Official 3/21 Ottawa Meetup/Review Thread

[Carmine]

These kind of mistakes cause heart palpatations among us mid life crisisers!!

[clownsauce]

Oh man, sorry about that. Got home tired and stupid. It was Romeo Delight. Where I got TYWH I will never ever know.

[Va Beach VH Fan]

http://blogs.ottawacitizen.com/2012/03/22/review-van-halen-can-still-keep-an-arena-full-of-people-on-their-feet-for-two-hours/

Review: Van Halen can still keep an arena full of people on their feet for two hours
Posted on Mar 22, 2012

Years ago, Van Halen famously imploded amid the usual internecine rock and roll warfare, but at Scotiabank Place Wednesday night it was soon clear that despite all those years apart, the band is still as tight as David Lee Roth’s pants.

Reunited and slightly reconfigured – bass player Michael Anthony is gone, replaced by Wolfgang, the son of guitar god Eddie Van Halen – the band tore through a 23-song set in under two hours. The fiftysomething trio of Dave, Eddie and brother Alex Van Halen, on drums, may not have the volatile energy that made them stars back in 1978, but they’ve lost nothing musically. They still pack a punch, though these days it’s thrown more by Eddie’s furious fingers, and less by Dave’s acrobatic vocals.

The two of them appeared entirely comfortable together on stage, despite the years of animosity, and that’s the way it should be, for Dave and Eddie can only fully be Dave and Eddie if they’re together, as two forces alternately attracting and repelling one another and finding creativity and energy in the tension. There’s “Diamond” Dave, the peacock lothario frontman who lets it all hang out, and then there’s Eddie, the quiet, quasi-reclusive whiz bang of a guitar player. Without both forces on stage, the band could never really be Van Halen.

Dave (only first names used here, what with all those Van Halens about) almost did let it all hang out mid-show, during the song Tattoo. He pulled down his pants — black leather, cross-stitched, tight and sparkly, a bold choice for a 56-year-old man — and showed off a tattoo on his butt. It was a gun, and on the giant, stage-wide screen behind him it looked as big as a Howitzer. Dave did more showing off later, and it revealed that he’s not still entirely the incorrigible hedonist. As he strummed the acoustic guitar notes of Ice Cream Man, he showed a video of his border collies and spoke of them lovingly as they expertly herded sheep and cattle. When the video ended he quipped, “I’m the only rock and roller who owns livestock for non-recreational purposes.”

His voice was good enough, though without its former range, and nowhere was it more clear than on Beautiful Girls. The song, from way back in the 1970s, was always a grand example of his vivacious vocal power — all yowls and yelps among the devil-may-care lyrics like “I’m a bum in the sun and I’m havin’ fun,” a line surprisingly well suited to a 27 C day in Ottawa in mid-March. Dave couldn’t hit the high notes on the chorus, so he did what any wise frontman would do: he held out the mic and let the audience sing the words.

Otherwise his voice was enough to belt out a setlist full of classic rock-radio staples, including Running With the Devil, Dance the Night Away, Hot for Teacher, Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love, and Panama. Also in were the band’s two massive-selling cover versions, of Roy Orbinson’s Oh, Pretty Woman and the Kinks’ You Really Got Me.

Curiously enough, those two covers may be the most effective examples of Eddie’s signature sound. In both cases he managed to take a song that was universally known in its original version, and make it his own merely by pumping the riffs up to about a thousand pounds pressure.

An Eddie Van Halen riff is something tremendously sharp and electric, a wild thing on a leash that only he can hold. Near the end of the show he did a six-minute guitar solo — a tired tradition, but worth seeing when it’s Eddie, especially displayed on a giant screen where you can see it up close. His fingers move so fast that they cannot be measured by science or technology. There’s more to guitar than speed, of course, but speed is something that Eddie does uniquely, and exceptionally well.

The audience lapped it up, reveling in the reliving of their youth, (judging by the average age of those in attendance, which was surely north of 40). It wasn’t a big crowd — no attendance number was released, and there were lots of empty seats — but it was enthusiastic. Everybody stood up during the first song, Unchained, and stayed on their feet for the rest of the show.

Dave played to the fans shamelessly. He was energetic and animated, and predictably full of camp — kicking the mic stand up onto his shoulder and strutting, promenading, with swagger in every step. When the show ended with (of course) their biggest hit, Jump, Dave even gave up a couple of high kicks. They weren’t as high as they once were, but it’s impressive that he can still do them at all. If any other man that age in the building had tried a kick like that, his groin would have landed in Belleville.

[Mr. Vengeance]

One of the fun moments of the show was when Dave demanded the security guy move out of the way in the front of the stage and said something to the effect of "I don't share the spotlight with anyone." Not sure if this was spontaneous, or one of the things he does in every town?

[Mr. Vengeance]

Oh man, sorry about that. Got home tired and stupid. It was Romeo Delight. Where I got TYWH I will never ever know.

Haha....I was wondering if we were at the same show? Would have been awesome if they did play it.

[Angel]

I gotta work in the morning so this is going to be brief. Apparently I can't read a seating chart because I didn't know how good my seat was until I walked onto the floor and the nice lady said, "3rd row from the stage". I was the last seat in the third row on Wolf's side. I didn't try to keep track of the set list or take any videos and pretty much all the photos I did try to take turned out for shit, but fuck it, I just saw a concert of a fucking lifetime and I've got a total shit-eating grin going that's not going anywhere any time soon. I'm going to bed tonight an absurdly happy man.

The tweet about it being "far from a sellout" was technically true, as there were lots of empty seats in the upper bowl and at the back of the arena. But there were plenty of people there and the crowd was indeed enthusiastic and appreciative, especially up front. I don't think anyone's going to be disappointed by ticket sales tonight.

The things that are sticking with me:

• Three songs in particular Ed and Wolf went OFF at the end: Trouble With Never, Hot For Teacher, and something else (Panama, I think). Unbelievable intensity from both of them and some "proud Dad" looks across the stage from Ed afterwards.
• Dave did indeed pull out the splits a couple of times during Beautiful Girls, and pulled some back bends with a mic stand during Take Your Whiskey Home. I saw more high kicks than I thought I would.
• Alex's drum solo was a thing of beauty. The polyrhythms get you going off track and just as you're about to completely lose the beat he snaps you right back to it.
• It's been said by others, but it bears repeating: Wolf can PLAY. And SING. And he's clearly worked on developing his tone for individual songs.
• I cannot get over how effortless Ed's playing looks. Even when he's clearly exerting himself the tension never ever shows in his hands.

Wolf's girlfriend came up the aisle past me near the start of Pretty Woman and hung out stage left beyond the security barrier for a while (she went backstage with the rest of them during Alex's drum solo). I assure you I was focussed on the stage, but from the few glances I took I can say that Wolfgang Van Halen is a very lucky young man.

I can't figure out how to get the embed code on my tablet, but the HFT video is up. OMG, Wolf and Ed made me pee a little at the end. I am so bummed I have to miss out this tour.

[Va Beach VH Fan]

[Angel]

Wolf's freakin killing it man. Damn, that kid is GOOD! You can tell Dave's really getting off on the Wolf/Ed magic inATBL. We need to get the women in Wolf's life to get him out shopping though...

[ThatArtGuy]

Got this from a link off of the Ottawa clip.
And this is why Dave is Dave and Sebastian just... isn't. Steve Stevens is still awesome though.

[vandeleur]

that was up a couple of months ago ... it aint even the same sport

[BenJammin]

Got this from a link off of the Ottawa clip.
And this is why Dave is Dave and Sebastian just... isn't. Steve Stevens is still awesome though.

Apparently Sebastian is a big Dave fan though. I remember when Sebastian was doing that super group reality show thing ("Supergroup" actually). He showed off some of his comic book collection and then some original artwork/drawing that he possessed, done by none other than Dave himself ! He was really proud of it.

[tjvhou812]

good shit

[sadaist]

I don't know what our friend "Clownsauce" was talking about with the Take Your Whiskey Home post but, here's the set from last night. Perhaps, Clownsauce got into the sauce?

4. Romeo Delight

TAKING WHISKEY TO THE PARTY TONIGHT!!!


if one is drunk, the concert is loud & raucous, and excitement in the air....I can see the easy mistake. No biggie.

[Hardrock69]

the band is still as tight as David Lee Roth’s pants.

[rafa]

FROM THE OTTAWA CITIZEN by JEAN LEVAC