40 Years Ago Today – Whitesnake’s First Show

CONGRATULATIONS ON 40 FUCKING YEARS OF THE SNAKE!!! 🥂🍾


March 3. 1978 Lincoln Technical Collage

The original ticket for the first show, that was made valid for the Lincoln Polytechnic...:)

The original ticket for the first show, that was made valid for the Lincoln Polytechnic…:)

Rare solo B&W images from first show courtesy Neal Quincey, student union stage electrician at the gig. Thanks for the snaps!

David Coverdale/Vocals
Bernie Marsden/Guitar
Micky Moody/Guitar
Brian Johnston/Keyboards
Neil Murray/Bass
David Dowle/Drums

Alternate Gallery

29 Comments

  • Kate

    3/3/2018

    Awesome!!!!
    Where’s the reunion

  • Gary N

    3/3/2018

    Wow doesn’t time fly! I was at the gig in Basingstoke. It was an absolute belter!!

  • Koichi A

    3/3/2018

    Cheers!!
    I have always been with Whitesnake from 40 years ago. Amazing!

  • David Dykstra

    3/3/2018

    Time for a remake album of the non USA tracks…..

  • Stewart Garnett

    3/3/2018

    My first Whitesnake live concert was (as a 15 year old) at the Apollo Theatre Manchester for the Trouble tour and I have been hooked ever since!! Thanks for the memories David!! God bless ya!!

    • Antonio

      1/4/2019

      Amazing. Trouble was my first WS album… what was the audience like in those days? Pretty varied or only rockers, wannabe bikers and bona fide back patch clubs?

  • Sandy Hudleston

    3/3/2018

    I Love your song “Only my Soul”, Awesome song. Wish you could play it when you come to the Starlight Theater in Kansas City, MO.

  • Joe Manzo

    3/3/2018

    Been listening since day 1! Finally got to see you in Clearwater FL in 2013!

  • Arthur

    3/4/2018

    Many congratulations, I’d just left school then and have just retired from the company I joined then, where do the years go? Please don’t retire….!!

  • Didier

    3/4/2018

    Would be so huge a tour with the “Live in the heart of the city” line up (the best ever?) … of course Don Airey replacing RIP Jon Lord…

  • Althepo

    3/4/2018

    I hopped on board a year later at the Reading ’79 festival and have caught most tours ever since. Like other postings, would like to see the upcoming tour cover all eras of the band and less of the well-worn greatest hits set (although I appreciate some numbers can’t be dropped – and definitely not Bad Boys) but mostly am glad to still have the Snake with us. Rock on!

  • David

    3/4/2018

    Happy anniversary, thank you for the music, the soundtrack of my adolescence and my life

  • Avi

    3/4/2018

    Thanks for the music thanks for the memory’s ..

  • ignatius

    3/5/2018

    Congrats for so many years making us all so happy!

  • Ann Johansson

    3/6/2018

    I can see back on my musicmemorys whith a great deal of love. There are no other rock band than Whitesnake that get my pulse to rise up a level. Always feel young when I lhear all the old songs and lyrics. Love it!!!!!

  • Stephen

    3/6/2018

    could people please stop comparing line-ups, Whitesnake is what it is ,damn good music played by musicians at the top of their game, people come and go but it’s still Whitesnake ,40 years worth of top notch rock,n,roll ,who,d of thunk it cheers DC

  • Lisa Procter

    3/7/2018

    Any news of a UK Tour 🙏

  • MarketMagnify

    3/10/2018

    Thanks Anne, so glad you’re enjoying it! 🙂buy

  • Harleybaebee

    3/15/2018

    Thank you Ruchi 🙂viagra

  • TOMASELLI

    3/16/2018

    COVERDALE IS GOD!!!!!

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  • Graham Payne

    3/21/2018

    Wow 40 years, were did that go?! I was at Music Machine gig. I was then lucky enough to get back stage pass for Reading 79. Met DC at Annie’s wine bar in Amersham, he bought me a drink! Still love the music (then and now). Time & Again when of the best songs ever written.

  • Thomas Rosanski

    4/23/2018

    In `79 (13 years old and lived in East-Germany) I heard for the first time the Mk 3 line up of Purple and the voice of DC…and was infected…`til today.
    Thanx for unforgettable moments & concerts!!!

  • Mark Thatcher

    5/24/2018

    We were on 17 at the time and we drove all the way from Newport in South Wales to Newport Shropshire in a friend’s elder brother’s Ford Anglia to see Whitesnake and they didn’t make it unfortunately – DC had a cold apparently. Anyway, we had a great evening with the locals and then saw Whitesnake on many other occasions in Bristol & Cardiff and met them all.

  • Neil Cutler

    5/31/2018

    A group of us went to the Rafters gig in Manchester but only two of us got in as we were all under 18. I was only 16 at the time but managed to sneak past the check. Our guy with the tape recorder didn’t get in so no bootleg of the gig, which was a cracker, raw and bluesy.

    • Steven Greenwood

      6/5/2018

      I am the tape recorder guy. Still devastated that I didn’t get in 40 year on !!

  • BİLGİN GÜVEN

    6/6/2018

    I’m Bilgin from Turkey I’ve been a fan of Deep Purple, Whitesnake and Rainbow for a more then 35 years..So David Coverdale is a great part of Purple!!!!! and Whitesnake!! I live with this music!!.. And its a time fo new amazing album with a slow and agressive songs!! We are waiting. Bilgin GUVEN-İzmir-Turkey

  • Phil Caldwell

    6/20/2021

    I was 18 and attended the Manchester gig at Rafters on 21st March 1978, I had previously seen DC with Deep Purple on the Burn tour so to see him in a tiny venue like this was a dream!

    They played a blinding set and as usual, I fought my way to the front and was practically sat on the tiny stage in front of Bernie Marsden

    I have a recording of this gig and have been listening to it today! Happy memories

    You can hear it on the link below on YouTube

    https://youtu.be/eIXaypGGlxY

  • Paul Adams

    7/25/2021

    I was at the London gig. Can anybody remember all the punk bands supporting and getting a hard time from the crowd? I seem to remember the guitarist from a band called Dead Fingers Talk having a punch up with someone in the front row!

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