DVD Review - Whitesnake - Live in the Still of the Night 2004

An impulse purchase at a mall led me to own the very first "official" live DVD featuring hard rock's legendary band Whitesnake. From their 2004 UK tour, it features the lineup of Doug Aldrich (Lion, Dio, Bad Moon Rising) and Reb Beach (Winger, Dokken) on guitar, Marco Mendoza (Blue Murder, Sykes) on bass, Tommy Drury on keys and Tommy Aldridge (Ozzy, Black Oak Arkansas) on drums. Not to mention, the man himself, David Coverdale. The editing is top notch, with thirteen cameras capturing the action, and a few of these being black and white edited in for an artistic look. Thankfully, it is not prone to "MTV style" lightning fast cutting that plagues many concert videos. The whole setup looks and sounds very professional and will give your home theater setup a kick with its DTS surround sound. But with all that technology, what did they end up capturing?

This is Whitesnake as you likely haven't seen them before. The atmosphere is different with this new group, but everyone lays down very admirable performances. It's always been a "hired hand" kind of feel for Whitesnake, as the members rotated so frequently, but the natural feel of the Moody/Marsden days is missing, as is the kinetic energy of the Vandenberg/Vai team. Beach and Aldridge are just kinda "there" but you can't complain about their skills, although it is sad to see such a great guitarist as Beach be demoted to almost exclusively rhythm guitarist. The band works through a wide selection of Whitesnake and Deep Purple hits from across the board, leaning heaviest on the late 80s 'Snake material. "Judgment Day" is summoned with thunder and pomp, Coverdale prancing around on stage like some ageless rock god as the guitarists sizzle around him in this heavy track.

"Is This Love" is the breather ballad but seems to lose some of its passion in the live setting. The opener of "Burn" gives an eye opening glimpse at the technical proficiency of both Aldrich and Beach as they fret blaze through this Purp classic and mix up a bit of "Stormbringer" for the middle. "Crying in the Rain" is a powerful song and sounds superb here, but the real draw is the amazing drum solo by Tommy Aldridge. This will surely convince anyone that he is one of the current kings of the skins, as he pounds and plows his way through an amazing, breath taking solo piece that has him pounding every piece of equipment in his extensive kit. There's enough cymbals there to outfit several rock bands, yet he utilizes them all, throws the drumsticks away and then pounds through the finale with his hands only. All this before smoothly transitioning back into the ending of "Crying". Absolutely fascinating, and worth the price of the DVD alone to see this drum master in all his glory.

Drury's keys are a bit lost here, as they are drowned out by the guitars and drums and the showboating, golden haloed Coverdale. He was very adamant in his negative stance of the "Preening 80s" in past interviews but seems eager to reclaim his place on stage as an object of womanly desires without remorse. He definitely still has the stage charisma to pull it off, and twirls that mic stand just as he used to so many years in the past. Other songs worth noting include the grand finale, "Still of the Night", where the stage is a battlefield and Reb and Doug are using their axe slinging skills to have a war of strings til the end. "Don't Break My Heart Again" from 1982 is given an energetic performance that sees the whole band just taking this to the limit. A great song that seems like the perfect live choice.

There's the terrific soulful rendition of "Ain't No Love in the Heart of the City" (always one of my personal favorites) and the heart throbbing rocker "Love Ain't No Stranger". Unfortunately, there is not enough of the "pre 1987" WS and even live staples such as "Slide It In" and "Slow and Easy" are missing from the set list. Since this is the first official documentation of this band live, it's a shame that such well received live pieces have been omitted entirely. They could have snipped off "Bad Boys" and the two atrocious guitar spotlight platforms and no one would have missed them. The two instrumental pieces *are* performed with flair, and technical capabilities that are nothing short of amazing, but as songs, they fall squarely in the "ho hum" category. It's easy to see why the crude term "musical masturbation" came about, since this is what its chalked up to be really.

All in all, Whitesnake's Live in the Still of the Night is a finely produced piece that captures the band live on stage in the most attractive package possible. Maybe a tad overproduced, as there has been some complaints about Coverdale's voice and his attempts to hit those high notes as he did in his tender youth, but overall fans of the British 'Snake will enjoy seeing the live experience with a real budget and legit studio release.

Rating: 8/10

Written by Alanna
Wednesday, January 30, 2008