Originally Posted by
Terry
The music Van Halen made when Roth was in the band way back when meant a lot to me. Still does.
For me to say what the band is doing now in any real sense approaches what they were doing 30 + years ago would really be a case of wanting to experience something that is gone forever so badly that I'd be making allowances, concessions and rationalizations of what they are doing now vs. back in the day which just don't hold up if I'm being honest about it.
In 1985, for a variety of reasons, Van Halen no longer wanted to work together. Van Halen got another singer and carried on. They had a degree of commercial success that not many other bands had been able to replicate after losing a key member. I don't blame the band for carrying on (although changing the name of the band after Roth left would have displayed a larger set of balls and integrity). I mean, was Ed supposed to just shrivel up and die once Roth quit? So, I don't really consider what the band did from 1985 to 1995 'fucking up', whatever musical/content misgivings I have about the Hagar years to one side.
From 1996 onward, the band that could once do no wrong has gotten so little right it's difficult at times to reconcile that these are the same people who once set the rock world on fire. And even Roth from 1996 to 2006 had been in a sort of holding pattern. Sure, I enjoyed the 1998 DLR Band album. I enjoyed his autobiography and the No Holds BBQ vid. I can't say the same of his last full-length solo album, or his jaunt with Sam Hagar, or his Van Strummin' material...or his radio show. By the time 2006 rolled around, both Roth and the Van Halens NEEDED to rejoin forces, because without one another what other options did they have left even in a strict earning sense?
So we finally got a not quite complete reunion that would take it on the road. Anthony was gone, but at least Ed got a shine and buffer rehab treatment prior to the beginning of the 2007 shows. Even that comment is indicative of the qualifications one always has to attach to the band these days: phrases like 'all things considered' peppering my thoughts about where they are and have been since 2007.
Van Halen now has become just too safe and predictable. Roth in particular has been coasting post-2008 with the band, mostly because he realizes that people want to recapture some of that old CVH magic so bad they will make allowances, rationalizations and excuses for the shortcomings of what Van Halen bring to the table these days. It allows him to take a half-assed approach to his own performances. I say that because the alternative would be Dave thinking what he is doing live now is the shit (rather than just shit). The first scenario is one that can be fixed. The second isn't. Beyond all that, even if Dave starts singing properly, all that would mean is Van Halen would start sounding more listenable live but the show would still be the same thing it has been for the last 8 years: The Van Halen Greatest Hits Experience Featuring David Lee Roth. The degree to which people want to see that depends on how many viewings it takes to satisfy the yearning for experiencing a semblance of what the band once was. For me, seeing them in 2008 and 2012 fulfilled that need. Beyond that, it would be a case of diminishing returns. This year, seeing what the band had lined up (which was more of the same from the previous two tours), I found it more appealing to watch old live boots of the CVH era than watch the current remnants of the group try and replicate what the band was.
