DLR: "I'm Only In The Middle Of My First Retirement"

[Terry]

I often wondered just how loud Eddie was playing in those days

From what I can remember of the 1984 show I saw, Eddie and the band weren't the loudest band I'd heard live, in terms of sheer volume.

The venue I saw them in was the same venue I saw upwards of two dozen shows in from 1983 to 1985. The loudest band I ever saw live was Deep Purple on their Perfect Strangers tour: my ears were literally ringing for days afterward.

The second loudest was Black Sabbath on the Born Again tour: the bass in particular was deafening.

[Terry]

So, I was fortunate to get to watch the whole soundcheck at The Palace Of Auburn Hills here in Michigan on the 2007 tour. I posted about it here, at the time. It was a closed soundcheck. Not even arena staff were allowed in. I was standing there talking to Doug, the sound man, and Ed walked up. I had been briefed as to act like I belonged if I were asked. Not to panic, or act like a fan boy. Only speak if I was directly asked a question. Don't dare pull out my phone. Well, I nearly shit myself when Ed walked up. I was standing right by the legend. He was talking to Doug and then looked at me, looked back at Doug, and then asked Doug who I was. Doug simply said something about me being okay, I was with him. I thought for sure I was going to get tossed out. I never said a word. But, to your point of the relapse Terry. They brought out a 6 pack of bottled beer, and set it side stage. I saw it with my own eyes. I remember being so disappointed. Since Dave doesn't do soundchecks, Wolf sang all the songs. As I recall, I ran into some dude from this site before the show started, who was up from Tennessee. I gave him my pass and he went backstage and ended up running into Dave!

Very interesting.

I couldn't see Eddie drinking during the Tampa 2008 show, but it became apparent to everybody as the show went on (and particularly when his solo spot came up toward the end of the show, so the arena is just totally focused on Eddie, and Ed's image is being displayed close-up and larger than life on the large video screen) that Ed was either drunk or fucked up on something. He wasn't stumbling down fucked up, but he was toasted.

[Terry]

First saw them in Philly in ‘84, 2 nights in a row. They filmed the concert and crowd scenes for the Panama video there, if you look really hard you still won’t see me. They were probably at their apex then, but it was the David Lee Roth show with a slamming band. I remember how both shows were identical, set list, ad libs, Dave’s “jokes”, forgetting the same lyrics at the same point. Loooong breaks between songs for you know who to pontificate…..still one of the best concerts I ever attended.

That 1984 show was probably the biggest I ever saw at the Providence Civic Center in terms of stage production. In the 2 to 3 years I was going to shows there in the 80s, Van Halen 1984 DEFINITELY had the most lights and the biggest stage/ramps erected. I didn't really perceive it to be the David Lee Roth Show with a slamming band, because everybody got to do a solo spot - Eddie in particular had a very lengthy guitar solo spot - but, yeah, Roth did a LOT of inbetween song raps. He did a joke about picking up a woman and taking her back to his hotel room, where she proceeded to take off her wig and put it on the nightstand table. Then she took off her false eyelashes and put them on the nightstand table. Then she took off her high heels and put them on the nightstand table. Then she took off her padded bra and put it on the nightstand table. She got into the bed, and David got up. She asked Dave where he was going, and Dave replied "I'm going over to fuck the table."

[Terry]

Haven’t seen Ace Frehley live in a long time, but there’s plenty of YouTube’s that are recent where he is really good. Back in his heyday, brief though it may have been, I think he did a great job. His solos fit the song and they were well executed. Ace made me want to pick up a guitar, and then others came along who made me not want to put it down.

I mean, the stuff he did on KISS Alive...technically, it wasn't difficult, but I just loved what he did.

Same goes for, like...the solo on Calling Dr. Love was just...perfect, you know?

I still think his 1978 solo album was great.

[Seshmeister]

Very interesting.

I couldn't see Eddie drinking during the Tampa 2008 show, but it became apparent to everybody as the show went on (and particularly when his solo spot came up toward the end of the show, so the arena is just totally focused on Eddie, and Ed's image is being displayed close-up and larger than life on the large video screen) that Ed was either drunk or fucked up on something. He wasn't stumbling down fucked up, but he was toasted.

I saw them a couple of months later in Baltimore in 2008 and as you say he wasn't a mess but he was below par. He was just about adequate but you didn't feel like you were in the presence of a guitar god, he ducked the difficult bits and his solo spot was a bit meh. Roth was just about the best I've ever seen him.

[silverfish]

...Roth did a LOT of inbetween song raps. He did a joke about picking up a woman and taking her back to his hotel room, where she proceeded to take off her wig and put it on the nightstand table. Then she took off her false eyelashes and put them on the nightstand table. Then she took off her high heels and put them on the nightstand table. Then she took off her padded bra and put it on the nightstand table. She got into the bed, and David got up. She asked Dave where he was going, and Dave replied "I'm going over to fuck the table."

Man, I thought I'd heard just about all of DLRs concert banter but damnned if that one isn't new to me.

[Nitro Express]

I mean, the stuff he did on KISS Alive...technically, it wasn't difficult, but I just loved what he did.

Same goes for, like...the solo on Calling Dr. Love was just...perfect, you know?

I still think his 1978 solo album was great.

Hit and miss drug addict with a lot of natural talent. When Ace is firing on all cylinders he’s great. Great tone and really makes his guitar say something. Good players make their guitars talk and sing.

[Nitro Express]

A lot of technically proficient players will bore you to tears. You have to be entertaining or everyone except for the biggest guitar nerds will hate you.

[Nitro Express]

From what I can remember of the 1984 show I saw, Eddie and the band weren't the loudest band I'd heard live, in terms of sheer volume.

The venue I saw them in was the same venue I saw upwards of two dozen shows in from 1983 to 1985. The loudest band I ever saw live was Deep Purple on their Perfect Strangers tour: my ears were literally ringing for days afterward.


The second loudest was Black Sabbath on the Born Again tour: the bass in particular was deafening.

The loudest for me was Ted Nugent in 1980. Holy shit! My left ear rang for three days. I thought I had tinnitus.

[Nitro Express]

The 2007-2015 shows don't measure up to the '78-'84 shows, or before, in any metric. NONE.

I saw them on the Diver Down tour and they were kind of sloppy that night. The US Festival too. Not every night was good in the old days. Saw them in 1980 twice and they brought the goods both nights.

[Terry]

I saw them a couple of months later in Baltimore in 2008 and as you say he wasn't a mess but he was below par. He was just about adequate but you didn't feel like you were in the presence of a guitar god, he ducked the difficult bits and his solo spot was a bit meh. Roth was just about the best I've ever seen him.

That was really kind of Tampa in a nutshell: Ed was JUST ABOUT adequate...his solo spot sort of devolved from him trying to do Eruption and not really pulling it off in terms of it being fluid (and, I mean, Ed not being able to do Eruption?) and then doing the trilling speed picking and sort of stumbling with that, and eventually he just started hitting harmonic whammy bar dives...and the crowd had this hushed, sort of confused vibe watching Ed not being able to play as well as he could, or should, or whatever.

Roth, by contrast...I mean, I had seen him play in 2005 and 2006, and at both those gigs he wasn't exactly phoning it in but he was hardly...he couldn't have been accused of trying too hard at either of those shows, either, you know? The contrast between those two shows and what he did fronting Van Halen in 2007-2008...I've doubtless said it before, but Dave really upped his game. He wasn't treating the reunion like some half-assed victory lap with a guaranteed jackpot regardless: you could tell Roth had put in the preparation and was making the effort. Which is what you as a fan expect anyway, right? But I've noticed at more than a few shows I've been to in the last twenty years - most of which were older, established bands - that sometimes these living rock legends don't TRY very hard anymore. Either because they can't or they don't have to, I dunno.

[Terry]

Man, I thought I'd heard just about all of DLRs concert banter but damnned if that one isn't new to me.

He did what I later found out was the typical Roth quips. "Look at all the people here tonight!" "You all here are the rowdiest bunch of motherfuckers!" "I forgot the fucking words!" I didn't know when I saw the concert that Roth tended to use those same lines night after night, because the only live stuff I'd seen or heard up to that point was the 3 Oakland Fair Warning videos and the edited/abbreviated US Festival set that was aired on cable tv a few months after the US Festival.

But I do remember that nightstand table joke. Mostly because he took a long time telling it...and I remember when he told the punchline about half the audience laughed and the other half groaned.

[Terry]

Hit and miss drug addict with a lot of natural talent. When Ace is firing on all cylinders he’s great. Great tone and really makes his guitar say something. Good players make their guitars talk and sing.

I was about to say that...like, I have a memory of listening to KISS Alive at an older relative's house in 1976. I was listening to it on headphones, and those lead parts just sort of...sang. And this was...I mean, back then it was a couple of years before KISS were on tv with any frequency...I'd see pictures of them in rock magazines or whatever, but mostly I remember staring at the KISS Alive album cover and listening to them. I hadn't even started playing guitar back then...I was 6 years old in 1976. But I remember listening to that album over and over again, hearing the explosions at the end of Black Diamond, and listening to the lead guitar parts.

I recall Paul Stanley around the time of the Revenge album saying that Ace had a lot of natural talent and a Jimmy Page-quality to his playing that never really blossomed, and I think to a degree that may be true. I can't say that I've even heard any of Frehley's stuff post-1980s, mostly because I haven't. But Frehley took bits and pieces of what Clapton, Page, Beck and Hendrix were doing...I can hear those influences in his playing. Ultimately, Ace is definitely representative of that 1970s blues pentatonic-based rock, and that style has limitations. But in the long haul I find these days I'd rather hear rock guitar that sings as opposed to just being this blinding display of high-speed technical ability.

[Terry]

The loudest for me was Ted Nugent in 1980. Holy shit! My left ear rang for three days. I thought I had tinnitus.

That Black Sabbath Born Again show was the first loud rock concert I ever went to, at the princely age of 13, so I suppose it was natural that the volume sort of stunned me.

The Deep Purple Perfect Strangers tour was a year and a half or two years later, and I had been to a bunch of concerts between the Born Again show and the Perfect Strangers show, so I was used to loud rock shows...or so I thought. Deep Purple were fucking LOUD.

[Heater]

I mean, the stuff he did on KISS Alive...technically, it wasn't difficult, but I just loved what he did.

Same goes for, like...the solo on Calling Dr. Love was just...perfect, you know?

I still think his 1978 solo album was great.

The solo in Calling Dr. Love is probably my favorite of his. The Alive II version of that song…..forget about it.

Also, the solo in Got to Choose is the best part of that song.