by Sian Parry

Not to pigeon hole myself into any genre but I am mainly known for my heavier taste in music but when old school rockers Whitesnake come to my home town of Wolverhampton, all that goes out the window!

I seem to be a bit out of date with my music and I would happily class Whitesnake as one of my current favourite bands. So when I heard about their UK tour, let alone playing the well- loved Civic Hall, I was so eager to go. I had seen Whitesnake once before at Wacken Open Air Festival, Germany in 2006 and it totally sparked my passion for the band.

When I arrived at the already packed out (and sold out!!) show, you could definitely tell the age ranges throughout the years of Whitesnake's history. I mean no offence by that. If anything, it was really nice to see the old school fans dust off their leather jackets for a night of rock.

The first and only support of the night was The Union. I had never heard of these before the show but was very pleasantly pleased. It's not surprising that I fell in love with their music straight away as I recently found out that backing vocalist/ guitarist; Luke Morley was the guitarist, chief song writer and producer of the English rock band Thunder, another one of my personal favourites! They set the show off in good form and the audience took to them the same way I did, with big cheers and even bigger applause.

By the time Whitesnake were due on, the audience was bursting, all in high spirits knowing the glory that was about to take center stage.

Many people would say that lead singer, David Coverdale's voice isn't what it once was but to me, it didn't matter. It was pure awe-inspiring to see him up on stage giving every single hit his best as if it was the songs release date.

Songs came in the likes of such classics of "Love Ain't No Stranger" "Give Me All Your Love" and "Is This Love?" which had the crowd singing to the top of their voices and swaying their arms. Five songs came off the band's latest album, Forevermore, which the audience were more relaxed towards, maybe with the lack of knowing the songs but I was able to keep screeching my voice away as I was well prepared lyrics wise. When David weren't singing, he was telling jokes and often told the audience how much he loved and appreciated them.

Now, if anyone knows a better way to kill an amazing, electrifying atmosphere but to play a 20 minute guitar solo, I would like to know. The audience was blatantly bored, including me. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying it weren't decent but 20 minutes?! Really? I noticed audience members looking at their watches and I was making some weird chair shape with my legs as it was such a drag to watch. Nevertheless, there was a big cheer once it had finished and I'm sure it weren't for the amazing guitar playing ability.
I half expected David Coverdale to come out from having a big elaborate costume change with the amount of time he had backstage but alas, he hadn't and it didn't take long for the audience to get back to their once before happy selves.

The last three songs really topped my night off for me- "Fool For Your Loving", "Here I Go Again" and my all-time favourite "Still Of The Night" as the encore. I think it's pretty fair to say that I had never sung like I did for that last song in my life and it will be a memory I keep.. Forevermore.