Whitesnake Japan Tour
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| September 18, 2003 - Canora Hall | ||||
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 This was the first show on the Japan tour.
The venue was Canora Hall in
Nagano.
It took about 2 hours and a half
to
get there from my place by train. The
view from the window of the train reminded
me of my hometown. I arrived
at Okaya
station, and went out from the station
...
it was a country side. I wondered
if
Whitesnake would come to such a small
town?
First I went to the venue ...
it was
close to the city hall and the hospital.
There were already some Japanese
staffs
around the venue. Around 14:30,
Doug,
Tommy, Timothy, and Marco arrived and
went
into the venue. I went to the
coffee
shop with my friends in the venue,
and then
the rehearsal started. There
were many
staffs inside who worked for the show.
They
were ready for the show, merchandises,
tickets,
and something like that. There
seemed
to be some tickets left. We went
out
the venue and looked for the restaurant
for
dinner, but it took some times. Finally
we found a restaurant and had a dinner.
We went back to the venue about 1 hour before the show. There were more fans around the venue. There were some merchandises sold, t-shirt, sticker, tour book, etc. T-shirt was from the Rock Never Stops tour, not printed Japanese tour dates. I went into the venue, and it was not so big, but good one. My seat was on the second row on Reb's side. There were only a few people on the second and third floor. The songs of the old and good bands related to David Coverdale like Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin were played before the show. Finally the show started. When the lights off, the audience were excited and shouted. Whitesnake guys  appeared on the stage and started to play the first song
"Bad Boys". They are so powerful
from the first song and David showed us his
great vocal. Doug showed us his slide
play on the third song "Slow & Easy",
and it was cool. They had a great combination
... Reb & Marco's tight rhythm play on
Tommy's drum, Doug's thrilling solo play,
and David's emotional vocals. David、Reb、Doug
run on the way to both sides and appealed
to the audience. I hadn't seen Reb's
guitar play so much at the show in the United
States, but my seat on this day was in front
of Reb, so I was excited to see his great
guitar plays. His guitar sound was
sharp and clean as much as his Winger days,
and he showed us a great performances. David
stretched out his hands to the audience on
the ballad, and it was so impressed. Doug
played the cool phrases with fast play, tapping,
and something like that, then started to
play blues. And then Tommy, Reb, Marco,
and Timothy joined him, and they played bluesy
song. Blues is on the base of Whitesnake
and Doug. Doug's solo on "Crying
In The Rain" was really cool. He
kept its original version. This is
one of my favorite Whitesnake songs. I
like its groove with cool guitar solo and
David's emotional vocals. Tommy's drum
play was still powerful. I saw his
drum clinic a long time ago, and it's been
over 10 years. I can't believe it!
He still played the drum without the
drum sticks. The hit songs were played
like "Is This Love", "Gimme
All Your Love", "Here I go Again",
and the guys left the stage. The audience
wanted their songs more. The band members
appeared again on the stage. David
started to sing "Soldiers Of Fortune".
There was only his emotional vocal in the venue ... it was beautiful.
And finally the last song, "Still Of
The Night". It was climax.
It's my favorite song. The setlist is almost the same as the US tour, but I wanted to hear more songs.
I think everyone did. Whitesnake's
members has been changed, but this lineup
is the best, I think. The best point
is their great combination. It's well
balanced, and each member has a strong character.
So all of them appeal to the audience.
I've seen a lot of concerts, but I've
never seen such a great band live. They
are really attractive. Whitesnake's
old fans were satisfied with their show and
enjoyed it, I think. If you missed
their show, you are unlucky. I strongly
recommend their show somewhere!! I
got Reb's guitar pick on the floor after
the show. |
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| September 21, 2003 - Tokyo International Forum | ||||
| This show was sold out. It had been
raining since morning because the typhoon
was coming. When I arrived at
the venue,
there were a lot of fans around. The
venue looked beautiful. My seat
was
not so close to the stage, but I was
still
excited because I remembered the Nagano
show.
There were the merchandises,
and the
tickets of the concerts by Creativeman
promoter
were sold. As the Nagano show,
the
classic rock like Deep Purple or Led
Zeppelin
was played before the show, and the
audience
was very excited. The lights off and the stage was lighted up ... the band members appeared on the stage. As the Nagano show, the show was started with "Bad Boys". The microphone was something wrong. David's vocals was hard to hear. This venue was bigger than that in Nagano, and this show was sold out, so the seat was full. I think the band was happy. I love Doug's slide guitar on "Slow & Easy". Reb and Marco showed us the great combination also this night. Their performances were sexy. David was in good, and often said Japanese words like "Genki Desuka?" or "Hai Domo!". When the foreign people say Japanese, they look cute. I think the sound was better this night than the Nagano show, but the Nagano was also great. Doug seemed to care about the sound .... Doug's guitar solo this night was different from that in Nagano. His solo in Nagano didn't seem to get a good reaction. I like his guitar solo this night better than the Nagano show. Doug cared about his solo this night, but it was great. His guitar sound was beautiful and clear ... I feel sorry I couldn't see his solo close. Then he started to play the rhythm of blues, and played blues with the other guys (Snake Dance?). Doug's guitar is bluesy, so he really fits Whitesnake. Then they played "Crying In The Rain". This song is one of my favorite Whitesnake songs. Doug played the guitar solo close to the original version, I think. I love it! Tommy's drum solo was powerful. The guitar solo on "Is This Love" was very impressive this night. I listened to Doug's beautiful guitar carefully. David said that he was happy to be back to Japan and this year was the 25 anniversary of Whitesnake. He looked very happy. When the encore started, the audience started to sing "Happy birthday" to David ... the next day after this night was David's 52th birthday! It was a very impressive moment. Whitesnake was back after 6 years absence, and David's vocal was still great. This show was special both for David and his fans, I think. And David started to sing "Soldier Of Fortune". His vocal was powerful, emotional, and very "sexy". I can't believe he's 52 years old. His performance was very gorgeous. The last song was "Still Of The Night". This is my best Whitesnake song. But the accident happened ... when Doug was walking on the aisle at the right side, he suddenly disappeared. He fell down (in a hole?). I was surprised, but he came back soon. I was relieved to know he was OK. It was dangerous, because he had the guitar. The sold-out show in Tokyo ended .... |
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| September 25, 2003 - Zepp Tokyo | ||||
| This show was the replay show. I arrived at the venue a bit after the open time. My seat was on the second floor. I could see all over the stage, so I was relaxed to see the show. After Deep Purple's "Burn" was played, the lights off and the band members were coming out. The opening song was "Bad Boys" as usual. The setlist seemed to be the same at all shows. It was cold outside, but very hot inside. Maybe it was hotter on the 1st floor. Doug didn't come to the left side in Nagano, but he did some times this night. The sound was better. Maybe the sound this night was the best that I'd ever seen. Timothy said this night was the best. Doug seemed to care about the sound every time, and asked "How was the sound?" Doug's guitar solo was amazing! Each members were energetic and powerful, and was in harmony. I especially like Doug's solo on "Crying In The Rain" and "Is This Love". On the last song, "Still Of The Night", Doug looked sexy and cool. Whitesnake with this lineup looked really sexy ... David's sexy vocal and performance attracted the audience. Timothy's keyboard sound was really great. | ||||
| September 27, 2003 - Zepp Osaka, Osaka | ||||
| I hadn't visited Osaka so long. I lived there for a short time when I was very young, but I don't remember almost anything. I left for Shin-Osaka by the bullet train before noon, and then went to the Osaka station and checked in the hotel. It was cool in Tokyo, but it was still hot in Osaka. I arrived at the venue a bit before the open time. I thought all Zepp venues which I visited were in inconvenient place. When I entered into the venue, there were already a lot of people ... I had been on Reb's side at 3 shows I had seen, so I tried to go to Doug's side. But I couldn't go to the front, because there were already a lot of people. But I could see his play better than at 3 shows I had ever seen. The audience's reaction seemed to be the best in Osaka. I could see Timothy better too. He was rather quiet, but his keyboard was remarkable especially on the ballads. I was looking at Doug all the time ... David introduced Doug as his "New brother". Doug was much more attractive and he looked he enjoyed playing. It was very impressive that he looked very happy. I felt he had become a big guitarist. I could understand that he enjoyed doing a big tour. I can understand Whitesnake is more attractive to him than Burning Rain, but I hope to see Burning Rain again too. I feel happy to see that he's become a big guitarist and got many new fans. And I'm very proud of having been his fan since Lion days. His success is involved by his continuous great effort. I want to keep supporting him .... | ||||
| September 28, 2003 - Zepp Fukuoka | ||||
This was the last show. It was for
the first time that I saw such many
shows
on one tour. I saw 7 shows including
2 shows in USA. But I think it's
worth
seeing. I was born in Tokyo,
but my
parents are from Nagasaki, so I had
visited
Fukuoka some times. I flew to
Fukuoka
from Osaka by plane, and arrived at
the hotel.
I hadn't visited there for so
long.
I went to the venue by taxi,
but I
arrived a bit before the open time
again
because of a traffic jam. I was
on
Reb's side again. At all the
shows,
the audience shouted and excited when
Deep
Purple's "Burn" was played,
and
then the show was started. The
setlist
was the same and David said the same
things
at all shows, but I enjoyed all the
shows.
I think the replay show in Tokyo
was
the best, but all of them  showed the great performances at each shows.
Each member was attractive and
they
had a good combination. Their
show
was the best show that I had ever seen.
They
are not so young, but have a great
power.
Tommy's powerful drum, Reb &
Marco's
good harmony, Timothy's beautiful keyboard,
Doug's cool guitar, and David's dignified
and emotional vocals. I had already
remembered the setlist in my mind.
I
wish the show had been longer. I
wanted
to see it more. This Whitesnake
tour
was like a storm. I want to see
them
again next year. I hope they
will make
a new album with this lineup. Thank
you so much for the great shows, David,
Doug,
Reb, Timothy, Marco, and Tommy！
 Tour Note Thank you for the great shows ... Thanks to David Coverdale, Doug Aldrich, Reb Beach, Timothy Drury, Marco Mendoza, Tommy Aldridge, and Poor Albert at Whitesnake.com I hope to see all of you again next year! |
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