We are now to the final Live album I will be reviewing for the band.  Since their reunion back in 2003, Whitesnake has overloaded the general public with Live albums.  Seven to be exact!!  Now, those seven do cover several eras of the band, but still Seven!!  The Purple Tour Live album is the latest and it covers an era of the band I have yet reviewed for a live album…the Joel Hoekstra era.  Yes, I define my eras by the lead guitarists.  I know Reb is still one of those guitarists, but this is Joel’s first.

And interesting note, do you know who the longest running member of Whitesnake is aside from David, of course?  That is right, it is Reb Beach.  He has been with the band for 18 years.  Then Tommy Aldridge would be a close second although his years were not consistent years like Reb, he was in and out 3 times.  The current line-up is as follows:

• David Coverdale – vocals
• Reb Beach – guitar
• Joel Hoestra – guitar
• Tommy Aldridge – drums
• Michelle Luppi – keyboards
• Michael Devin – bass

And it is a pretty solid line-up.

The Purple Tour live album took place during 2015 while the band was out in support of their latest album at the time, The Purple Album.  This one seems to be the Birmingham show in England.  That album was a re-work of the time David was in Deep Purple and it covered his three albums with that band.  The tour, however, mixed the Deep Purple songs with some classic Whitesnake songs to give us one heck of a show.  David had thrown in a few Purple songs into recent tours, but never to this extent and as a result, we get some songs he hasn’t play live in a very, very long time.

The show opens with “Burn” from Deep Purple as David has done before and what a beast of a song to open the show with.  It gets the crowd and the band energized.  The song has solos by Reb and Michelle and is a perfect showcase for the talent that is this band.   Speaking of the band, Joel and Reb do have a lot of great chemistry playing together and they make all the songs sound unbelievable even if they might be tuned down from the original songs.  The solo work shared between the two are both exciting and Joel has brought a new life to the band and re-energized things.  Joel always gives it his all and is one of the hardest working guitarists in show business between his Whitesnake work, Cher and TSO touring.

For me, the highlight of this show is the three song set of “Ain’t No Love in the Heart of the City” then straight in to Deep Purple’s “Mistreated” and “You Fool No One”.  It is the most exciting 3 song stretch of any of the live albums I have heard.  The guitar playing and hell, the whole band was clicking on all cylinders.  You could feel the energy.

Now here’s where I will go in to a little of the negative and sadly that is David for me.  David still sings his heart out and brings his all, but his vocals on a few songs are a little roached.  He can’t hit the notes as well as he could, but I understand that as he is not a spring chicken anymore.  Don’t get me wrong, he is still one of my favorite rock singers out there, but there were some elements missing.  He does, however, still yell out “Here’s a Song For You” as he tends to do at every concert…and I mean every concert.  There isn’t one live show in his career where he doesn’t say that.

Now the rest of the album had it’s moments, but some of them didn’t strike me as anything new or special from any of the other live albums.  Overall it was a decent listen only really saved by that three song set I talked about earlier.  I am a little burned out on Live albums with this series so I am keeping it short and as positive as I can.  I do like this one, but not my favorite live album by them as a whole.  I will only give it a 3.5 out 5.0 Stars.  Sadly, we are now down to only two more albums left in the series…their final studio album and a remix album that came out just last week.  Talk about timing that as I am finishing the series, a new release comes out.  Love it!!

Up next…Whitesnake – Flesh & Blood

The David Coverdale Series:

1. Deep Purple – Burn
2. Deep Purple – Stormbringer
3. Deep Purple – Come Taste the Band
4. Deep Purple – Made in Europe
5. David Coverdale – Whitesnake
6. Deep Purple – Last Concert in Japan
7. David Coverdale – Northwinds
8. David Coverdale’s Whitesnake – Snakebite
9. Whitesnake – Trouble
10. Whitesnake – Lovehunter
11. Whitesnake – Ready an’ Willing
12. Whitesnake – Live…in the Heart of the City
13. Whitesnake – Come An’ Get it
14. Deep Purple – Live in London
15. Whitesnake – Saints & Sinners
16. Whitesnake – Slide It In
17. Whitesnake – “Give Me More Time” 12″ Single (Bonus Review)
18. Whitesnake – ‘The Best of Whitesnake (Bonus Review – 1982 release)
19. Whitesnake – Whitesnake (1987)
20. Whitesnake – “Is This Love” 12″ Promo (Bonus Review)
21. Whitesnake – Slip of the Tongue
22. David Coverdale – “The Last Note of Freedom” – Single Review
23. Coverdale/Page – Coverdale/Page
24. Coverdale/Page – “Take Me For A Little While 12” Single (Bonus Review)
25. David Coverdale & Whitesnake – Restless Heart
26. Whitesnake – Starkers in Tokyo
27. David Coverdale – Into the Night
28. Whitesnake – Live…In the Still of the Night (DVD)
29. Whitesnake – Live…In the Shadow of the Blues
30. Whitesnake – Good To Be Bad
31. Whitesnake – Forevermore
32. Whitesnake – Live at Donington 1990: Monsters of Rock
33. Whitesnake – The Purple Album
34. Whitesnake – The Purple Tour (Live)
35. Whitesnake – Flesh & Blood
36. Whitesnake – The Rock Album
37. Whitesnake – The Albums Ranked Worst to First
38. David Coverdale – The Albums Ranked Worst to First

Other David Coverdale Albums reviewed – (Box Sets and Bootlegs):

1. Whitesnake – 1987 (30th Anniversary Edition) – Box Set
2. Whitesnake – Slide It In (35th Anniversary Edition) – Box Set
3. Whitesnake – Unzipped – Box Set
4. Whitesnake – Slip of the Tongue (30th Anniversary Edition) – Box Set
5. Whitesnake (Snake) – Still of the Night Live in Battle Creek, Mich. July 26, 1987 (Bootleg)