “I felt that we’d done extraordinarily well. We’d made six albums in just a few years. We did fabulously on those albums, but I really felt that we were flogging a dead snake. For me personally, I felt it was time for a change. I didn’t want to stay in the same old traditional blues and pop scenario. 

"It was simply my choice as an artist. I wanted to pursue another direction. That was my whole modus operandi. The reason I invited John Sykes into the band was to actually afford that transition, or someone of that style and it happened to be Sykes. And that was it.”

A former member of both NWOBHM stars Tygers Of Pan Tang and the Thunder And Lightning -era incarnation of Thin Lizzy , John Sykes was a prodigious six-string maestro and an entirely different kind of guitarist from the musicians that David had worked with previously in Whitesnake. 

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Although he didn’t appear on the original version of Slide It In , which still featured Micky Moody and Mel Galley, Sykes' fret-melting heavy metal histrionics were slathered all over the second, remixed version of the album that was produced specifically for the American market that David was so keen to crack. And when the band’s new sound, tailor-made for American radio, led them to a new level of success on both sides of the Atlantic, it became more than apparent that there was simply no going back.

“It was all about the Americanisation of Mrs Coverdale’s little boy,” says the singer. “I’ve never ever been motivated or inspired by what’s popular. All that stuff has gone into the blender, but it’s never been a guiding light. I’ve never thought, ‘Oh, I must change Whitesnake because everybody’s fuckin’ doing it’. It was a series of synchronised elements that came together. 

"It had nothing to do with a resurgence in popularity of anything or whatever anyone else was doing. To be honest, when we heard the remixed versions of Slow An’ Easy and the rest, we hated them. But when we heard it for the first time on a dodgy rental car radio, I said, ‘Holy shit, this sounds amazing!’. So that was the beginning. My stock quote at the time was, ‘You can teach an old snake new tricks’!”.

Buoyed by the success of Slide It In in the US and the increased profile that enhanced record sales had brought to his band, David knew that the next album had to be another big step up and a further streamlining of the Whitesnake sound to accommodate the tastes of his newfound fan base. 

Produced by Mike Stone and Keith Olsen (the latter responsible for the Slide It In remix), 1987 was written in the south of France by David Coverdale and John Sykes. However, some of the best-known songs were conceived much earlier, including its epic opener, the anthemic Still Of The Night .

“When my mother died I was going through the stuff at her house and found some early demo cassettes,” says David. “One of them was a song that Ritchie Blackmore (Deep Purple guitarist) and I had been working on which was the basic premise of what would become Still Of The Night . It was totally unrecognisable, so Ritchie doesn’t have anything to worry about… neither do I! Ha ha ha! 

"I took it as far as I could, then gave it to Sykesy when we were in the south of France, and he put the big guitar hero stuff on there. John hated the blues, so I had to work within those parameters. I manipulated it to be electric blues, but how he performed was fabulous for his time and relatively unique because of the songs. There were a lot of people doing that widdly stuff, but they didn’t have the quality of those songs.”

With a line-up completed by bassist Neil Murray and drummer Aynsley Dunbar, Whitesnake decided to record the new album at Little Mountain Studios in Vancouver, Canada. The recording process was a lengthy and arduous one, not least because David fell ill with a serious sinus infection, which prevented him from singing for long periods and eventually led to a major operation, but the album was slowly pieced together, including the return of Here I Go Again and Crying In The Rain , both tracks that originally appeared on Whitesnake’s 1982 album Saints And Sinners . 

On 1987 , The former was transformed from surly blues rock strut to an impossibly glossy radio-metal anthem, replete with a suitably over-the-top guitar solo from guest musician Adrian Vandenberg, whose own titular band had had a big hit with the ballad Burning Heart in the US in 1984.

“Recording Here I Go Again for the second time wasn’t my idea, to be honest,” states David. “I very rarely like to go back on any level. I can’t even reverse my car because I hate going backwards so much. Ha ha! But on that occasion it paid off, and huge! We had a bunch of hits with that song in different forms. 

"Of course, John Sykes fucking hated it, which is why Adrian was featured on there. He didn’t play one of his better solos on there. It was metal meets country and western! There were two guitarists that I really wanted to work with. One was Michael Schenker , who was fantastic, and Adrian, of course, who I’d met. It was our destiny to work together.”

Released in the first week of April, 1987 was an instant and massive success. Primarily in the US where Whitesnake swiftly became a regular fixture on nascent music television channel MTV with the glossy, high-budget promo clips for the album’s biggest songs, Still Of The Night , Here I Go Again and the ultimate power ballad Is This Love , all of which featured the questionable talents of David’s wife-to-be Tawny Kitaen . 

Chiming perfectly with the glamour and bombast that seemed to be universally popular during the 80s, Whitesnake’s music and endearingly unsubtle visual approach led to sales for 1987 of over eight million copies in the US alone. Despite his plans to head onwards and upwards, David was in no way prepared for such a phenomenal level of success.

“Are you kidding?” he laughs today. “We had a plan but, Jesus Christ, are you kidding? My whole plan was to hopefully make an album that sells a bit more than the last one and hopefully I’ll sing a bit better, it all sounds a bit better and we’ll get to the point quicker in the lyrics. It was all just very basic spices for the meal, you know? 

"We already had a fabulous relationship with radio after we’d laid the foundation with the Slide It In record, but MTV was an entirety new kettle of fish and they just took to the band hugely. I guess we had all the elements that they wanted. So we had a five-year, unbelievable relationship with MTV and it worked out very, very well for us and in essence it helped us to make that transition that I wanted and then it all became astonishingly successful.”

Caught up in a whirlwind of success and never-ending promotional opportunities, David hardly drew breath between the release of 1987 and the end of the tour that followed the release of the next Whitesnake album, 1989’s Slip Of The Tongue . 

After four intense years of being a massive worldwide star, not to mention being the subject of much press speculation and attention as his marriage to Tawny stumbled to a somewhat messy conclusion, he finally laid Whitesnake to rest, albeit temporarily, as the 90s dawned. With some of the biggest-selling rock albums of all time under his belt, it was hard to imagine exactly what David could possibly do next. So he did nothing.

“By the end of it all I was knackered!” he laughs. “It’s important that I’m able to have time to reflect, which is one of the reasons why I live in an extraordinarily quiet community. I bought this house in Lake Tahoe, so that I can immediately get here and feel that the rusty armour of tours and LA and the music business just fall off as I walk into the house. 

"After the last show in Japan I had my wardrobe girl burn my stage clothing and told the band, ‘Please don’t be waiting for me to call you for any project. If you get an opportunity, please take it, because I don’t know what is going to happen’. But then I’ve done that a lot over the years. I’ve retired more times than fuckin’ Sinatra! Ha ha!”

This was published in Metal Hammer issue 195 .

Dom Lawson has been writing for Metal Hammer and Prog for over 14 years and is extremely fond of heavy metal, progressive rock, coffee and snooker. He also contributes to The Guardian, Classic Rock, Bravewords and Blabbermouth and has previously written for Kerrang! magazine in the mid-2000s. 

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With the exception of two songs that were redone from the 1982 Saints and Sinners album, Sykes co-wrote every song on the the Whitesnake album, which had its release delayed for a year when Coverdale contracted a serious sinus infection which made recording nearly impossible. However, after Coverdale recovered and completed recording, he summarily dismissed Sykes from the band. The subsequent famous music videos would feature new guitarists Adrian Vandenberg and Vivian Campbell “miming” Sykes’ guitar parts. The band’s rhythm section faced a similar fate, as bassist Neil Murray and drummer Aynsley Dunbar were replaced with younger, more “video friendly” players post album release and keyboardist Don Airey was never considered part of the touring band. To complete the overall lack of integrity with this album, a different version entitled 1987 was released in Europe with a different running order and two extra tracks.

The bluesy experience which made the album a good listen was discarded and leaving Coverdale in front of a hollowed out faux band to pretentiously soak in the fruits of the multi-year studio effort. The album was by far their most commercially successful and received exponential more radio play than all their previous efforts combined. However, it also alienated many of Whitesnake’s long-time and loyal fans, who viewed this 1987 album as a pander to the mainstream fads of the time.

The album is best known for the MTV videos which featured actress Tawny Kitaen , Coverdale’s then-girlfriend who he later married. In spite of all the “style over substance” surrounding this album, it does contain some brilliant musical moments, a few of which where Coverdale does a great job channeling some classic-era Robert Plant. The opener “Crying in the Rain” was originally on Saints and Sinners , with this re-recorded version portraying a much heavier, Zeppelin-esque sound.

“Still of the Night” is the true highlight of the album, with Sykes and Murray reworking an old demo by Coverdale and Ritchie Blackmore from the Deep Purple days over a decade earlier. The song combines the blues origins of the musicians with a crisper, updated, and harder-driving sound. Coverdale’s vocal call and response to the riffs are classic Page, Plant, and Jones and Dunbar’s hi-hat work during the mid section is pure Bonham, making this song the 1980s heir to classic Zeppelin. Coverdale would later join up with Jimmy Page for a few albums in the early 1990s.

“Here I Go Again” was the second remake from Saints and Sinners , co-written by Whitesnake’s then-guitarist Bernie Marsden . It became a #1 hit for the band in America and the peak of their commercial appeal. It was also the point at which the band truly “jumped the shark” as the song was re-recorded yet another time for a watered-down “radio-mix” version, which took away absolutely any edge left on this originally fine composition. Much of the rest of the album is unremarkable and formulaic, with the power ballad “Is This Love” also making waves on pop radio. One standout is the closing “Don’t Turn Away”, which is a unique rocker reminiscent to some of the band’s better material on their previous album Slide it In .

That last song leaves the listener with a taste of the Whitesnake’s prior potential which no longer existed even as the band was headlining arenas through 1988. More line-up changes would plague the band moving forward and even with the inclusion of top talent like Steve Vai, the band would never again reach the heights of 1987.

Part of Classic Rock Review’s celebration of 1987 albums.

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10 comments.

Top 9 Rock Journeymen | River of Rock November 20, 2016 @ 3:11 pm

[…] by Deep Purple: Slide It In by Whitesnake album review Whitesnake self-titled album review Coverdale-Page album […]

White Snake was no more than an opening act before this album. Coverdale always got the best musicians to play with but the song writing was pretty boring. This album was really almost perfect from a song writing standpoint. Those who think they sold out are simply die hards for an outdated style of music that Coverdale refused to let go of until slide it in.

White snake has always been a David Coverdale solo act who gave himself a band name. No sense of loyalty or unity which is a shame. Great music but…. makes me dislike the guy alot

From what I heard … John Sykes and others in the band wanted to replace Coverdale when he was recovering. They didn’t want to wait and wanted to find a new singer. That is why he wanted to get rid of them.

Singin’ Songs Across the Southland | River of Rock April 13, 2017 @ 5:52 pm

[…] Lives by Aerosmith – 20th Anniversary Machine Head by Deep Purple – 25th Anniversary Whitesnake by Whitesnake – 30th Anniversary American Fool by John Cougars – 35th […]

This classic album is a perfect example of combining some really magnificent guitar driven compositions peppered in with some dynamic power ballads with the added related promotion of MTV to further boost to where it went in sales. The previous ‘Slide It In’ was another extraordinary album with a more bluesy style combined with Coverdale’s superb vocal range and delivery but this ’87 classic really pushed them up notches commercially.

I hope John Sykes got all the royalty cheques he deserved for writing almost all of the songs, he also should sue for the use of his playing being mimed in the film clips this is completely illegal without his written permission, my estimation of David Coverdale sank to zero when I heard of this treachery, he was even too gutless to tell them to their faces, they turned up for the start of the live tour to support the album and were turned away by the Security / Roadies and informed of their demise………disgraceful.

This is an interesting review and this album is indeed a bit of a “sell out”. I for one preferred the “British Blues ” style of their earlier albums. However posting a picture of Europe in the heart of the article is a massive blunder on the part of this website.

Hey, you have the wrong picture in there. That’s Europe, not Whitesnake.

Thanks for pointing that out, JD. We’ve updated.

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• October 26, 1978 Setlist

Whitesnake Setlist at Newcastle City Hall, Newcastle upon Tyne, England

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Tour: Trouble Tour statistics Add setlist

• Come On Play Video
• Might Just Take Your Life ( Deep Purple  cover) Play Video
• Lie Down (A Modern Love Song) Play Video
• Ain't No Love in the Heart of the City ( Bobby “Blue” Bland  cover) Play Video
• Trouble Play Video
• Steal Away Play Video
• Mistreated ( Deep Purple  cover) Play Video
• Belgian Tom's Hat Trick Play Video
• Keyboard Solo Play Video
• Take Me with You Play Video
• Rock Me Baby ( B.B. King  cover) Play Video
• Breakdown ( David Coverdale  song) Play Video

Edits and Comments

16 activities (last edit by ExecutiveChimp , 24 Jan 2017, 02:21 Etc/UTC )

Songs on Albums

• Ain't No Love in the Heart of the City by Bobby “Blue” Bland
• Breakdown by David Coverdale
• Might Just Take Your Life by Deep Purple
• Mistreated by Deep Purple
• Rock Me Baby by B.B. King
• Belgian Tom's Hat Trick
• Lie Down (A Modern Love Song)
• Take Me with You
• Keyboard Solo

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Whitesnake Gig Timeline

• Jul 09 1978 Lyceum Ballroom London, England Add time Add time
• Sep 02 1978 ATV Centre Birmingham, England Add time Add time
• Oct 26 1978 Newcastle City Hall This Setlist Newcastle upon Tyne, England Add time Add time
• Oct 27 1978 Odeon Theatre Edinburgh, Scotland Add time Add time
• Oct 29 1978 Apollo Theatre Glasgow, Scotland Add time Add time

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