In Concert: Whitesnake, Foreigner & Europe

by Marija Brettle with Emma Jenkins
— Senior Columnist —

Nottingham Motorpoint Arena, Nottingham, England, May 20, 2022

Tonight is a special night, a night where for the price of one ticket, you get to see 3 mammoth bands. A farewell tour that has been side-lined for 2 years because of the pandemic, so it was with great anticipation and joy that fans are at the Motorpoint Arena – Nottingham.

It is early doors tonight. There is a short time scale to get three tremendous acts squeezed into one short night’s worth of entertainment.

So, at 18.45 sharp, Europe emerges from the darkness for ‘Walk the Earth’, the lead track and title from their most recent album, before powering into their classic ‘Rock the Night’. This is a performance with no frills, no fancy backdrops, just simple but great lighting and good tunes belted out track by track by Joey Tempest; who is literally a tempest of activity, holding his microphone stand aloft and continually spinning it around.

Supported by the flawless but amazing musicianship of John Norum, Mic Michaeli, John Leven, and Ian Haughland – Europe is not afraid to mix their heavier tracks like ‘Scream of Anger’ alongside the crowd-pleasing ballad of ‘Carrie’. Arms, up and swaying, the audience loved it. They follow this on with a smattering of hits before the end of their set draws swiftly on.

Of course, no Europe set is ever complete without the song that you either love or hate. So with an arena, that was not yet completely full, and with those first few notes ringing out, the audience just explodes. People are up from their seats just rocking along.

It is not yet 7.30 pm but the place is suddenly electric. What a great way to set the tone and the mood for the night!

The schedule is tight and just 15-mins later, with the arena now mostly full, Foreigner takes the stage with ‘Double Vision’. A kaleidoscope of color fills their visual backdrop, and with their name lit up in large letters, Foreigner takes possession of the stage and proceeds with ‘Head Games’ and ‘Cold As Ice’.

The hits keep coming until a very chatty Kelly Hansen takes a breather from zipping around the stage and some energetic star jumps, to let us know that their first album was released 45 years ago. He then gives a shout out to the over 45s and also welcomes the youngsters. “This song is the first song that you heard us play”, he says, as he launches into ’Feels Like The First Time’ for Jeff Pilson, Michael Bluestein, Bruce Watson & Luis Maldonado to command the stage as ‘Urgent’ features an extended musical intro, and a very lengthy drum solo by Chris Frazier.

The band encore with ‘Long, Long Way From Home’ before Kelly Hansen wants something magical to happen in Nottingham tonight and tells the crowd to wrap their arms around the closest person to them. It’s time to warm up those vocals with some crowd participation before those well-known bars ring out. The arena is suddenly lit up with hundreds of mobile phones swaying in the air, magic indeed is happening, as the arena sings wholeheartedly to ‘I Want To Know What Love Is’.

‘Hot Blooded’ is their curtain call and the band bows out, wishing all peace and love. The main event beckons at 21.30.

‘My Generation’ and thunderous applause herald the arrival of Whitesnake with David Coverdale taking center stage straight away. No fancy introductions needed, just ‘Here’s a song for Ya’ some yipping and you know we’re into ‘Bad Boys’, complete with a cheeky little insert of ‘Children of the Night.’ ‘Slide It In’ follows straight after, before DC addresses the crowd, with his magnetic stage presence and devilish charm and humor intact on his swansong tour. His smooth dulcet tones thanked us for coming out to play and to make as much F***ing noise as possible.

Tonight is a night for big tunes and theatrical lighting. ‘Love Ain’t No Stranger’ and ‘Hey You (You Make me Rock)’ follow, before the dramatic start to ‘Slow an’ Easy’. DC shimmies his way through the song until it is time to slow things down to ‘Ain’t No Love in the Heart of the City’, where the crowd was more than happy to help out with the singing and the band flawlessly contribute with support vocals. That said, DC may no longer have the same power in his iconic vocals, but he is still an incredible showman and performs to the crowd effortlessly!

‘Fool For Your Loving’, allow Reb Beach, Joel Hoekstra & Dino Jelusick to take center stage for guitar/keytar solos, and ‘Crying in the Rain’ gave Tommy Aldridge the spotlight for his drum solo. After throwing his sticks out to the crowd, Tommy continues to pound the drums using only his hands.

DC then introduces the rest of the band including the impressive and talented newest recruit, bassist Tanya O’Callaghan.

Common courtesies over, it is time to continue the night with some of the greatest hits from the ‘1987’ album. All crowd-pleasers, and a lot of foot-stomping and crowd singing ensue. The Whitesnake Choir are out in force and the louder they sing, the more DC reciprocates.

The anthemic ‘Still of the Night’ rocked the Arena to the ground with DC thanking the audience for being great company and leaving us with the words “Be Safe, Be Well and Don’t Let Anyone Make You Afraid”.

They then power into Deep Purple’s ‘Burn’. A fitting tribute to the pre-Whitesnake days.

No encore, no fanfare, just a collective band bow to the “We Wish You Well” and WHITESNAKE leave the Nottingham stage for the very last time…

What a farewell from one of ROCK’S GREATEST FRONTMEN!