Live At Donington 1990

This CD/DVD combination affords us the opportunity to hear Whitesnake, one of the defining 80's hair bands (who are musically quite talented as well), in its prime with the Coverdale/Vandenburg/Vai/Sarzo/Aldridge lineup. Playing at Castle Donnington for the Monsters of Rock extravaganza, the set list here covers all of the usual Whitesnake hits. No casual listener should be unhappy.Let's start with the good. The packaging, liner notes, and pictures for are superb. Coverdale goes into detail about the concert, the creation of the CD, the fact that "no expenses were spared" for the DVD portion and that the concert sound was given a thorough treatment in the studio. Transmitted by the BBC for radio broadcast, I would describe the sound on the CD's as better that I expected, given its age and source. Slightly bass heavy at times, there's no doubt that a moderate amount of compression was used either in the studio clean-up or was present during the original taping during the radio broadcast (or both). Nevertheless, as other reviewers have noted, everything comes through pretty clearly. Aldridge's drums sound great, Vandenberg and Vai's guitar's are at times split between left and right channels (and you can tell who's who almost immediately); Coverdale's vocals are slightly recessed, but it's not a problem - it just sounds more like a concert where you're back aways.Clearly a good night, the band plays with tremendous energy and speed. The crowd's fired up and, with a little imagination, you can easily put yourself there about half-way back on the ground.DVD footage is, as others have noted, not the best in terms of concert viewing. This might something good for a party where no one is watching the TV constantly, but is perhaps talking, listening and occasionally viewing as they pass by on their way to get another beverage.Overall, a classic live album from Whitesnake from one of their career high points.

I first just want to say that I am very excited that this show has finally been released.I purchased the CD/DVD combo, and while the performance and audio quality are excellent, I'm not a huge fan of the video. My problem is not with the video quality itself, since it's about what I expected given when it was shot and because it was not filmed for an official release. The video does, however, look much better on my smaller 37" TV than it does on my 52" TV. One thing that I do not like about the video is that it's comprised mostly of individual close-ups, with very few shots showing more than one band member at a time. I'm guessing that this is because they had to use the video feeds that were displayed on the big screens during the actual concert, which are usually all close-up shots. Some other annoying things about the video are that the video often changes from color to black & white, and there are several cheesy slo-mo effects used througout the video.Even though I don't care much for the DVD, the CDs alone get 5 stars and make this is an excellent purchase for the price. This concert will be getting a lot of play time in my CD player and on my iPod.

For all fans of whitesnake this double cd and dvd of the same concert is a must have. First as you can probably tell by the title this is an old concert, from 1990 to be exact. This line up of Whitesnake is definatly one of the best line-ups ever. It Features Obviously David Coverdale on Vocals. Then the top notch band from there is Steve Vai and Adrian Vandenberg on Co- Lead Guitars. The rhythm section features Tommy Aldrigde on Monster Drums. And Bass player Extrodianare is legendary Rudy Sarzo. They also have tour Keyboardist Rick Serate as well. Let me tell you this is a raw live concert. The sound is unreal as they were able to take the old recordings and make a modern Live rock album. The video is only footage from the actual concert. For those that don't know, at rock concerts very often they have large screens where they show footage of the band, well this is the video as they never properly recorded the video for this concert in the first place. However the CD portion of this concert more than makes up for the DVD part. Excellent band and excellent concert. 5 stars.

I found this cd/dvd account of WHITESNAKES', "SLIP OF THE TONGUE" support tour, very entertaining. I saw the show at JONES BEACH in New York, and it did bring back memories. Being a self taught guitarist, I have always had the highest respect for the talent of Steve Vai, and Adrian Vandenberg has also been one of the many musicians I have enjoyed listening to over the years, he is one very talented individual. They must have put their egos asside, in order to pull this off. I listened to the cd's a few times in the first day or two, and then watched the dvd twice in one night, while I did some house work. No disappointment here. If you are a fan of WHITESNAKE or any of the musicians on this set, (Tommy Aldridge, David Coverdale, Rudy Sarzo, Steve Vai, Adrian Vandenberg, or Rick Seratte, -keyboards) you will enjoy this offering.VINNY THE ROCKER

I like Whitesnake. I always enjoy their live CD's. When this one came out I didn't pick it up right away. Well, with Steve Vai and Adrian Vandenberg both on the release I finally purchased it. A great show from 1990. I don't know why I waited to purchase it? The sound is awesome and the guitars sound great. From the opening song "Slip of the Tongue" all the way thru to the end "Still of the Night, I enjoyed this CD. Great vocals as always. What really makes this great though are the guitars. David Coverdale always seems to find great guitar players. Whitesnake does not just play the songs; they perform the songs. The package is one of the best that I have seen.

Unlike many on here, I wasn't there ... I was a 16 year old kid with a finger hovering over the record button of my old hi-fi waiting for Tommy Vance to stop talking and for Whitesnake to uncoil and strike. I was a bit underwhelmed by that year's Donington, it had none of the variety of the last one - Maiden, KISS, GnR, Megadeth - there was a much of a muchness on that bill that year all seemingly influenced by Aerosmith apart from the Snake. Aerosmith had been the band of the day culling classics alongside material from their strong recent albums, 'Pump' and 'Permanent Vacation'. Jimmy Page's turn on 'Train Kept A Rollin' was the undoubted highlight of the whole festival. The rest - Poison, Thunder, Quireboys - I can hardly recollect. As a fan of Whitesnake I was looking forward to them more than most but I remember feeling disappointed. When Vandenberg started going through one of his interminable guitar solo's I stopped the tape and rewound it - I only had 90 minutes and I wasn't gonna waste it on a guitar solo. When Vai did one I did the same thing. Young people won't remember this but there was always the obligatory guitar solo or drum solo in those days. I didn't like them then and I don't like them now - they break up the flow of the performance and they reek of laziness. The other thing I recall is Coverdale's annoying banter - goading the crowd into swearing live on radio etc ... it was childish. Coverdale's performance wasn't great that day either, his vocals not as strong as usual almost like he had a throat infection or something. Nonetheless, I had this on tape for many years and listened to it regularly. When they get going they're very good particularly on opener 'Slip Of The Tongue', 'Slow An Easy' etc ... they're less good towards the end of the set. I bought this three years ago and I still hate what I hated all those years ago - Coverdale's crude crowd 'banter' makes me cringe, Vai's showing off, Vai and Vandenburg's neverending solo's - so, I guess I haven't changed much in 24 years. Worth getting if you were there otherwise forget it.

MINDBLOWING!!!! I've had that concert for years on a boot, but never really played it since the sound wasn't that great and I thought Coverdale wasn't on his best day.But this remastered/ cleaned up version is amazing! The sound is HUGE. It really feels like you're at Donington, and although Coverdale might not have been in super good shape (hence the 4 stars), he still sings his lungs out...Right to the top!The setlist is mainly 1987/Slip of the tongue/ Slide it in based, but those were the albums they were promoting at the time and that made them huge in Europe and in the States.The overall sound is very 90's (what do you expect?), but as I said before it is huge and heavy, the remix/remastering gives the performances a lot of dynamic and edge, and the band is top quality: Vandenberg and Vai on guitars, Aldridge/ Sarzo on rhythm section...It says it all!If Live...In the heart of the city is WS's live album of the first period, this one is the equivalent for the "hair" period.I haven't watched the dvd yet, as I'm not a big fan of concerts on the screen, and I'm not in a hurry to see a bunch of hair dudes banging their heads, although I'm pretty sure it has its qualities as well, so this review is based only on the cd's.

Having seen the band live numerous times I was disappointed with this. DC is the complete front man and has always engaged with the crowd but that seemed to be lacking on this, it was probably cut for timing reasons but that has removed part of the character of Whitesnake, their live shows have always been about more than just the music. While I am having a moan, why do live albums have to have extended solos? They are fine in the context of the concert hall but get boring on record.

As a big fan of the 'Slip Of The Tongue' lineup of Whitesnake, I had to buy this box set. Having heard two tracks from this live album before purchasing ('Slip Of The Tongue' and 'Kitten's Got Claws') I knew that the whole album would be worth buying. So, let me talk about the DVD first:In the words of Mr. Coverdale himself as shown in the album booklet: "Regrettably it is not sparkling Hi-Def, but, on the on the other hand it's in wonderful watchable Lo-Def Vision... Perfect for an atmospheric rock & roll show." Unfortunately, the concert isn't shown in very good quality on the DVD, however the sound quality of it is fantastic. The band have amazing charisma onstage, and the concert has been edited very well. I have heard complaints from people that some of Coverdale's 'crowd banter' has been edited out, but personally this is not an issue for me, probably because this is the only version of the concert that I've seen, and last time I checked the reason for buying a music DVD is to hear the songs. There is also an interesting 20-minute documentary named 'behind the scenes' on the DVD, that gives quite an engaging look into how the songs on Slip Of The Tongue were written and how they sounded like in pre-production (with Adrian Vandenberg playing the songs instead of the album versions where Steve Vai recorded all of the guitar tracks). All in all a great Whitesnake concert, not in great quality, but worth watching if you're a big fan of the band.The album is in fantastic audio quality, everything sounds crystal clear, how a live album should sound like. The songs that are included on the set list would be especially pleasing for fans of the 1987/Slip Of The Tongue era of the band. A lot of people seem to be complaining about the number of solo spots Steve Vai during the show. I must point out that Adrian Vandenberg has the same amount of opportunities to show off that Vai does. Both guitarists have two tracks each on the song list to have a solo spot. If you're a guitarist or a big guitar fan, you'd agree that Vandenberg and Vai's solos add an amazing touch to the album. All of the songs on the album sound incredibly charismatic, not boring at any point. And the slower songs, such as 'Is This Love' and 'Ain't No Love In The Heart Of The City' sound so atmospheric, and these specific musicians in the band at that time make the songs sound so interesting and different. So if you're a fan of this era's Whitesnake and don't mind a lot of flashy guitar-playing, it's well worth the investment.

Absolutely amazing CD, set list is awesome, sound quality tip top, memories that race back take my breath away (I was a 16 year old at boarding school in Penang when 1987 came out), I'm not ashamed to say that Here I Go Again brought tears to my eyes.And on top of all that Steve Vai does two of his own solo tracks too, For The Love Of God and The Audience Is Listening.Quite simply the best CD I have bought for years and years.