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So I caught a Van Halen pick. Currently losing my mind #holyshit #goingcrazy pic.twitter.com/I0R1f7t5q5— John Haumesser (@JHaumesser) August 4, 2015
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Eat Us And Smile - The Originals
"I have a very belligerent enthusiasm or an enthusiastic belligerence. I’m an intellectual slut." - David Lee Roth
"We are part of the, not just the culture, but the geography. Van Halen music goes along with like fries with the burger." - David Lee Roth -
Van Halen absolutely killed it tonight in NE Ohio... Great performance!!!!!— Drew44 (@Drew4447) August 4, 2015
Eat Us And Smile - The Originals
"I have a very belligerent enthusiasm or an enthusiastic belligerence. I’m an intellectual slut." - David Lee Roth
"We are part of the, not just the culture, but the geography. Van Halen music goes along with like fries with the burger." - David Lee RothComment
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I saw a couple kids that were probably 7 or 8.
Saw a few of those, and a few that weren't. I will say that I saw a lot of people that made me feel thin tonight.
Smelled more weed at the Stones show than at tonight's show.
Gabe Spiegel is an anchor for the local FOX station. I won't be here tomorrow to see if he mentions the show during the 4 pm newscast. They did run VH commercials during the 5 and 6 am shows this last week.
There's something about being deep in the pavilion and looking out into the lawn and seeing nothing but heads and waving arms all the way to the top of the hill. And I think I'm in this pic.
Dave did speak a lot of the lyrics instead of singing them. Sound wasn't the greatest at our original seat location but we moved the the front of the next section to our left and it was much better. Two rows off the aisle, too. Shoulda took my GoPro.Writing In All Proper Case Takes Extra Time, Is Confusing To Read, And Is Completely Pointless.Comment
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Judging from the comments in this thread and the chatter around us, the pavilion was heavily papered.
After Kenny Wayne Sheppard's (excellent!*) set we moved from our original seats (Ed's side, halfway back in the last section) to one section left, second row. Right off the aisle that runs parallel to the stage and more toward the center of the pavilion. Sound seemed a little better there, but at times it was hard to hear Dave. View was MUCH better! No one came to claim those seats and we still had four to our right, on the aisle.
I had given my lawn tickets to a friend's kid, and he brought a friend. They were working the security guys, asking if they'd be able to get in the pavilion. About three songs in they were let in to the back section, just barely under the roof of the pavilion, which is kind of a bleacher and accessible section. I went back to see where they were and said "when that usher moves, come on down." The usher left before I did, so the three of us went back down by Grimes and VH2001 and the upgrade was complete.
Same setlist. The band is playing great! Dave and Ed doing the arm in arm spin right at the beginning. Ed playing (maybe during Little Guitars?) while he's standing in front of Dave, with the top of his head on Dave's shoulder. Dave sitting in his chair during ICM while Ed does his old kneel down, other leg splayed out pose during the solo while Dave mimics shining a spotlight on Ed. So yeah, Dave doesn't want to be Ed's friend, but if they're truly not getting along they're doing a good job of covering it up. Even caught Ed on the "dance floor" once or twice.
Drum solo...not much different. Crowd seemed to enjoy the deep cuts, with a decent cheer for each a few notes in. Some enthusiasm for the ADKOT tracks. I think more people took a beer break during I'll Wait.
Dave seems to be talking a lot this tour. ICM's story was how they played Ohio opening for Journey, and then later about touring with Sabbath and the tour bus situation. And as I said, talking some lyrics instead of singing. We were all singing anyways, but still. What we could hear seemed like it was in range without the cringeworthy higher register stuff. But at least he's talking instead of doing what Vince Neil does, which is just pointing the mic lazily at the crowd. Maybe Dave's just bored.
We left after Ed's solo. Blossom is a bitch to get out of. Fucking ten minute walk back to the car, I thought i was in Toronto for a minute there (my typical "we seem to do an awful lot of walking when I'm in Canada" joke). They were midway through Jump as we rolled out, and earlier we were all saying that we really didn't care if we heard that one again. My friend's kid stayed to the end and by the time he got to the freeway he was 40 minutes behind us. We made a good call.
Probably a better show than Buffalo '12, not as good as Montreal (even with a weak EVH) '07, which will probably be my favorite/benchmark of the '07 and up shows. Unless they surprise me Wednesday in London...
* KWS "excellent" compared to the Marley kid and Kool and the Gang. KWS rolled out Deja Voodoo, Blue on Black, a cover of Fleetwood Mac's Oh Well, and closed with Voodoo Child. Great backing band. Will watch again Wednesday night.Writing In All Proper Case Takes Extra Time, Is Confusing To Read, And Is Completely Pointless.Comment
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Review from the show....
Eddie and Alex Van Halen shine; David Lee Roth . . . doesn't (photos, concert review)
By Chuck Yarborough, The Plain Dealer
on August 04, 2015 at 1:14 AM, updated August 04, 2015 at 7:04 AM
CUYAHOGA FALLS, Ohio – Might as well jump . . . the shark.
The crowd of less than 10,000 at Blossom Music Center Monday night for Van Halen was pretty much equally divided between those who wanted to relive a bit of their lost youth and those who wanted to see just how much of a train wreck David Lee Roth's vocals would be.
Both contingents probably left the picturesque amphitheater content.
Van Halen – guitarist Eddie, his brother, Alex, on drums and his son, Wolfgang, on bass, and of course, Roth – rolled through 26 songs in a set that lasted more than two hours.
For the party of the first part – us geezers trying to see how much we could remember – the music was pretty much right there. Oh, there was some justifiable grumbling over Wolfie's bass vs. ousted bassist Michael Anthony, but overall, the kid is pretty good. He was off a millishake on his timing with Uncle Alex, but the thing to remember is A) he's only 24 and B) he does have those Van Halen genes.
There is no denying that Eddie is one of the premier rock guitarists. He's able to take his "Frankenstrat'' and turn out all kinds of sounds, and every one of them more impressive than the last. Plus – and this is the part that surprised me most – he looked like he was having fun, even enjoying Roth's inane mugging.
More on that last part in a bit.
And to prove that it was the '70s and '80s all over again, Van Halen's show featured a 10-minute drum solo (played to recorded tracks, which was pretty impressive, to be honest) and a 15-minute guitar solo.
When I was a kid, "borrowing'' the Old Man's car to go to a concert, that stuff impressed the daylights out of me. Old Man myself now, they usually just come off as posing. "Oh, look at me! I'm a great guitarist. I'm a great drummer.'' Shut up and pass the Metamucil.
But I can't say that about those two solos. Alex's kit, with its quadruple kick drums of various sizes, cracking snare and toms and timbales was a picture of rhythmic cacophony. And Eddie's solo – the "real'' one and those during tunes like "Runnin' With the Devil,'' "Little Guitars,'' "Dance the Night Away'' and a nice little pairing with his son on "Dirty Movies – were lessons in virtuosity.
The problem – as you hoped it wouldn't be, but almost knew it would – was Roth. My notes on "Women in Love'' say simply: "Pick a key. Any key.'' On "Dance the Night Away,'' the word "Gack!" is underlined three times. On "Hot for Teacher,'' the notes read, "It'd be nice to hear the vocals.''
Of course, given the times that we could hear them, maybe that particular note isn't so accurate.
At one time, David Lee Roth was the end-all, be-all of rock 'n' roll frontmen. He had the look, the moves, the charisma and most of all, the voice. To give the devil his due, at 60, he's still got the flat belly of a 20-year-old, and he moves pretty well. But the prancing and the mugging have gotten old, like a toothy Benny Hill.
Plus, I want to hear the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame voice that was there on "Panama'' and "Jump'' and "I'll Wait.'' Sadly, it's not there. Pitchy even when you could hear him – it may be that the kindest thing the sound people did was amp up the music and drown him out – he spent half his time speaking lyrics, not singing them.
Look, we all get older, and sometimes, you have to know when to hang up the cleats. Or the blue lame jacket.
The Kenny Wayne Shepherd Band set the bar pretty high with their short opening set . . . which perhaps not so coincidentally featured the former blues prodigy on a 15-minute guitar solo. I would have cheerfully paid $2 to hear him go ax to ax with Eddie.
Not so pleasant – for Roth -- would have been Shepherd's gifted longtime vocalist, Noah Hunt, matched up against DLR. Unless the Discovery Channel has a cage left over from Shark Week.Eat Us And Smile - The Originals
"I have a very belligerent enthusiasm or an enthusiastic belligerence. I’m an intellectual slut." - David Lee Roth
"We are part of the, not just the culture, but the geography. Van Halen music goes along with like fries with the burger." - David Lee RothComment
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Pitching the bar for daves vocals on 1984 material sums up the review.fuck your fucking framingComment
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See if you can tell which comment is mine on the Plain Dealer review.
Writing In All Proper Case Takes Extra Time, Is Confusing To Read, And Is Completely Pointless.Comment
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She´s The Woman
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"The crowd of less than 10,000..."
So the glass is half empty, huh? Writer proved he's an ass by the halfway point of sentence number 1.Comment
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Drop Dead Legs
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Looked pretty full to me. Maybe 10% empty? He's gotta be basing that on a paid admission number.
Yarborough is typically a decent writer. The other guy, Troy Smith, is a hack.Writing In All Proper Case Takes Extra Time, Is Confusing To Read, And Is Completely Pointless.Comment
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Dave being Dave, there's legit things to get on him about, so I don't know why the guy has to make shit up to prove some point. I seriously doubt half the people were there to see how much of a "train wreck" Dave's vocals would be. And the reviewer would know this how? Dave's been harped on for his vocals since he's been in VH, so I don't get why this guy is portraying him as some sort of great vocalist back in the day. Rock and Roll Hall of Fame voice? I guess that's technically correct as DLR is in the Hall and does have a voice, but I wouldn't say that's what got him there.Review from the show....
Eddie and Alex Van Halen shine; David Lee Roth . . . doesn't (photos, concert review)
By Chuck Yarborough, The Plain Dealer
on August 04, 2015 at 1:14 AM, updated August 04, 2015 at 7:04 AM
CUYAHOGA FALLS, Ohio – Might as well jump . . . the shark.
The crowd of less than 10,000 at Blossom Music Center Monday night for Van Halen was pretty much equally divided between those who wanted to relive a bit of their lost youth and those who wanted to see just how much of a train wreck David Lee Roth's vocals would be.
At one time, David Lee Roth was the end-all, be-all of rock 'n' roll frontmen. He had the look, the moves, the charisma and most of all, the voice.
Plus, I want to hear the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame voice that was there on "Panama'' and "Jump'' and "I'll Wait.''Comment
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