4 quarters equals a whole for a Farewell Tour

[fraroc]

Maybe... and only maybe... would Dave be able to cut it on future tours (along with Mike backing him up) is if someone could finally get through to him to not over reach. Quit smoking ! Maybe have his vocal chords looked at, drop his pride and take some vocal coaching if only to compensate for those aging and less-than-pliable vocal chords. That and/or if he can just keep it in his range and do it at a mediocre level would be more tolerable than trying to go over the top, especially if Mike was there [also consider even Page & Plant brought in a female backing vocalist to fill in some of Planty's high spots.

That and self realize he's mostly there for nostalgia and he's not the sexy beast anymore so drop the associated banter, it's just... well anyone over 40 should know better.

Again I will contrast my statements with my opinion that Sammy or anyone else is not an option. It's simply not VH without Dave.
I hate Sam to this day because of all his petty BS slamming of Dave, who never sunk to that level during those 5150/EEAS days. Dave took the high road while Slammy drank his Hatorade.

Edit: I think Dave is one of the coolest sumbitches on the planet and Sammy is a royal douche and I cringe every time I hear someone talking about the 'great time they had going to Cabo Wabo' (I live in San Diego). Fuck him and those stupid twats.

Also, the Cabo Cunt stuck a knife right in Eddie's back in 2004 and dragged Michael Anthony to become his cohort. His supposed "best friend" was on the verge of drinking himself to death that tour and he probably couldn't give a flying fuck if he croaked. Fuck Sammy in his fucking self centered ass. He has worse LV Syndrome than Dave EVER had.

[cadaverdog]

Also, the Cabo Cunt stuck a knife right in Eddie's back in 2004 and dragged Michael Anthony to become his cohort. His supposed "best friend" was on the verge of drinking himself to death that tour and he probably couldn't give a flying fuck if he croaked. Fuck Sammy in his fucking self centered ass. He has worse LV Syndrome than Dave EVER had.

The 2004 reunion with Hagar was about business not friendship. Doubtful it would have ever happened if Eddie didn't need the cash. He brought Sammy back long enough to make another greatest hits album and a tour and that was that. Doubtful Sammy really considered Ed to be his best friend on that tour. He probably didn't care if he drank himself to death. After the tour was over there was no Van Halen. Sammy didn't have to drag Mike anywhere. Mike was basically unemployed. Sammy offered him a job and he took it.

[chuckjitsu]

Where the fuck are the other 22 songs they worked up for ADKOT? I clearly remember reading in an interview that they had like 35 songs ready to go via the ADKOT sessions. If that's true, then why the hell is it taking so long to put out another album when you've got like 2 albums of material just sitting there basically ready to go?

As far as Dave and future touring goes, he needs to do whatever he did to prepare for the 07-08 tour because his vocals kicked ass on that tour.

[atomicpnk47]

Where the fuck are the other 22 songs they worked up for ADKOT? I clearly remember reading in an interview that they had like 35 songs ready to go via the ADKOT sessions. If that's true, then why the hell is it taking so long to put out another album when you've got like 2 albums of material just sitting there basically ready to go?

As far as Dave and future touring goes, he needs to do whatever he did to prepare for the 07-08 tour because his vocals kicked ass on that tour.

The other 22 songs are probably sitting next to the 10 albums worth of material that Ed has laying around.....

[fraroc]

The 2004 reunion with Hagar was about business not friendship. Doubtful it would have ever happened if Eddie didn't need the cash. He brought Sammy back long enough to make another greatest hits album and a tour and that was that. Doubtful Sammy really considered Ed to be his best friend on that tour. He probably didn't care if he drank himself to death. After the tour was over there was no Van Halen. Sammy didn't have to drag Mike anywhere. Mike was basically unemployed. Sammy offered him a job and he took it.

Of course, fate intervened and Ed started talking to Dave again....

Sammy is the kind of asshole you know from high school who is your friend to your face and then stabs you right in the fucking back when you're not looking. He's the kind that says one thing to you but means the opposite.

[Nitro Express]

Sammy is the kind of asshole you know from high school who is your friend to your face and then stabs you right in the fucking back when you're not looking.

Sounds more like Ed to me.

[DONNIEP]

Sounds more like Ed to me.

Yeah, no shit. Funny how people get that mixed up.

[Nitro Express]

You're my brother and soul mate. You're like family. A few years go by and Ed has thrown you out of the band and blames you for quitting.

[ZahZoo]

Y'all need to quit looking or expecting any sort of credibility or some hint of reality from any of these jackasses from the Van Halen realm...

They're only good for a punch line, a wink... a smirk or a smile... and every once in a while a song to sing and dance to...

Are they really any different than the Mickey Mouse Club..? Why expect more?

The parallels are amazing...

[sadaist]

I wouldn't want to be a promoter trying to work out the economics of booking 80s bands.
I hear Skid Row drew 20 people at $25 with 4 support bands last week.

They charge $7500 for a midweek show.

Damn. So come tax refund time we could hire skid row to play the Roth Army kegger? Hell I could come up with the money myself. I'll just go back to stealing dogs & waiting for the reward posters to spring up around the neighborhoods to cash in...

[sadaist]

Sounds more like Ed to me.

So many problems in Van Halen over the decades. The only common denominator is Eddie. o_O

[Seshmeister]

The other 22 songs are probably sitting next to the 10 albums worth of material that Ed has laying around.....

Ed also supposedly had 10 albums of material when he released 'Up for breakfast'.

You have to worry a bit about the quality of the 97 songs that didn't make it onto The Best of Both Worlds...

[Terry]

I suppose at this point seeing Van Halen live again with the CVH lineup would be cool, but Mike Anthony not being there hasn't exactly been a deal breaker for me buying tickets to the 2007/2008 and 2012 tours, either.

I'm under no illusions that getting Mike Anthony back is going to make the band sound any better now live than they already do. Wolfgang was a trifle unsteady onstage in 2007/2008, but he fitted neatly into the fold far as I was concerned in 2012. It's not like Anthony's gonna rejoin the band and all of a sudden Dave's gonna get his CVH scream back and start doing splits off the drum riser again. THAT era of CVH is gone, forever.

Of far greater concern to me in 2012 was the off-putting vocal tactics and approach Roth took. In 2007/2008, the guy was focused and sounded good. In 2012, he spent far too much time shouting out verses in a strained key that a) either didn't fit or mirror the original recordings and b) he clearly wasn't comfortable singing in, inasmuch as it really sounded damned awful at times (it rendered DTNA and Pretty Woman pretty much unlistenable, vocally). Someone SHOULD have told Dave as much, but apparently nobody ever did. I don't think I have to prove my Van Halen bona fides as a fan to any of the longtime members of this site (nor they to me), but I'd agree that after seeing Dave in 2012 it wasn't unreasonable to think that maybe this band should start thinking about a final tour, before they become yet another substandard oldies group unintentionally but no less sadly unable to offer little more than a ghostly parody of their glory years (for overpriced rates, to boot - I paid over $100 a pop for tix in 2008 to see a drunken Eddie unable to play adequately and the same price 4 years later to see Dave reverting to not remembering verses, mush-mouthing/mumbling words and yelling in a strained key. Sorry, folks, but neither of those concerts were worth $100 a ticket).

It'd be a goddamned shame to see Van Halen go out like that, and they've been teetering toward that since 1996, yet have usually managed to find some redeeming aspect even in the worst of their debacles. I mean, even with Cherone in the band, at least Eddie was still playing well live and the band were bringing out long-neglected CVH warhorses for an airing live. The 2004 biz was pretty much botched all around. However, at least neither of these undertakings were with Dave. The 2007 reunion, despite Anthony not being there, started out with some solid shows. Then Eddie relapses mid-way through the tour. 2012 starts off with a decent album and Eddie playing great live, but now Dave isn't really quite up to snuff anymore and they had to cancel the tour (for whatever reasons - health, problems with 'blowers' onstage, blah blah blah). Now it's over two years later and they've done a few gigs here and there, but how much better are they gonna get?

It may well be the perfect time to bring Anthony back (if Anthony wants to come back and the band want it to happen) and do a proper (and - I hate to say it - but hopefully final) reunion tour, and go out with a bit of class. It just seems like ever since Hagar left the band in 1996, Van Halen blew the simplest thing in the world and the surest thing that would have made fans happy, which was a Roth reunion. Ten years after that, they finally put it together, but now Anthony's not there, and either Eddie isn't in a condition to play well or Dave doesn't feel like singing properly. It's like they can never quite get their collective shit together. And it'd really be great to see them get their collective shit together, get the CVH lineup back together, play the songs properly live, get all the band members playing to the best their abilities allow for nowadays, then just fucking call it a day. Release new studio stuff after that, or just clean out the vaults.

I just don't want to see the band go out as some meek, pale, pitiable imitation of what they were in the glory years (1978-1984). It's heading that way now, slow but steady, and it'd be a shame if it comes to pass that way. Save that trite shit for Bon Jovi...or Poison...or Ratt...Van Halen are better than that. They deserve a better ending than that.

Don't they?

[78/84 guy]

Where the fuck are the other 22 songs they worked up for ADKOT? I clearly remember reading in an interview that they had like 35 songs ready to go via the ADKOT sessions. If that's true, then why the hell is it taking so long to put out another album when you've got like 2 albums of material just sitting there basically ready to go?

As far as Dave and future touring goes, he needs to do whatever he did to prepare for the 07-08 tour because his vocals kicked ass on that tour.

That kind of sums it up for me. Dave needs too quit the dance shit and focus on singing the fucking songs like 07/08. He was great that tour. Why there wasn't a live album is beyond me ? I think Ed is truly a fucking asshole too his fans. Just a clueless idiot about the history of the band. They could use Mike but don't need him if they all get on the same page for one or maybe two more tours, but at their pace one might be it/enough. VH with Dave was a party band. I don't need too see them standing around like the Stones did last year like they didn't want too be there. I can forgive Dave for not jumping off the drum riser because I get he is 60, but he lost some of his wit last tour. I mean we didn't even get Look at all the people here tonight ! out of him. I enjoyed the 07 show much more. And it was Dave kicking ass proving he wasn't dead yet. He was o.k. in 12. But it was Ed's show though.

[atomicpnk47]

I have to say I'm with Terry on this one. Get it together for one more shot with MA and call it a day. Hang around the studio put out some stuff, old and new. Sooner rather than later for time waits for no one especially for aging bands. Hanging on to past glories is tough to watch and listen to at times....

[BenJammin]

I have to say I'm with Terry on this one. Get it together for one more shot with MA and call it a day. Hang around the studio put out some stuff, old and new. Sooner rather than later for time waits for no one especially for aging bands. Hanging on to past glories is tough to watch and listen to at times....

Agreed... there was a time here when any honest reflections of Dave's performances were met with hostility but now even the diehards are starting to admit at least this last tour left us with those "I really like Dave, but this is getting hard to justify" feelings. Maybe like I've said before, with a few adjustments, acceptance of reality, and the return of MA could be a winner, but only if they really work hard. Probably harder than they've ever worked before. And Dave... even screaming with all your heart and soul does not sound good if it's beyond your range ! Stay still, sing in your range and everything will be fine. If people need the acrobatics, get two or more hot blonde female acrobatic style dancers dressed like CVH Dave to do the riser jumps, backflips, and leg kicks around him while he kind of flows in the middle, doing very minor movements and JUST SINGS ! Or even delve into some Classic Dave entourage mode and have some midgets do the moves for him, lol !

[ELVIS]

I'm under no illusions that getting Mike Anthony back is going to make the band sound any better now live than they already do. Wolfgang was a trifle unsteady onstage in 2007/2008, but he fitted neatly into the fold far as I was concerned in 2012.

I wouldn't go that far...

Wolfie's tone sucks and he's out of place on stage with those guys...

Especially with an alive and well Anthony, who'd be there before tomorrow if asked...

Wolf is good, epecially on ADKOT, but MA is sorely missing in the live =VH= realm...

[VetteLS5]

minus 30?

[Kristy]

I'd fuck her. (The one on the left.)

Von, you fuck anything no matter if it walked on four legs and had no pulse.