Whitesnake/Judas Priest Concert Review
Red Rocks Ampitheatre
August 11, 2009
Red Rocks Ampitheatre
August 11, 2009
First let me say that Red Rocks is amazing. As all you Colorodans know, it is stunningly beautiful and there is no other venue like it in the world. The night started off well enough. PopEvil put on a really good show. My other BackstageDirt.com girl was super excited to see them, and I think she would have left happy after just seeing them play and no one else. The guys in the band are really nice too and were happy to chat for a few minutes (except for the singer whose girlfriend was never too far away-I guess she is on tour with them). Their hit song is "100 in a 55" which is kind of a slower ballad type song. The singer has a really good voice live. I was happy enough to listen to PopEvil and wait for Whitesnake, the band I went there to see.
We waited for Whitesnake, and when they finally came on, the crowd was full at that point. I thought David Coverdale still looked pretty good (he is pushing 60), but my colleague thought he looked kind of old. He still has an amazing head of hair. I thought he sounded pretty good too. He hit the screaming high notes and did his usual thrusting with the mic stand. After singing only 4 songs (yes, four!), David tells the crowd that he hurt his throat and cannot perform any longer. He apologizes and walks off stage. So, the crowd got to hear "Slide It In" and "Love Ain't No Stranger" and two more obscure Whitesnake songs and that's it. So, needless to say we were all pretty bummed. I wouldn't have cared if he would have lip synched his way through his set, as long as I could have heard "Still of the Night".
So, what do you do when the band you went to hear craps out on you? That's right, you go to the bar! And, hit backstage. After a few cocktails, my two BackstageDirt girls and I were walking to the bathroom and got approached by this guy and girl who were wearing backstage passes, and one of them asked BackstageDirt girl #1 if she wanted to go backstage to meet the band (Whitesnake). He then looked at her hand and realized she was married and said "Oh, you are married?" Really??? Really??? I didn't know bands still scoped out for groupies? Especially groupies in their 30's? Yea, I know we are hot 30 something year olds, but come on!!! We have our own backstage access anyway, courtesy of BackstageDirt.com, so we didn't need to go down this road (thank god!)! The backstage at Red Rocks is really nice, a lot nicer than most other venues. Framed art of famous musicians line the red rock walls. I really wanted to meet David Coverdale, but he left and I suppose went straight to the hospital.
Judas Priest was decent, but I have never been a huge fan of theirs, and I thought Rob Halford was going to fall over when he first came out. He was in a zombie like trance for the first couple of songs. And, they played their entire British Steel album, which is really only for hard-core Priest fans. And, there were many there! Including many teenagers.
Overall, you can never have a bad time at Red Rocks. I wish the best to Mr. Coverdale, but I just wished his voice would have went the next night...Bad timing!!
SL
