2007 vs CVH

[frankfasteddie]

The question is what is the difference between the ROTH CVH years and the tour now....I was 12 on the last CVH 1984 tour I could not go, Indy 84 they postponed the tour and my parents were back in town and wouldn't let me go........Now that I have heard all the the concerts this year my question to the ROTH ARMY is what did I miss. I cant tell the difference between then and now.....this shit is awesome.........years of boot legs to see this shit live its just unbecoming.......

[letsrock]

Chemistry.

[78/84 guy]

It's close, but without the flair of the 80's it seem's far away !!!

[Matt White]

Difference?

23 years.....

its obvious..........

still...the 1984 tour was very disjointed....

take it for whatits worth....

its called NOSTALGIA

[letsrock]

Ed even says in an Interview that the 84 tour was all of them doing solo stuff, then playing as a band for like 30 minutes.

Everyone could see what was going to happen.

[bueno bob]

Brightest flames and such...

[letsrock]

Yep.

[binnie]

Originally posted by Matt White
Difference?

23 years.....

its obvious..........

still...the 1984 tour was very disjointed....

take it for whatits worth....

its called NOSTALGIA

Nail on the head.

[letsrock]

I'm just happy to see them again. Without Ronald McDonald.
But i'm sure the kids enjoyed the free Happy Meals.

[Matt White]

Happy meals...or Filet Mignon?

What a choice....The VAN HALEN nation has awakened after a 2 & a 1/2 decade slumber..........

[letsrock]

bump

[hideyoursheep]

Originally posted by letsrock
bump after bump..... http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e371/KateRhoda/valtrex.jpg

[letsrock]

bump

[Apocalypso]

Originally posted by frankfasteddie
The question is what is the difference between the ROTH CVH years and the tour now....I was 12 on the last CVH 1984 tour I could not go, Indy 84 they postponed the tour and my parents were back in town and wouldn't let me go........Now that I have heard all the the concerts this year my question to the ROTH ARMY is what did I miss. I cant tell the difference between then and now.....this shit is awesome.........years of boot legs to see this shit live its just unbecoming.......

First off, I consider the '84 tour to be easily Van Halen's weakest tour with Roth, including the current tour. Some of the differences between the '80/'81 tours and the '84 tour are as big as the differences between the '84 and '07 tour. But that's a topic for another night........

Differences between the '84 tour and '07's tour are:

Production - The 1984 tour had an amazing stage and lighting production. It *filled* the front of an arena in a way the current stage simply doesn't come close to doing. IMO, the '07 stage is the only really big letdown regarding this tour. I've said it before and I'll say it again, this year's stage looks like someone swiped U2's last couple tours' stage design and somehow made that design even more sterile and boring. The only good thing about the stage is the massive, crystal clear video screen behind the stage. The '84 stage design was a multi-level mass of scaffolding, lighting rigs and speaker cabinets that was incredibly impressive and well-designed for it's time. I mean, the entire overhead lighting rig tilted down to make the "VH" logo. It was like classic VH, over the top production complementing over the top music.

Setlist - The '84 tour was a huge step backwards as far as number of songs and length of the show compared to the previous tour of '82/'83. A *lot* of great songs from the first 5 albums weren't on the '84 setlist. Add to that, the lengthy solo spots including Dave's sword dance thing really ate up a lot of time in the already short 90 minute show, thus the setlist contained only about 16 actual songs. Compare that with the breakneck pace of the '07 tour's setlist which contains 23 songs, solos for Ed and Alex only and a show length of just over 2 hours. Also, the song picks themselves for the '07 tour is far superior to the '84 tour.

Performance - A mixed bag. IMO, Roth is a far better and much more consistent singer now than he was on the '84 tour. Balance that with the fact he's far less physically animated now than he was back then. Alex, is a bit better drummer now than he was in '84, but more importantly, his overall live *sound* is much better because he isn't using the Simmons junk like he did in '84. Wolfgang is good as a bass player and backing singer (or who or whatever is helping him offstage), but his stage presence is for shit. This is where Michael Anthony is truly missed on this tour, moreso than his playing or even his backing vocals. I wince every time I hear him mumble through that line in "Unchained." Which brings me to Eddie. For much of the '07 tour, he's been better than he has since '98 but it's not even debatable he's lost a good portion of his ability the past decade. I caught the November LA show at Staples from the 5th row and thought he was excellent but nowhere near the level he played at any time through the early 90's much less the '84 tour. Even when he was clearly fucked up on a few shows I caught in the early 80's, his natural skill still kept him landing on his feet when he went off on a tangent. I don't really see that much on this tour and when he's having a bad night like the 2nd Las Vegas show a week ago, he's terrible. Eddie always being the lynchpin of the band, they were so much more focused and sharp back in '84. In fact, no doubt due to all the coke they supposedly did back at the time, many of the songs were played at a significantly faster clip than ever before or since, especially "Unchained."

Merchandise - Not a big difference, really. The "1984" tour program was really weak compared to their previous tourbooks. It was basically a fold out poster. The shirts and jerseys were also fairly ugly and cheap for that tour as well. The only '84 shirt I really liked was one I bought from a music store that was an extremely well printed white/black jersey of the '84 album cover on front with the Frankenstrat over a yellow sign on the back. This tour, while the shirts aren't that great, they're mostly much better designs than the '84 shirts.

Atmosphere/Fans - OK, I'm going by what I personally experience between the '84 LA Forum show I caught and the '07 LA Staples arena show I caught so anyone else's mileage may vary. Basically, I thought the '84 (and all the 79 - 84 shows I caught) had far more loud and intense crowds than the '07 show I saw. In fact, I was surprised that the audience for what was Van Halen (with Roth) first homecoming show was so tame. Obviously, a lot of it had to do with the fact that a lot of people were in their 30's, 40's and beyond in '07. There was just a lot more energy both from the band and from fans in '84 than there is today. I don't remember seeing more than a handful of people over their mid 20's back in those early 80's shows. One of the things I always used to hear from bootleggers back in the early 80's as to why there weren't a lot of recordings in circulation for Van Halen (at the time) was that the audiences were so loud, no one could get a decent recording.

T.B.

[letsrock]

bump

[78/84 guy]

The stage sucks !!!