Whitesnake's European tour stumbles as David Coverdale falls ill

David Coverdale onstage in Hamar, Norway, earlier this month (Image credit: Per Ole Hagen / Getty Images)

Whitesnake have cancelled three shows on the European leg of their Farewell Tour MMXXII after frontman David Coverdale was diagnosed with a sinus and trachea infection. The affected shows are this evening's performance Milan, Italy, plus dates in Vienna, Austria on June 30, and in Zagreb, Croatia, on July 2.

In a statement on Instagram, Whitesnake said that Coverdale was under doctor's orders and had been told not to perform for five days: "This is obviously very sad for us, especially our band members that were getting to perform before hometown crowds; Michele Luppi, our Italian Stallion was looking forward to playing in Milan in front of his friends and family, and of course Dino Jelusic, the Pride of Croatia was going to be able to give his all, to his hometown of Zagreb.

"We regret that this is necessary in our attempt to get healthy and be able to finish the rest of our tour."

Coverdale's illness is the latest setback for the band, who were forced to cancel a show at the weekend at the Imperium Festival in Spain after drummer Tommy Aldridge fell ill.

The band wrote: "Then the rock of our band, the Legendary Tommy Aldridge went down and we unfortunately were not able to play the Rock Imperium Festival in Cartagena this past Saturday (very regrettable and all apologies to our Spanish fans and friends).

"Tommy was bad enough at the time to have missed the first show ever in his career - the good news is that he is feeling better and is anxious to get back out there to perform for all of you."

The cancellation drew a furious response from the festival's promotors, who accused Whitesnake of breaching their contract, of not communicating their reasons for cancelling the show, and of disrespecting the fans, adding, "they [the band] threatened us with denigrating the organisation, with absurd and unfounded complaints about organisational problems in order to be able to perform their show."

Whitesnake responded to the accusations, describing the promotor's statement as "misleading."

Coverdale and Aldridge aren't the first members of the band to fall ill during this tour – guitarist Reb Beach missed earlier shows in Prague (Czech Republic), Dessel (Belgium), Munich (Germany) and Zurich (Switzerland).

"The rigours of the road are the same for all of us and we have been trying to keep everyone healthy and safe," say the band. "Unfortunately we have been hit recently with a couple of situations that we have been dealing with, the best we can."

Whitesnake's next scheduled show is on July 4 in Budapest, Hungary. Full dates below.

Whitesnake Farewell Tour MMXXII dates

Jul 04: Budapest Barba Negra, Hungary
Jul 06: Belgrade Tasmajdan Park, Serbia
Jul 09: Athens Technopolois, Greece
Jul 12: Skopje Arm, North Macedonia
Jul 14: Mogilovo Midalidare, Bulgaria
Jul 16: Bucharest Rock the City, Romania
Jul 19: Sarajevo Skenderija, Bosnia

Aug 17: Hampton Beach The Ballroom, NH
Aug 19: Providence Bold Point Park, RI
Aug 21: Toronto Budweiser Stage, ON
Aug 24: Quebec City Videotron Ctr, QC
Aug 27: Montreal Bell Ctr, QC
Aug 30: Detroit Pine Knob Theatre, MI
Sep 01: Rosemont Allstate Arena, IL
Sep 07: Belmont Park UBS Arena, NY
Sep 12: Hollywood Hard Rock, FL
Sep 14: Tampa Amalie Arena, FL
Sep 17: Houston Toyota Ctr, TX
Sep 19: El Paso Don Haskins Ctr, TX
Sep 21: Tulsa BOK Arena, OK
Sep 24: San Antonio Freeman Col, TX
Sep 27: Dallas American Airlines Ctr, TX
Sep 29: Denver Ball Arena, CO
Oct 01: San Diego Viejas Arena, CA
Oct 04: Los Angeles The Forum, CA
Oct 07: Fresno Save Mart Center, CA
Oct 09: Portland Moda Center, OR
Oct 13: Spokane Arena, WA
Oct 15: Tacoma Tacoma Dome, WA
Oct 18: Oakland Oakland Coliseum, CA
Oct 21: Las Vegas Mandalay Bay, NV

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Online Editor at Louder/Classic Rock magazine since 2014. 40 years in music industry, online for 27. Also bylines for: Metal Hammer, Prog Magazine, The Word Magazine, The Guardian, The New Statesman, Saga, Music365. Former Head of Music at Xfm Radio, A&R at Fiction Records, early blogger, ex-roadie, published author. Once appeared in a Cure video dressed as a cowboy, and thinks any situation can be improved by the introduction of cats. Favourite Serbian trumpeter: Dejan Petrović.