I have a feeling this guy's review will result in a comment or two....
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http://www.vancouversun.com/entertai...397/story.html
Review: Van Halen--not quite 1984 in Vancouver
Older VH stiff but still kicks out the jams at Rogers Arena
BY FRANCOIS MARCHAND, VANCOUVER SUN MAY 7, 2012
VANCOUVER, B.C.: MAY 07, 2012 - Veteran rockers Van Halen with David Lee Roth on vocals performed at Rogers Arena Monday May 07, 2012 in Vancouver.
VANCOUVER -- As much as everyone despised Van Halen's A Different Kind of Truth's lead-off single Tattoo, there isn't too much to quibble about when it comes to the first album recorded with David Lee Roth since 1984's 1984.
Sure, Tattoo is a spin-off of an old track the band used to play live in the late '70s (Down In Flames), but what could you really expect from A Different Kind of Truth anyway? Depth and re-invention?
No, what Van Halen fans wanted was Van Halen: Young, dumb and full of spunk.
Deep into their 50s, Diamond Dave and Eddie and Alex Van Halen (who turns 60 on May 8) aren't the freshest flowers in the bunch any more, yet they can still kick out the jams.
(The exception of course is Eddie's 21-year-old son Wolfgang, who has replaced Michael Anthony on bass.)
Same goes for the live show: You go to a Van Halen gig expecting Van Halen to show up, and you don't flinch one bit when Diamond Dave wails, "I'm your man in shining pickup truck" during She's The Woman. (Yes, that dumb surface does cover a deeper sense of pop-rock mastery.)
Musically, Van Halen showed they still have gas in the tank and a whole lot of torque at Rogers Arena Monday night.
A clean, sober and apparently illness-free Eddie was, from behind his array of pedals, the main driving force. His guitar skills remain phenomenal: Arpeggiated riffs, whammy bar mind-benders and other six-string tricks were all on the menu, and you got a buffet's worth to please the beer-swillers in the audience.
A common enough gripe with some purist fans, Wolfgang playing bass instead of Anthony (who now provides the low-end with Sammy Haggar's Chickenfoot), wasn't that big of an issue.
The back end, with Alex hammering the skins just as expertly as his brother can play the guitar, was mighty tight.
The illusion was shattered by Diamond Dave and his gaudy leather/sequin/scarf outfit, who despite attempts at showing off his classic swagger isn't so flexible any more, both vocally and physically.
At 57, DLR knows well enough that he's not about to do the split-jumps he used to, though he managed to pull out a good kick during Everybody Wants Some and a couple slide splits during Beautiful Girls, the latter of which were quickly shown in slo-mo replay on screen.
"I was making sex tapes before you were even born," he chirped at a young fan at one point.
Diamond Dave hasn't lost his sense of humour but he was mostly a wax mannequin version of his former self.
Thankfully his apocalyptic braying, which was often hit-and-miss, hasn't completely given out yet.
That being said, Eddie and Wolfgang sang the harmonies right (with the help of some pre-taping?) and the sound mix was mainly focused on the band, which helped keep Unchained, Runnin' With the Devil, Somebody Get Me A Doctor, Roy Orbison's Oh, Pretty Woman, The Kinks' You Really Got Me, and a fiery Hot For Teacher on the rails. (And what do you know? Tattoo got a big cheer too.)
The band's boldest move may have been its no-frills presentation, a big LED video wall and stripped down lighting making it about the band and nothing else.
In the opening slot, veteran funksters Kool & the Gang churned out the sweatier, more party-oriented cuts from a catalogue that spans close to 50 years.
Contrary to expectations, it wasn't that odd a pairing since it was more Hollywood Swinging, Jungle Boogie and Celebration than, say, softies like Cherish, which ironically enough came out at the same time VH were crushing it with Jump and Panama.
So, 1984 after all? Not quite.