A Gift From The (Rock) Gods

A quick blog post today as a catch-up and also a very big 'Thank you'!  A couple of weeks ago I was very nicely invited to Oulton Park to watch some classic car racing by a lovely long-time friend.  This week I had a call from a long-time 'client' (for want of a better term!) with an invite to something very different.  "Are you free on Thursday night?" asked P.  It transpired that a friend had let him down and he had a spare ticket for a rock concert at the MEN Arena.  "Absolutely!" I replied, knowing already that Thunder, Whitesnake and Journey were sharing the bill that night.  But that left a problem.  The doors opened at 5.30pm, around which time I'm still in Altrincham, of course.  Luckily, I was already wearing my leather-look leggings, high-heeled ankle boots and tight (and tiny) t-shirt top, so at least I was appropriately dressed!  So, my date for the evening collected me from 'work', and fighting through the heavy traffic, we arrived at the venue in good time to see Thunder take the stage.

Now, I'm not really a fan of big events like these, as venues like the the MEN Arena always seems to struggle to get a great atmosphere.  However, I have to say that Thunder were fantastic, rolling back the years to play a brilliant and tight set of their rock/blues catalogue, and the arena erupted with one of the biggest cheers of the night when the opening chords of 'Low Life In High Places' sounded.  Superb.  Whitesnake strolled on mid way through the evening to a massive cheer.  David Coverdale, bless him, seems to have been treading the boards since Noah built the ark, but still put in a great performance, though I was concerned that he was losing his voice towards the end.  Whitesnake, celebrating their 35th anniversary, played many of their hits from yesteryear, including a pounding and driving 'Fool For Your Loving', which saw original member Bernie Marsden rejoin the group onstage for the first time since he left some years ago.  Tremendous, and my favourite act of the night.  Not to mention one of the guitarists was bloody lovely, and is more than welcome to strum a few melodies on me whenever he wants!

Lastly, Journey took to the stage.  I don't know many of their songs, unfortunately (apart from the 'hits' - but they do sing one of my favourite songs 'Don't Stop Believin' ') but they really struggled with their sound.  The singer had a great voice but was completely muffled by an appalling sound-system that merged drums, bass, guitar and keyboards into a muddy mess.  With this handicap, they struggled to get the crowd moving and entertained as both Thunder and Whitesnake managed.

Nevertheless, it was a great night, so a big 'THANK YOU' to P for a brilliant evening, even if we didn't manage to agree on the way home which was the better band of the night (It was Whitesnake, P, hahaha!)

Dexi - Thunder, Whitesnake and Journey at the MEN Arena

I'm heading out now for another long weekend - there will be another update next week, I'm sure.  Have a great Bank Holiday!