Steve Lukather on VH rehearsals

[MCMLXXXIV]

This is what the man had to say. Like him or not, I personally think he's one of the greatest.


LUKE GETS EXCITED FOR VAN HALEN:
Steve Lukather to journalist Bob Lefsetz on the "new" Van Halen! Says Luke:
"I have seen the future! It's not "NEW" It's fucking Van Halen!!
I was invited to a loose rehearsal for the new tour last night. It was NOT the "fab" dress rehearsal, it was one where in a big arena they were rehearsing for the upcoming tour. Now Ed and Al are dear friends of mine for almost 30 years, same "valley" upbringing as me, and I have always loved VH and the music, but also more cause I really love these guys as friends. Our kids grew up together, we live near each other etc..
Fuck all that. I saw and HEARD REAL ROCK N ROLL! It took me back.. I had a fucking tear in my eye. They are Baaaack! If this ain't the rock n roll event of the year then I fucking will be your septic tank salesman!
Ed KILLED, Alex, never better (dig the drum solo!). Any doubts about Wolfie are laughable, he played and sang all the high parts and made Alex's groove more deep than ever in the history, 16 years old, look out for THIS kid!, and I gotta say, Dave brought it! I admit, I was a bit "Oh fuck I hope this is good" but fucking A if Dave didn't deliver! (even thought there were maybe 100 people hangin out watching)..
I brought my 20 year old son who is a HUGE fan.. the sound and vibe of this band brought me back to 1978 and like a fine wine tasted better than ever! The SET LIST?? It's gonna KILL YOU!
GREAT production but it's ALL about the band not flashy images of bullshit artsy fartsy crap, it's the BAND and Dave is really the cat that can front VH. He sang his ASS off and was really cool. No cheese here guys, this is filet Mignon!
If you don't see what I saw last night, and that's WITHOUT a massive arena crowd that will tear the roof off...well then you might as well be dead! Nothing fake here guys, nothing shallow or jive... just the best rock n roll band that the USA has got! Whatever they are charging go see it!
They were having FUN! There was some humour but not in a cheesy way, VH way. Damn, there IS hope yet!"

Link http://www.melodicrock.com/

[MCMLXXXIV]

This is what he says on his own site

I went to Van Halen's dress rehearsal last night with Trev and man, they are BACK! Unreal. It brought us back to 1978 when rock was real! They only do the "Dave years" (David Lee Roth) and the set list is a wish list. Ed is playin great, Alex is awesome, and Wolfie (Eddie's son) is killin it, hitting all the high notes and the band grooves like never before and Dave is back. Singing great looking great and that old VH humour was apparent and they looked like they were havin a blast. Get tickets if ya can. I know it's sold out but shit it was great to hear REAL rock n roll played by awesome players not that MTV power chord -every band sounds the same- pro tooled shit, they have been shoving down out that for years now. Hope this sends a message to the mediocrity out there!

Link http://www.stevelukather.net/Homepage.aspx

[TVGUY]

Still excited!!

[Matt White]

Nice to see LUKE finally give DAVE his due......

[Panamark]

The planets are aligning !!

Shit, even Ed's best mates are giving it 10/10..
The thing for me is, you can see how much they
are genuinely enjoying it.. They are gonna have
the times of their lives, and they know it !!

Its like every petty piece of shit that happened
over the years is totally dead and buried.

The friendship is back, the fun is back, the Rock
is back, Van Halen is back !!!

Still pinching myself...

[Hummarstra]

Originally posted by MCMLXXXIV
....not that MTV power chord -every band sounds the same- pro tooled shit,

AMEN GODDAMMIT!!!

[Jérôme Frenchise]

Cool report!

I don't care much at all about Lukather and Toto, but comments on that Rehearsal by VH's peers, be they friends like Lukather or absolute fans like Scott Ian (I don't care about Anthrax either, though), are really representative.

I won't cross the Atlantic to attend a gig in the North American Tour, I will wait for their coming to Europe. But I'll be watching out for the long-time witnesses's tales - I mean CVH eye and ear witnesses who post here - about their own takes about what they actually heard and saw!

[Hyman Roth]

Originally posted by MCMLXXXIV
...'Now Ed and Al are dear friends of mine for almost 30 years, same "valley" upbringing as me...

...[blah, blah, brownose]...

...and I gotta say, Dave brought it! I admit, I was a bit "Oh fuck I hope this is good" but...

[h]e sang his ASS off and was really cool...

[n]o cheese...

fake...

shallow or jive'...

Fuck you, budro, maybe if you had just shot the shit with Dave for a bit or called to borrow that P.A.
back in the day instead of being so pretentious you might have sold an additional
50 or so million albums by now.

(total worldwide van halen sales as of March 2004 = 75,000 million, according to VHND)
http://www.vhnd.com/articles/040329-02.shtml

(total toto sales as of 2007 = 30 million according to official band site)
http://www.toto99.com/band/history/history.shtml

[Amity75]

I wish I didn't live in Europe!

[ThatArtGuy]

I'm sure boots will be hitting the interweb the following day of every performance in HD quality.

I can't wait.

TAG

[eddie78]

Toto....
I can never forgive Steve Lukather for that, nor his annoying, over processed tone on every hit in the 80's.

I'll bet he's a helluva nice guy, just like Mike Anthony...
But musically, they are both worthless.

"Meet you all the waaaaay...."

[Halen High]

Originally posted by Panamark
The planets are aligning !!

Shit, even Ed's best mates are giving it 10/10..
The thing for me is, you can see how much they
are genuinely enjoying it.. They are gonna have
the times of their lives, and they know it !!

Its like every petty piece of shit that happened
over the years is totally dead and buried.

The friendship is back, the fun is back, the Rock
is back, Van Halen is back !!!

Still pinching myself...

Yeah, they REALLY do look like they've finally come to terms. Perhaps Dave accepting Wolfie in the band convinced EVH and AVH to make some compromises too?

That's a stellar review from Lukather to add to the others. The shows are gonna rock big time. A whole setlist of CVH. I think this tour is gonna attract a lot of young people (and older dudes like me) who have never experienced a real VH gig. Much like Motley Crue and Velvet Revolver when they toured here.

VH are a hot ticket again!