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Va Beach VH Fan
01-05-2012, 10:14 PM
Welcome to the Official 6/14 San Diego Meetup/Review thread. This thread is to discuss anything leading up to the show, as well as all reviews.

Let's hear it !!

Va Beach VH Fan
01-12-2012, 09:27 AM
Check out my thread in Main about how somehow it's set up as an In the Round show on the ticket broker websites....

I also see they're having this at SDSU.... My memory is a little blurry, isn't there another arena other than SDSU that replaced the 'ol San Diego Sports Arena ??

Brings a tear to my eye just mentioning that place, that was the scene of my VH show in 1984 and it's literally two blocks from where my co-workers all work....

DaveTheScott
01-13-2012, 11:21 PM
Well, there's Cricket Wireless Amphitheater (used to be Coors Amphitheater)...Sports Arena is still there and still has shows, surprisingly...Gaga was there back in the summer.

I also have seen the center-of-house stage you're talking about...hope its not the case.

Waiting to get tickets - for San Diego and Anaheim.

python3
02-05-2012, 01:38 PM
Got this Spanish flyer at the Paul Dianno show Friday night at the Black Box in Tijuana.

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e57/pdorazio3/VHFlyer.jpg

Romeo Delight
05-25-2012, 03:03 AM
Giddeup?

BenJammin
06-09-2012, 02:44 PM
Giddeup?

Seems people here around SD are a bit detached, or at least when it comes to this thread.

python3
06-10-2012, 05:15 AM
Check out my thread in Main about how somehow it's set up as an In the Round show on the ticket broker websites....

I also see they're having this at SDSU.... My memory is a little blurry, isn't there another arena other than SDSU that replaced the 'ol San Diego Sports Arena ??

Brings a tear to my eye just mentioning that place, that was the scene of my VH show in 1984 and it's literally two blocks from where my co-workers all work....

Sports Arena is Vallew View Casino Center. Viejas Arena (formerly Cox Arena) is SDSU.

Va Beach VH Fan
06-10-2012, 09:38 AM
Right....

I also saw Ratt/Fastway at SDSU's "ampitheater" in '84 as well....

Top Jimmy
06-11-2012, 12:14 PM
This is the arena , not the amphitheater....& at SDSU it's a wierd one..

They built it inside the old concrete football stadium,
so on the outside as you walk around, you can see the old stone bleachers..

It looks like they made the arena somewhere else
& dropped it by helicopter right on the 50 yard line..

kinda surreal..like walking around some new building on top of an ancient ruin...
(in the middle of drunk ass frat-town college-world...)

Also, the seating is a lot more vertical than a normal sports arena, wicked angle to it....

GREAT sound though, from what I recall...
(sorry to say I was there originally for a 'concert' by The Wiggles...)

Speaking of the amphitheater there though,
that's where I saw Dave for the first time, opening for Bad Company..

finally saw Halen for the first time that year too, (albeit with Gary) at the Del Mar Fair...
DLR won that round....to me, having been raised on the original band..VHIII seemed...odd...
turtle-neck sweaters on a Van Halen stage...bleh...what is this the Bee Gees?

Dave's show in 1999 kicked my ASS, first time seeing Ray Luzier on drums too, what a monster player..

They opened for Bad Co, and I felt sorry for Bad Co, let me tell you...
Dave had everyone, not just standing UP, but standing ON THEIR SEATS the entire time,
opened with Hot For Teacher too, how's THAT for a big opening?

Paul Rodgers was the only saving grace for Bad Co...his voice was FLAWLESS.

but Mick Ralphs looked like a tourist in a bad hawaiian shirt and was LOST,
like he couldn't remember his own riffs,
(and these are BAD COMPANY riffs, it ain't like Dream Theater, only a few chords, right?)

...Boz, the bassist was dressed in Safari googles, with a man-purse over his shoulder...wtf?

now that I think about it, maybe they dipped into Dave's blow,
cause they were just wierd that night...

I saw the current Halen lineup in San Diego at Cox Arena,
(where they're playing next week)
on the 07/08 tour and man THAT kicked ass...
although LA was way better, that tour..

funny thing about that show..during the breakdown of Panama,
after the music drops down and he is supposed to start with 'it's gettin a little hot tonight..'...etc..

Dave forgot what song he was in,
& started into the post-breakdown segment of Aint Talkin Bout Love
(if you want it got to BLEED for it baby!!!)

ROFLMAO

looking around at the other guys with a 'why aren't you with me' look,
until actually Wolf comes over and talks in his ear...

so Dave mans up and say 'well I fucked that ALL up didnt I? yeah!!!!"

This show coming up should be a good one..
I just saw Vegas, but I might go hit the parking lot for some cheap tix,
since I live only 40 minutes away

python3
06-14-2012, 01:51 PM
Is anybody else going tonight?

mh5150
06-14-2012, 01:59 PM
Is anybody else going tonight?

Nope not me cause I am on the east coast :D

Catfish
06-14-2012, 02:14 PM
I'm so pissed off. About two months ago I totally degraded myself by boning an ex-girlfriend who lives down in SD. Then she told me she has a Budweiser hookup that could score us SD tickets. So I further degraded myself by boning her again. No tickets. I even went down on her :(

Top Jimmy
06-14-2012, 03:50 PM
next time wait till SHE cums, not you...then you might get somewhere... ;)
how ya been , Cat??

I was going to go to this show, but the funds are too low...

Saw the Vegas show, and was a little let down by the vocals,
so wasn't gonna make a big push to see this one..

Since a few friends are going, maybe I'll change my mind last minute...

I suppose I could take some of my current 'harvest' & go hit the parking lot for a trade...
:stoned-smiley:

Catfish
06-14-2012, 03:55 PM
Been good, dude!!! Nice to see ya.

I was at that same '99 DLR show at the open air arena at SDSU. GREAT fucking night. You nailed it: DLR really blew BC away. And it wasn't BC's fault. Just different types of rock and energy. A very fond memory.

Catfish
06-14-2012, 03:57 PM
next time wait till SHE cums, not you...then you might get somewhere... ;)
how ya been , Cat??


The whole thing was pretty awkward the second time around. Knowing VH tickets were on the line--and, of course, I was horny as fuck--I banged her despite her being on the tail-end of a rag session. This bothered me. But I did it on the floor with her laying on my secret Rag Towel that I keep around. I flipped it over so she wouldn't see this huge wicked blood streak left by one of my exes a few months prior! I feared that may have offended her. Fucking nasty shit!!!

Va Beach VH Fan
06-14-2012, 04:04 PM
So we're all meeting up at the Body Shop, then heading over to the Sports Arena to watch Autograph first, right ??







Oh sorry, just had a 1984 flashback, pardon me..... ;)

sadaist
06-14-2012, 05:43 PM
So we're all meeting up at the Body Shop, then heading over to the Sports Arena to watch Autograph first, right ??



Oh sorry, just had a 1984 flashback, pardon me..... ;)


Not that far fetched. Place is still there.

http://thebodyshopsandiego.com/

Sensible Shoes
06-14-2012, 05:51 PM
I'm so pissed off. About two months ago I totally degraded myself by boning an ex-girlfriend who lives down in SD. Then she told me she has a Budweiser hookup that could score us SD tickets. So I further degraded myself by boning her again. No tickets. I even went down on her :(

Has there been a divorce we don't know about?

BenJammin
06-14-2012, 06:05 PM
So we're all meeting up at the Body Shop, then heading over to the Sports Arena to watch Autograph first, right ??


Oh sorry, just had a 1984 flashback, pardon me..... ;)


Damn Va... you provoked a flashback in my head too ! I know you are a former squid like me... The Body Shop was the first strip club I ever went to, straight out of boot camp !

Remember it like it was yesterday [almost].... $6 orange juice wasn't it (had to go to the bar next door for beer) ? There I was in my dress blues, a naked hardbody blonde California stripper right in front of my stupid grinning face... I was in heaven!

BenJammin
06-14-2012, 06:12 PM
next time wait till SHE cums, not you...then you might get somewhere... ;)
how ya been , Cat??

I was going to go to this show, but the funds are too low...

Saw the Vegas show, and was a little let down by the vocals,
so wasn't gonna make a big push to see this one..

Since a few friends are going, maybe I'll change my mind last minute...

I suppose I could take some of my current 'harvest' & go hit the parking lot for a trade...
:stoned-smiley:

Hey Top Jimmy... I'm sitting here thinking about pushing the buy button on a couple of tickets, one for the trade [wink wink]. I had some neighbors interested but they backed out, so I'm not wanting to go stag. So if you don't smell too bad or fart too much... how about it ? I'm in Oside.

[edit: not a cop or queer so relax]

Top Jimmy
06-14-2012, 06:20 PM
Les Girls & The Body Shop has been a rite of passage for
SD County youth (& soldiers in boot camp on thier first weekend pass)
for decades!

You start at Les Girls cause you can drink...
but it's only topless and that shit wears off after the first 2 drinks,
so you go next door to The Body Shop after building up a good buzz

...or for those with older brothers in-the-know,
you got drunk in the car upon arrival and went straight to The Body Shop

Buzz starts wearing off, don't want to pay Les Girls prices to get the buzz going again,
and besides once you go full-nude, you don't want to go BACKWARDS to topless only..

So, if you had balls, you went down to TJ at this point, just 20 minutes down the 805, and hit up the strip clubs there....
for what you might call a more 'interactive experience', lol....

WAY cheaper drinks and you can put those dollar bills anywhere on/in her that you want.
;)
Hell, for a $50, you could go to a bar on one o fthe side streets, like the Fuzzy Catterpillar,
and get some poon-for-pay going, too!

Ahh...glorious youth, so fleeting!!!!

Catfish
06-14-2012, 06:26 PM
Has there been a divorce we don't know about?

LOL, oh yeah!

Top Jimmy
06-14-2012, 06:29 PM
Hey Top Jimmy... I'm sitting here thinking about pushing the buy button on a couple of tickets, one for the trade [wink wink]. I had some neighbors interested but they backed out, so I'm not wanting to go stag. So if you don't smell too bad or fart too much... how about it ? I'm in Oside.

[edit: not a cop or queer so relax]

don't care if you're a cop, this is Cali and my papers are on point...
and don't care if you're queer 'cause I'm only into asian transexual hookers with flat heads and no teeth...and a bungee basket...

but seriously, folks...

I'd love to take you up on the offer but at this point in the day I'm on lock down.

Got little man till just late enough to make it too late to catch the show...and that always comes first, ya dig?

Top Jimmy
06-14-2012, 06:31 PM
but go anyway, man, if you haven't caught the tour yet, you'll regret it...

it's a =VAN HALEN= show &
that's better than anything else out there right now

Top Jimmy
06-14-2012, 06:32 PM
.....;)

BenJammin
06-14-2012, 06:51 PM
It's all cool. Party on with the little feller ! I know how it is... 8 & 10, and the 8 yo never shuts up. Was kinda starting to feel old and tired like "what the hell am I doing going to a VH concert on a Thursday?" immediately after I posted anyway.

I mean what the hell is that? Your only San Diego venue and it's booked on a fucking Thursday? Great for people that have Friday off for whatever reason, but jeez.

Momshell
06-14-2012, 10:15 PM
Hey everyone - too late here on the east coast. To the lucky folks there - have a kickass time! To all my internet buddies - I'll miss enjoying the show with you all!

Angel
06-15-2012, 12:31 AM
***crickets chirping***

fourthcoming
06-15-2012, 12:35 AM
OK.....so it's 9:30 pm Cali time as I type this.....and nothing? No knock on Cali but you guys show up in the 3rd inning of baseball games and leave in the 7th......is it that laid back on the left coast? Does anyone have any type of care in the world out there?......lol.....or is this just a San Diego thing..........and yes I'm jealous if it's that laid back and I'm here in cut-throat N.Y.

jhale667
06-15-2012, 12:49 AM
First glance at Twitter is a hater...

RE http://bit.ly/M9WF8X

http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h217/jhale667/hater.jpg

jhale667
06-15-2012, 12:56 AM
http://distilleryimage1.instagram.com/523c9ad0b6a311e192e91231381b3d7a_7.jpg

mug
06-15-2012, 01:39 AM
Wow no report.

Angel
06-15-2012, 02:07 AM
Haha! "@ChunkFat: David Lee Roth is staring right at @em_la_ma and she is denying it. Feel privileged."

Angel
06-15-2012, 02:12 AM
Guess she can't deny it now, lol:

"@tonymanolatos: David Lee Roth in the middle of Pretty Woman stops and says, "I was looking at this girl in the front row and I forgot the words." @VanHalen"

python3
06-15-2012, 03:14 AM
Toastmaster Fuckin General! Everything was spot on tonight. Dave mentioned towards the end of the show, maybe during Panama that it was one of the better shows of the tour. I was avoiding spoilers before I went Tuesday, so don't know if he says that often. Chinatown was most definitely not butchered. It was Tuesday, but don't know what that fuckstick was talking about tonight. Same setlist as the other 3 SoCal shows, so no surprises there. I was 12th row center on the floor, and the crowd was great. Band was tight, and enjoying themselves, and the Diamond one was on top of his game. A great night all around.

Momshell
06-15-2012, 05:26 AM
Not many YouTubes yet - here's Eddie's solo - sound is good and if you squint real hard you might be able to see Eddie!

<object style="height: 390px; width: 640px"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/0f12J6RiLls?version=3&feature=player_detailpage"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/0f12J6RiLls?version=3&feature=player_detailpage" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" width="640" height="360"></object>

Momshell
06-15-2012, 05:28 AM
Unfortunately that's all for now - too early I guess.

loucap81
06-15-2012, 07:32 AM
This was the setlist per the Links, no surprises:

Unchained
Runnin' With the Devil
She's the Woman
Romeo Delight
Tattoo
Everybody Wants Some!!
Somebody Get Me a Doctor
China Town
Hear About It Later
Oh, Pretty Woman
Drum Solo
You Really Got Me
Trouble With Never
Dance the Night Away
I'll Wait
And the Cradle Will Rock…
Hot for Teacher
Women In Love
Beautiful Girls
Ice Cream Man
Panama
Guitar Solo
Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love
Jump

ELVIS
06-15-2012, 08:38 AM
I guess Mexicans don't like Van Halen...

Either that or they had to get up early for work...


:biggrin:

Va Beach VH Fan
06-15-2012, 09:08 AM
I only spent about a year in San Diego in the '80's, but I've always thought that L.A. had the "Mexicans are everywhere" view more than San Diego....

Angel
06-15-2012, 09:11 AM
I guess Mexicans don't like Van Halen...

Either that or they had to get up early for work...


:biggrin:

Fuck, does everything have to be about ethnicity with you?

ELVIS
06-15-2012, 09:21 AM
I'm trying to be diverse...

BenJammin
06-15-2012, 10:00 AM
Okay, since my bromance with Top Jimmy didn't work out, I decided to go it alone and man was it f'in awesome !

I've been bummed a little from the youtubes but as others have said, there's nothing like being there. There is definately magic happening on that stage. True, Dave had his usual speed bumps vocally, but nothing stopped me from grinning ear to ear and whooping it up the whole time.

I was on the floor, stage left and there was this little cutey by herself too that was really digging the show and dancing next to me all night and felt like I was 25 years old again (no I didn't get all 'old pervy guy' on her so no one start cringing).

I kept yelling 'ARMY ! ARMY! ' but none of you fuckers were around my seats and I didn't notice any RA shirts... so people probably just thought I was a drunk loon... I was, but anyhow....

I haven't been to a concert like that in ages and I'm really glad I decided to get my old ass up and down to SD and I would suggest if you feel any hesitation about seeing them you better get the stick out of your butt and do it!

The only rough spot of the evening for me was waiting to get out of the parking garage. We were all stuck in place for like 20-30 minutes when someone a few rows or levels away from me started beeping their horn and I started beeping back which soon escalated into kind of a dueling banjos thing. I was having a great time and it sounded like my distant co-conspirator was too, but then this dude has to come over and tell me how irritating I'm being. I told him sorry he didn't know how to have a good time and we were stuck anyway so might as well make the best of it and asked him "were you not just at a VH concert?" but told him I'd try to settle down so he could go back to being old again. But then my troublemaking 'buddy' hornblower started up again and I couldn't resist! So then the dude's group sends over this big red headed girl to again tell me how irritating I was being. I proceeded to make her my friend by telling her how beautiful and large her breasts were. I got a few laughs from her, but her tampon fuse was still pretty lit. It looked like they were plotting my death from across the garage, lol !

Anyway, sorry for the parking lot horn story, but I guess everyone already knows how awesome VH is on this tour so why go on about that? But this was a once in a lifetime kind of thing and you better not miss it.

Mr Walker
06-15-2012, 10:03 AM
I'm so pissed off. About two months ago I totally degraded myself by boning an ex-girlfriend who lives down in SD. Then she told me she has a Budweiser hookup that could score us SD tickets. So I further degraded myself by boning her again. No tickets. I even went down on her :(

So you did take my advice... hahahaha!

ZahZoo
06-15-2012, 11:36 AM
I only spent about a year in San Diego in the '80's, but I've always thought that L.A. had the "Mexicans are everywhere" view more than San Diego....

Appears the whole state has gone that direction...

Flew into San Jose a couple of years ago and jumped into a rental car. Cranked the radio and had to hit seek 7 times before I got a non-Spanish speaking station.

Va Beach VH Fan
06-15-2012, 11:44 AM

python3
06-15-2012, 12:20 PM
Okay, since my bromance with Top Jimmy didn't work out, I decided to go it alone and man was it f'in awesome !

I've been bummed a little from the youtubes but as others have said, there's nothing like being there. There is definately magic happening on that stage. True, Dave had his usual speed bumps vocally, but nothing stopped me from grinning ear to ear and whooping it up the whole time.

I was on the floor, stage left and there was this little cutey by herself too that was really digging the show and dancing next to me all night and felt like I was 25 years old again (no I didn't get all 'old pervy guy' on her so no one start cringing).

I kept yelling 'ARMY ! ARMY! ' but none of you fuckers were around my seats and I didn't notice any RA shirts... so people probably just thought I was a drunk loon... I was, but anyhow....

I haven't been to a concert like that in ages and I'm really glad I decided to get my old ass up and down to SD and I would suggest if you feel any hesitation about seeing them you better get the stick out of your butt and do it!
.

Good choice Ben. I did have an Army shirt on, but was on the right side of the center floor section. I saw one other Army shirt on the beer line after Kool And The Gang.

Catfish
06-15-2012, 01:16 PM
OK.....so it's 9:30 pm Cali time as I type this.....and nothing? No knock on Cali but you guys show up in the 3rd inning of baseball games and leave in the 7th......is it that laid back on the left coast? Does anyone have any type of care in the world out there?......lol.....or is this just a San Diego thing..........and yes I'm jealous if it's that laid back and I'm here in cut-throat N.Y.

People don't get what life is like out here. There is lots to do out here and more entertainment options that anyone could imagine. To say nothing of VH fans, but every single show of every single tour goes through here multiple times. It's not as big a deal as when a band goes to, say, Moline or Arkansas. As for showing up at games late, that's all about traffic. Ever seen 7 lanes jammed at 7:30 p.m.? As for leaving early--I got no defense for that ;)

BenJammin
06-15-2012, 01:59 PM
Good choice Ben. I did have an Army shirt on, but was on the right side of the center floor section. I saw one other Army shirt on the beer line after Kool And The Gang.

Too bad I didn't see any RA members, that would have been really cool on top of everything else. I quit looking for the shirts after awhile, I was losing my freakin' mind watching the super heros from my youth right there in front of me still doing their thing. I think that's about as close to a time machine as I'll ever get. I probably came across as some sort of middle aged jackass, but there was nothing getting between me and the good time I was having :stoned-smiley: ... but boy do I feel it today :puking-smiley:

Va Beach VH Fan
06-15-2012, 02:26 PM

Va Beach VH Fan
06-15-2012, 02:27 PM

Va Beach VH Fan
06-15-2012, 02:28 PM

Va Beach VH Fan
06-15-2012, 02:28 PM

jhale667
06-15-2012, 05:40 PM

SNIPER
06-15-2012, 08:18 PM
Dave is killing it!

sadaist
06-15-2012, 08:23 PM
Something about DTNA & San Diego. best versions the entire tour both in 2007 & 2012

DONNIEP
06-15-2012, 09:52 PM
Dave's on fire in those clips!! Same goes for the rest of the band!! And yes, San Diego really is as great of a town as you've heard...Better, in fact. Go check it out, on a Friday night. Go downtown, park your car and you won't believe how many people are out walking around and how much there is to do. Spent most of my teenage summers there and a few years in the mid 90s. If you can't have a good time there you might as well walk out into the ocean and keep on going.

78/84 guy
06-15-2012, 09:58 PM
Dave's on fire in those clips!! Same goes for the rest of the band!! And yes, San Diego really is as great of a town as you've heard...Better, in fact. Go check it out, on a Friday night. Go downtown, park your car and you won't believe how many people are out walking around and how much there is to do. Spent most of my teenage summers there and a few years in the mid 90s. If you can't have a good time there you might as well walk out into the ocean and keep on going.

I have been there 4 times. Love Old Town. Lot's to do in S.D. Pacific Beach is awesome. Band sounds good.

Zing!
06-16-2012, 12:10 AM
Something about DTNA & San Diego. best versions the entire tour both in 2007 & 2012

Yes! Man - I simply had no idea where Dave was taking DTNA from the start, but it keeps getting better and better...

Loved that version!

Romeo Delight
06-16-2012, 02:34 AM
I just about had a plane booked to one of 5 shows in Socal...I am holding out for the next leg instead...Hope it comes

Va Beach VH Fan
06-16-2012, 09:44 AM
http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2012/jun/15/van-halen-soars-roth-plods-sdsu-concert/?page=1#article

Van Halen rocks anew at SDSU concert
Armed with new album, '70s hard-rock kings return

Written by
George Varga
5:13 p.m., June 15, 2012
Updated 10:14 p.m.

Here’s a surefire way to get a rock concert audience hot and sweaty before the music even begins: Turn off the air conditioning system!

That is precisely what Van Halen did Thursday night at SDSU’s Viejas Arena. The move, apparently enacted as a voice-saving measure by lead singer David Lee Roth, has also been applied on other stops during the hard-rocking band’s latest reunion tour.

“I know Dave has been having problem with air conditioned buildings, so he has it turned off when he comes in, and he doesn’t change in (the venue’s) dressing rooms — he changes in his (tour) bus,” Kool & The Gang leader Robert “Kool” Bell, whose band is the energetic opening act on the tour, told U-T San Diego during an interview last week.

The result, at least at Viejas Arena, was that Van Halen and its audience shared in a temperature-raising experience that was alternately generated by the performance and by the increasingly warm setting.

When the music soared, as it did during such potent new songs as “Tattoo” and “China Town,” and during such combustible classics as “Runnin’ with the Devil,” “Everybody Wants Some,” “Panama” and “Ain’t Talking ‘Bout Love,” hot, sweaty fun was the order of the night. When the show plodded, as it did during Roth’s momentum-killing, mid-song, stream-of-consciousness gabbing on “She’s the Woman,” “Trouble with Never” and “Dance the Night Away,” cooler temperatures (and, perhaps, some free ice) would have been welcome.

The 24-song, 100-minute concert marked Van Halen’s first area appearance since its 2007 reunion tour stopped at the same SDSU venue (which was then known as Cox Arena). By comparison, and even with its periodic, Roth-fueled pacing problems, Thursday’s no-frills, nearly all-business performance was a dramatic improvement.

Five years ago, guitarist Eddie Van Halen did not appear to be in good shape, physically or artistically, and the band stumbled repeatedly. Worse, the audio quality of its 2007 concert here was so muddled and deafening, it often sounded like the music was emanating from the world’s largest hybrid dual-blender-and-vacuum-cleaner. To further compound matters, Eddie’s then-16-year-old son, Wolfgang, had just joined the band. He had replaced the ousted Michael Anthony, and he was doing all any teenager could to try and keep up.

With Eddie Van Halen now clean, sober and newly buff — and his two bouts of cancer happily behind him — he sounds (and looks) like a man reborn. Wolfgang, 21, has developed into a confident, rock-solid bassist capable of executing fleet unison runs with his dad and playing with punch and power.

While Wolfgang still can’t match the departed Anthony’s vocal prowess, his harmony singing is much improved over the 2007 tour. He also locks in much better with the propulsive drumming of his uncle, Alex Van Halen, who Thursday played with a winning combination of ferocity and agility as he navigated around a massive drum set that would fill an entire living room in the average home.

The fact that the band is now touring in support of a new album — its first with Roth since 1984 and the group’s first new release since 1998’s disappointing “III” — has given Van Halen a welcome new lease on life, creatively speaking. This holds true even though a number of the songs on the new album, the 13-track “A Different Kind of Truth,” were written back in the 1970s and look back, rather than ahead, stylistically.

Essentially, “Truth” is a place-holder, at least until Van Halen can work up a batch of bona fide new music. But the album enables the four-man band to move beyond simply revisiting decades-old hits, as it did on the 2007 tour. As an added bonus, Van Halen’s current tour finds the group digging into some deep early album cuts, which at Viejas Arena included 1977’s “Ice Cream Man,” 1979’s rollicking “Somebody Get Me a Doctor” and 1981’s “Unchained” and “Hear About It Later” (the latter of which boasts an infectious, pop-rock chorus with a distinct, mid-period Beatles flavor).

Not all the songs worked. “Dance the Night Away” seemed to be going in several directions at once, prompting concertgoer Gordon Wilcox, 49, to comment: “This is a train wreck.” It was, although there’s something endearing about seeing a veteran band uncharacteristically skid off the tracks and then regain its bearings.

Eddie Van Halen performed with verve and pinpoint precision throughout the evening, executing dizzying six-string swoops and bluesy bends one moment, quicksilver flurries, chiming accents and jaw-dropping tapping the next. His unaccompanied solo opus, which (if my ears didn’t deceive me) combined parts of “Cathedral,” “Little Guitars” and the epic “Eruption,” was a dazzling delight that sounded fresh and vital from start to finish. At times, it suggested what might have happened if Johann Sebastian Bach and Jimi Hendrix had somehow fathered a son together.

“Eddie’s a master, he’s the Mozart of the guitar,” Pearl Jam guitarist Mike McCready (a former Del Mar resident) told me during a recent U-T San Diego interview after attending Van Halen’s Seattle concert last month.

“I went (to the Seattle show) with Eddie (Vedder) and (Alice In Chain’s) Jerry Cantrell, and I watched Eddie (Van Halen) in awe. I like the new Van Halen album and I wasn’t expecting to. It sounds like the old Van Halen.”

That it does, although Roth — at 57 — can no longer hit the high notes with consistency. On Thursday, his vocals grew more pitch-challenged as the show progressed. While he appeared trim and fit, his energetic showmanship from earlier decades has diminished significantly, although his perpetual leer remains intact.

Recalling Van Halen’s 1982 tour, Roth told the Viejas Arena audience of about 9,000 fans: “That was a good year. I think I only had my clothes on for the two hours we were on stage, if I remember. I was a sexy... Is it too early to make a booty call? Never too early. Never too early.”

Um, no, but maybe a bit too late?

Like his periodic crotch-grabbing, a little of Roth’s patter went a long way. His longest monologue came between “Beautiful Girls” and “Ice Cream Man.” It lasted five minutes, but seemed to stretch on twice as long. Nearly all of it was devoted to Roth plugging his most recent non-musical gig as “a professional dog handler,” as footage of he and his dogs, Benny and Mikey, was shown on the enormous LED screen at the rear of the stage. His band mates were nowhere to be seen, perhaps wisely, as Roth professed his love for his dogs and his three pick-up trucks at length.

It’s impossible to say whether this canine-inspired segment was designed to boost Roth’s new vocation, give Van Halen’s other members a breather before the concert’s final five selections, or both. Whatever the impetus, it brought the concert to a total standstill at precisely the time when the band should have been kicking into high gear for a volcanic, wham-bam finish.

The concert concluded 27 minutes later, with Van Halen having to work to regain the lost momentum before finishing with “Jump” and enough confetti for the launching of a new ocean liner. Despite its flaws, the concert’s best moments were strong enough to suggest that Van Halen’s future could hold considerable promise, if the band doesn’t implode again. Here’s hoping "A Different Kind of Truth" is the start of a rich new musical chapter, not the conclusion.

BenJammin
06-16-2012, 10:33 AM
Which fucking concert did this reviewer go to ? First of all, the a/c may have been off, but I couldn't tell. I was on the floor though, maybe it got a little hotter in the nosebleed sections, but seriously I didn't even break a bead of sweat. How could anyone be there and not enjoy that show ?

"With Eddie Van Halen now clean, sober and newly buff " well he might have not been playing as good in 2007, but physically he's a little pudgy now, not buff, and I thought he looked pretty good back in 2007, and wasn't that tour delayed for his rehab before they got back out on the road? Another clueless comment.

"[on DTNA] prompting Gordon Wilcox, 49, to comment: “This is a train wreck.” - Goddammit you could have found thousands of people there to say overwhelmingly positive things about the show, but you decide to print a Gordon 'Who the Fuck am I" Wilcox quote ?

"It’s impossible to say whether this canine-inspired segment was designed to boost Roth’s new vocation..." well Dave would be more successful at that than this guy will be as a writer. And besides, if you don't like that personal moment that a legendary entertainer wants to share with his adoring fans... go grab a beer and take a piss and jerk off to thoughts of Sammy while at the stall.

Just another douchebag wanna-be but never-was writer .... 'nuff said.

sadaist
06-16-2012, 12:11 PM
enables the four-man band to move beyond simply revisiting decades-old hits, as it did on the 2007 tour.
.........
As an added bonus, Van Halen’s current tour finds the group digging into some deep early album cuts,


So which is it dude? Don't like them rehashing decades-old songs or you do? Typical idiot writer. They write sentences they think sound like great journalism, but don't pay attention to what they said in the very sentence before.

Va Beach VH Fan
06-16-2012, 10:28 PM
Aaah memories, pic I took sometime in '84....

http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k55/ferr3816/IMG_NEW.jpg

IceCreamBlondie
06-17-2012, 01:24 AM
Aaah memories, pic I took sometime in '84....

http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k55/ferr3816/IMG_NEW.jpg

Gotta love that Pinto in the foreground......