Van Halen -- particularly Eddie -- gives fans the runaround
By Jim Harrington, CONTRIBUTOR
EDDIE Van Halen is without a doubt the heart and soul of Van Halen.
But the guitar wizard's mind seemed to be somewhere else Tuesday night when his band played the HP Pavilion in San Jose.
Eddie was uncharacteristically sloppy as he filled the evening with late leads, curious solos and more than a few serious missteps.
The fret king is the fuel behind the band and thus it's little wonder that Van Halen failed to create great music this night. He seemed drastically out of touch with his fellow performers and his playing, believe it or not, actually slowed down the show.
Let's hope it was just an off night and that Van Halen bounces back with its concert tonight at the Oakland Arena.
But the performance was so lackluster Tuesday that the odds of a return to, say, late-'80s form seems iffy at best.
In San Jose, the music was uninspired, the audience grew tired and, for the most part, the musicians played as if they'd just been hired.
Going into the show, we all knew that this was not the Van Halen reunion tour that most fans wanted. They were salivating about the possibility of seeing the original band with vocalist David Lee Roth. But egos seemingly got in the way of that happening and we were left with a reformed Van Halen II with Sammy Hagar.
That's not a bad option -- certainly a far better one than Van Halen III, which featured ex-Extreme-vocalist Gary Cherone.
But the result, unfortunately, wasn't nearly as satisfying as even some of the Cherone-led shows in the past.
Touring in support of the new greatest-hits package, "The Best of Both Worlds," the quartet seemed in disarray from the start as it opened with the No.1 hit "Jump" from "1984." The fact that they were playing against sturdy piped-in keyboard synthesizer sounds only highlighted the problems.
Sammy and Eddie tried a few Roth-style leaps during the opener, which only made the crowd long for the original singer even more passionately.
Hagar seemed to know early in the show that it wasn't his guitarist's night and he tried, unsuccessfully, to compensate.
Dressed in a skull cap, dark sunglasses and a matching yellow top and pants, the energetic vocalist reminded one of a clown at a circus as he moved about the stage without any real sense of purpose.
He spun in circles to give an unnecessarily literal translation to "Runaround." The singer took a swig out of his beer during "Humans Being," found on 1996's "Twister" soundtrack, and then poured the rest of his beverage into a fan's cup. He goofed with bassist Michael Anthony, checking his temperature and pulse, on "Somebody Get Me a Doctor."
But it wasn't Anthony's health that was in question.
The rhythm section, often an overlooked part of the VH arsenal, was the true strength of the night. Anthony and drummer Alex Van Halen produced a strong backbone on tracks such as "Unchained," "Best of Both Worlds" and "You Really Got Me."
Hagar had his own moment alone under the bright lights and, surprisingly, it was one of the show's most enjoyable segments. He delivered his strongest vocals of the night and proved he is no slouch in the guitar department on a short set that included a fun sing-along version of Bob Dylan's "Rainy Day Women #12 and 35."
Even more shocking was that Eddie's solo performance was not the climactic moment that we have come to expect. He did showcase his lightning-fast fingers but pure speed can't compensate for not having a plan.
He simply played like his mind was somewhere else.
Here's the link: http://www.timesstar.com/Stories/0,1...332381,00.html
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