Alright guys I couldn't resist anymore. Most of you can guess who I am. Carmine urged me to come back this morning and that's what pushed me to finally break the seven and a half year absence from this place. This is the username I use for most websites and I intend it to be symbolic of a slate wiped clean here. Last time I posted here I was 23. Now I'm 31. I'll defy anyone who says they were the same person at both of those ages. I'm not interested in arguing, personal attacks, politics, any thread derailment shit. All I want to do anymore is celebrate the mighty Van Halen. If there's nothing I can do or say that will convince you I'm anything but an asshole that's fine, just please don't derail the thread and ruin it for everyone else. I'm not taking the bait either.
So with that out of the way I'd like to say that the euphoria and good times of this outing have not yet worn off yet. Which is really good to combat a dreary, cold Monday morning here. As you know I took the road trip down to Greensboro, my first time there. I liked the fact that the Coliseum is one of the remaining buildings in this country that VH played 30 years ago, so I tried to absorb that and pretend I was alive and was seeing a concert in that era.
Met up with Carmine and Ginny as I had a month prior in Atlantic City. The three of us went on over to Fat Dog's which is conveniently located across the street from a sex shop and an African braiding salon, you know in case you need to take care of those things before the show. Carmine already laid out who showed up. I hadn't met any of you guys before (though I was emailing Sparkie prior to the show) and I just want to thank you all for a great time. So Carmine, Ginny, Pojo, Va Beach, Fairwrning, SparkieD & Tiki Tom, all of you were great and I thoroughly enjoyed hanging out, drinking Yuenglings and eating those strange, not-so-Teriyaki wings
Also two more Roth Army members really wanted to carpool with me but at the last minute had some unfortunate circumstances that prevented them from going. So Zempi and VanHalener, I made it clear to everyone that you wanted to be there and we all felt bad you couldn't make it person, though you were there in spirit. I did audio record the entire show and put it up on Dime, and it's dedicated to you guys.
Ended up buying a fourth row seat on Eddie's side before the show at the box office. $99.50 done, would have paid $15 more had I bought it on Ticketmaster. Perfectly good seat if you don't want to pay for the floor. This was a terrific show, probably the best of the seven I've seen on this tour. Everyone was firing on all cylinders, including Dave. As soon as he and Eddie did an improvised jam during "Unchained," I felt this could be a special night. Dave's voice sounded clean and powerful, as good as he was in 2007-08 when he was the one holding that tour together. It would have been nice to get a setlist change (this was now the fourth night in a row doing the same setlist), but the performance was so precise, Dave was very much on top of his game and chock full of humorous Rothisms, I can't complain. Others have already commented about "Dance the Night Away" and it was really heartwarming. "Women in Love" was bizarre with the rant but whatever. One song that I don't think got enough attention was "Everybody Wants Some!!" The Rothisms in that were hilarious with the "Oh yeah" thing in the beginning, the "thunder and lightning" thing and then when Dave talked about 1982 and how good he looked. I thought the interaction between Dave and Ed was plentiful and genuine. They truly felt like a real band. As others said it was hot as hell in there but if Dave sings like THAT every night I'll gladly put up with it.
After the show Carmine and Ginny were understandably exhausted and went back to the hotel. The rest of us recovened for a half hour at Fat Dog's to put a little bowtie on great night. I had a shitty drive home in rain and traffic but couldn't care less. I can't get enough of VH and these meetups and I'm glad the good times will keep coming through the summer months. I'm already excited about Cleveland.