Simon RushworthIn the latest look back at the live rock year we relive a heavyweight double header the like of which we might not see again. But if anybody’s listening, we’d love to…
Def Leppard and Whitesnake @ Newcastle Metro Radio Arena, June 24 2008
For Teessider David Coverdale there is no better gig in the world than Newcastle. Adopted by the Geordie nation three decades ago it was Tyneside which first took Whitesnake to its heart and if those sweat soaked City Hall shows of the late 1970s are a distant memory then this emotional show rolled back the years.
Coverdale’s association with the North East, his endearing banter and relaxed manner ensured an expectant crowd warmed to the first of the evening’s co-headliners within minutes. Come the anthemic hat-trick of 1987 standards, Give Me All Your Love, Here I Go Again and In The Still Of The Night, and the sea of raised hands and smiling faces proved one of rock’s greatest entertainers has lost none of his on-stage verve. With the Whitesnake choir in full voice, Def Leppard had some act to follow.
Having thrilled a passionate home crowd in Sheffield 24 hours earlier, reaching the same heights in Newcastle was always going to test the mettle of the Steel City heroes. That need to raise their game again, coupled with Coverdale’s incredible triumph, clearly affected a band synonymous with slick showmanship and some of the most memorable hair metal anthems in the history of rock.
Try as they might the Lepps just couldn’t recreate the frenzied atmosphere which made Whitesnake’s set one to remember. Where Coverdale’s rendition of Ain’t No Love In The Heart Of The City moved grown men to tears, Joe Elliott’s Bringing On The Heartbreak fell strangely flat. There was no doubting Leppard’s effort but the spark was missing.
Armageddon It raised first-pumping spirits and twin guitarists Phil Collen and Vivian Campbell were worth the admission money alone as they ripped through a flawless array of super cool riffs. Not surprisingly, pockets of fans drunk on nostalgia lapped up every note of every song and Let’s Get Rocked provided a raucous finale. But perhaps the band’s 1992 classic should have opened a set which never quite captured Leppard at their barnstorming best.
Simon Rushworth