Official 4/29 St. Louis Meetup/Review Thread

[Carloscda]

During Unchained @3:40 you could see Wolf was into it!!

[vaijuju]

http://www.youtube.com/user/MrMNRocker?feature=g-hist

[Carloscda]

Everybody Wants Some!!! - Somebody Get Me A Doctor



China Town - Hear About It Later - Pretty Woman

During SGMD @8:00 Dave didn't know what to do with himself!! lol You know & felt he wanted to do his famous drum riser jump!

[SLAUGHTER MAN]

Anyone roth warriors heard this jam after the solo in unchained before stl???

Anybody know if VH has ever done a version of UNCHAINED like this on this tour yet??? It is a SHIT HOT jam version...sounds badass with the call and response...thank God MY section knew to cheer their asses off and knew it was somethin' special....anybody ever heard a version at another 2012 gig???????????

[SLAUGHTER MAN]

Little tired tonight to write a full review....I plan to tomorrow..maybe most on here won't read it..but if just one cat reads it, then it was worth my time. It's 2:00AM here and I want to get in a few things while they are still fresh. So here's a quick recap of Van Halen's ass kicking of St Louis this Sunday night...
First the whole attendance issue cleared up nicely, not sure of the final number but it had to be in the 15,000 thousand range. This made it around 3/4 full, which some fans were giving some grief to the city and it's people for....fact is..the band sold a lot of tickets...not as many as 2008, but still a lot and by the time they hit SHE'S THE WOMAN...most of the bottom half was filled and rockin. I was appalled at the fact that a lot of people in the upper levels didn't even stand AT ALL!!! Wish DLR would have shined a spotlight on them ALL and called them out!!! At least stand for the first half of the show...or at least the first half dozen songs!!! Also, first Van Halen show I went to with no EDDIE chants....disappointing to say the least. The band was given a good response and a very loud reception, but should have been louder!!! The band is now a well oiled machine after being on the road for over two months now and it shows in how tight they are musicially.
So they hit the ground runnin' with UNCHAINED.....it's sounds terrific and the extended jam between Dave and Eddie after the guitar solo is fucking PRICELESS. It's a call and response, but unlike any you have heard before....a bastard hybrid of Roth tarzan screams and King Edward insanity. Throughout the first half of the set, Dave sounded flawless with his vocals...only showing a brief struggle with CHINATOWN. His energy tonight was better than Pittsburgh or Louisville, he seemed energized to be slaying the crowd. The set list had no major surprises....got FULL BUG...HEAR ABOUT IT LATER....TROUBLE WITH NEVER....WOMEN IN LOVE...OUTTA LOVE AGAIN. But, the real fun tonight were in the stories Dave told. The way he stopped the band during DANCE THE NIGHT AWAY to point out a couple making out and attach a story to it. The way he mistaked the crowd chanting "Blues!!! Blues!!!" for booing after he made a hockey joke during his acoustic solo. Because of this misunderstanding (couldn't these fuckers have just laughed at Dave's wisecracks instead of doing a chant for the hockey team?? I get that they are in the second round of the playoffs, but how often does Van Halen come and play a gig in this town????)..DLR cut out the ENTIRE end of his dog story and went right into ICE CREAM MAN early..catching the band off guard. Alex got a HUGE round of applause after his too short solo and Eddie was brillant in his. He told the crowd "Thank You" at least four times during that solo. It was a highlight for sure. Lots more things to get to....tomorrow...

FOR THOSE HOW GIVE A SHIT....(I always read people's reviews of the gigs on this tour on this site and VH Links....so if just one Roth Warrior digs it....home run for me..........
1. THE ARENA STARTED to get an energy building up right after the Rolling Stones tune....when the upper deck saw Alex getting his ear monitors and sticks, they screaming started a couple of minutes early and I knew and let my wife know (she looked drop dead sexy tonight...dressing to the nines...nothing better than having your woman wearing some sexy clothes and smelling G R E A T to make the night absolutelty flawless. Lucky beyond measure to have a wife so hot...lucky Diamond didn't snatch her away!!!!) I noticed all these Van Halen shirts that I didn't see at the other two gigs...they had a band picture on the front and the dates on the back. There was another that fans had the VH logo from the first record and on the back had the promo poster screen print with the dates. I wanted one, but turns out both of these were 20 buck street vendor shirts. Shit, we parked in the coliseum parking garage and then right into the venue. By the time I stopped a young 20 somethin year old fan and found out where to score one, KOOL @ The Gang were hitting their stride and getting ready to bust out some "Jungle Boogie". Any fuckin how...anybody else miss those black VH blimps from the reunion tour????
HITTING THE STL GROUND RUNNIN'the band was red hot and sounded like they were out to prove a point. Maybe this was imagined on my part...but Alex seemed to be hitting harder and Eddie's guitar was brutally loud while the board got the mix under control. I wished they kept it this loud all night, but Eddie was drownin out every thing but the vocals. The kick drum hit hard as fuck during UNCHAINED , but that thumpin' bass I am so use to (and crave in this tune) was buried. My wife says "it's because we are on Ed's side...."but Wolf's sound improved big time as the set progressed. The breakdown has all ready been talked about in detail. RUNNIN' WITH THE DEVIL hit next and Dave's vocals were so good you would have swore it was the record. SHE'S THE WOMAN came slammin in and while I was stoked at how tight the band was (the mix was perfect by this song)...Dave was sounding outstandingly good. Not rearranging lyrics or dropping off entirely...doing totally perfection where all the little bitches who have no idea what DLR's stage show is all about ( Talked to a KSHE DJ today on the studio line who was cool about talking about the show for a few brief minutes..but the only real compliant was how "off key Dave was HALF the night and sounding shot vocally after before the gig was over". Again, someone who has no grip on what Dave's balance is and what constitutes a "great DLR gig". ) Most of the crowd got into the new tune, but had those who either bolted for a piss or another beverage..dude..or ones who showed zero support for the tune. I just screamed the lyrics and pumped my fist in the air like is what just as much a classic as the first two tunes. Had one older guy a row in front who was pumped for the "classic" songs and got excited when a couple deep cuts got played, but showed no love for the new material. Fucking ZERO. Great fan...but way to live in the past. Go pick up the record and turn that six pack..into a seven pack!!!! You are missin' out jackass!!! Anyway, we are up to THE FULL BUG. Great to hear live. My favorite tune from Diver Down, but it sucks that we have to lose a total ass kicker like ROMEO DELIGHT to get it. Man, no doubt if I had to pick one...it's RD till the cows come home...but THE FULL BUG is a high energy romp!! Just miss DLR abusing that harmonica after the Guitar solo. What a great song musically....a boogie unlike any other. Next...TATTOO. I went and took a piss and looked at the shirts again...but the wife loves the song. It does sound much better live and continues to get better as the tours progresses. Sounded better in the Steel City than Louisville...better in the Lou than the Steel City...and this was the one new cut that got a positive reaction from the crowd. Fuckers, the weakest track from the new album (still great..just pales next to OUTTA...AS IS...CHINA..FROSTY..)and it's the one they cheer for. Except for 'ole Grandpa Moses over to my left...if ain't from 1984 or before...he ain't interested . (he pops up again later) We now come to a devilish version of EVERYBODY WANTS SOME!!! with Dave reciting a small story about "Van Halen being a multi-cultureral band" and then blessing STL with some his trademark yelps, wild tarzan hoots and hollars and typical Daveism's. The band is playing extradionarly well and this songs showcases why. Such a classic....a song I never get tired of. This would fit in perfect after Alex's solo...kick in the intro drum pattern.
NEXT UP IN THE SET are SOMEBODY GET ME A DOCTOR, CHINA TOWN, and HEAR ABOUT IT LATER. These songs all were business as usual, nothing getting extended or any Spinal Tap type moments...no blower rants. Just the band locked in a tight groove and rockin as hard as any band can. CHINA TOWN is my favorite track from the new record and it sounded unbelievable Sunday night. The bass drums were riding out in the fore front in the PA and it made for your chest thumping like a rabbit's heart. The band was terrific on this song...it sounded like the record..only better. This was Dave's first struggle of the night, but just barely. He nailed all the lyrics and never gave up on the tune. It was a barn burner and DEMANDED respect from the audience, but still had large numbers of fucking douchebags running for the bathroom. Guess those pussies couldn't handle VH at it's hardest and most excellent. I can....play the tune twice fellas..I will scream even louder.
PART III...tomorrow.

[Romeo Delight]

I haven't heard this yet (middle of Unchained) . Keep playing it over and over! This is why the last tour was so great. Hope there is more to come!

[FALCO]

Here ya go - they've got tons of stuff on youtube.

Was actually at this gig in Coral Springs... have to say wasn't digging the DLR homage... weak screams and just didn't have that Dave swagger... plus the bad Garth wig... however, Guitarist was really good, and the Bassist actually sang the one Spammy song I heard great... but then I walked out... Van Hagar hurts my ears... maybe I'm too harsh, but Ralph really set the bar for DLR tributes...

\m/ \m/

[sadaist]

Ralph really set the bar for DLR tributes...

\m/ \m/

Fuck yeah he did.

And all these VH tribute bands need to go away now. Was fun when we didn't have the real thing for so long. But their time has passed.

[sadaist]

Side note: do you guys think Max of TMZ gets paid to wear a VH tshirt its been twice this month...

No. He's been wearing it for a while now. Remember back when katy Pery & Justin Beiber were wearing them too? They became a trendy item. Sad part is I bet these people could probably name JUMP and that's it. No clue what VH is or was all about.

[fourthcoming]

Killer breakdown jam in that version of Unchained.......killer

[loucap81]

They started doing a jam in Unchained during Greensboro. I hadn't heard one before that which is why I made special note of it while texting the setlist to Momshell.

I gotta say, even though I've been to my fair share of shows I nevertheless got goosebumps just watching that opening video from this show. Just by standing there Roth brings out more from Eddie than anyone else can. You can't quantify that kind of chemistry.

[vandeleur]

thats a knockout version of unchained ...

[vandeleur]

these are some smoking quality vids ....

[vandeleur]

wow even al smiles during HAIL when dave is asking for more cowbell