JOURNEY, WHITESNAKE, Thunder @LG Arena Birmingham 28/5/13

All the three bands on this tour have one small thing in common. RTM has seen them all headline – and fill – the Wolverhampton Civic Hall. Why then, you may ask, is when it comes to arenas, are Thunder relegated to coming on at 6.45 and playing in front of other bands drums?

Such is the way it seems for Danny and the boys. A few years ago they performed the same role on the Def Leppard/Whitesnake trek and just like then, they do it absolutely brilliantly.

Beginning with usual ending tune, “Dirty Love” and taking a 50 minute, ahem, journey through “River Of Pain,” “Higher Ground,” and “Backstreet Symphony” amongst others, before closing with “I Love You More Than Rock n Roll” theirs is a set full of cheeky charm – the incomparable Danny Bowes even tells the crowd their singing is “shit” before saying “well if you can’t be bothered I will do it myself,” and gets away with it – Thunder are one of the finest bands in the UK, and judging by the amount of their tshirts on show, they still have plenty of fans. All that’s missing is a new album. Get to it boys, and RTM will see you at Christmas….

From the off, let’s make one thing perfectly clear. RTM likes Whitesnake. A lot. But we have seen them three times in the last 18 months and each time it is has been ostensibly the same show, with one notable exception. David Coverdale’s voice has got worse every time.

Tonight, in places, his singing is terrible. Things reach a low point in “Steal Your Heart Away” from their most recent album “Forevermore.” It is a tremendous shame, as Coverdale is still a formidable frontman, full of crotch grabbing, sleazy charm. And if ever you need to understand his peculiar abilities., its nowhere better illustrated than here. A woman, in late middle age throws tea and biscuits onstage to him. Cov surveys this, thanks her very much, looks her up and down and says: “oh, I’d do you.” You have to have a certain level of confidence to pull that off. Musically his band sound fantastic, ex Winger Reb Beach and Doug Aldrich are superb on guitar, but the vocals really lets it down.

Journey are living proof of the power of tv. Lets be honest about this. Four years ago they were doing that aforementioned Civic Hall gig. Then came Glee, and now they are playing to 10,000 people a night. Ironically enough it was another tv show that drew RTM to the band. As any Sporanos fan will tell you, “Don’t Stop Believin’ was used as the very last song in the programme and we checked them out after.

The problem with Journey is this. Musically they are superb (Neal Schon is truly magnificent on guitar) and they have good songs, what they don’t have (to RTM at any rate) is anything viscerally exciting. It is just a little too slick for us.

They do arena rock well, though. “Any Way You Want It” is played second song, “Wheel In The Sky is as catchy as it gets, and the light show in “Lights” rivals anything you will see this year.

Singer Arnel Pintada had some big shoes to fill, but has done it well, and is a livewire presence, and their 80 minute set is exactly what you expected it to be. Last time we saw them they didn’t end with “…Believin’ and the arena emptied for the last few songs. This time around there is no such mistake and it is left right until the end.

Job done, you would guess, but after 7.45 this gig didn’t really add anything to either of the co-headliners careers.

Whitesnake @Wolves Civic Hall 8/12/11

David Coverdale has had a birthday since he was last in these parts. “I was a sprightly 59 the last time I saw you,” he says. “Now I am 60….”

Not that onset of old age has dampened his libido, within minutes, he is thanking a woman at the front for showing her “magnificent breasts” to him as they “are all the inspiration I need.” But ever the English country Gent soon after that he is accepting a Christmas presents from the audience. And so it is in the world of Whitesnake.

By any stretch of the imagination Coverdale’s 60^th year has been a good one. New album “Forevermore” has received much critical acclaim and tonight is Whitesnake’s second nearly sold-out show at this venue in six months, it is also the last night of the World Tour.

This incarnation of Whitesnake is as good as any, since the heydey. Twin guitarists Reb Beach and Doug Aldrich are supremely talented, and drummer Brian Tichhy is a flamboyant presence behind the kit. The elephant in the room, however is Coverdale himself, because whilst the old boy looks good and remains a front man of the highest order,  his voice was, shall we say, a little hit and miss at that show in June.

So it is a relief then that he seems on form as the opening strands of “Bad Boys” hit. The set list is more or less the same as last time, but that’s not really an issue when you are dealing with a stellar back catalogue such as the one Whitesnake posses.

As before, after around 45 minutes, the front man disappears and the guitarists duel, then it’s the drummer’s turn (and if you want to see a drum solo played with knives then look no further…I am not kidding!)

It is the second half of the mammoth two hour 10 minutes set that sees the band cut loose. The band intros include snippets of songs as diverse as Hendrix’s “Fire” and “U Can’t Touch This” by MC Hammer. There’s an impromptu rendition of “Slide it In” (we are only putting it in a little bit” says Coverdale.)

Then it happens. Santa turns up and begins chucking goodie bags into the crowd, which is all fine and very cheesy, before all eyes turn stage right. “We have a surprise for you ladies and gentlemen,” says David, “Santa has brought my old friend Bernie Marsden with him” and the veteran former ‘Snake – who has been appearing occasionally with the band after making up with Coverdale – is back playing “Fool For You Lovin’” and “Still of the Night” and it becomes less of a gig and more of a celebration.

There is a nod to the front man’s Deep Purple days with a run through of “Burn” before  a life affirming evening of genuine warmth ends with Bing Crosby’s “I’m Dreaming of a White(snake) Christmas.”

As the man himself might well say, it wouldn’t be Christmas without a little Whitesnake in your stocking.