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Sounds like a great show - let's hope they keep adding gems the further we get into the tour. Let's also hope rocknrolldork's hangover lasts only two days.
Could this tour turn out to be a VH lottery - with some cities winning big on the deep cuts? Who will be talking shit about that obscure gem they only played once? Let's hope it's MN!
Classic Van Halen largely present during Fieldhouse show
5:35 AM, Feb. 23, 2012 |
Written by
David Lindquist
Within the lyrics of new Van Halen song "The Trouble with Never," David Lee Roth sings that "selective amnesia is only a heartbeat away."
Roth expanded this excerpt of "Never" during Wednesday's performance at Bankers Life Fieldhouse, where he characterized selective amnesia as a useful coping mechanism.
It turns out that selective amnesia may be the best way to assess the show -- stop No. 3 on a tour to promote "A Different Kind of Truth," the first Van Halen album since 1984 to feature Roth on lead vocals.
The disjointed "Never" and too-busy "China Town" unfolded as "Truth" tracks to forget. But longtime fans could grasp current single "Tattoo" and "Truth" selection "She's the Woman" as electrifying reminders of the band's power-meets-melody legacy.
Ageless guitar wonder Eddie Van Halen delivered "keeper" moments throughout the two-hour performance, while drummer Alex Van Halen (Eddie's brother) and bass player Wolfgang Van Halen (Eddie's son) made a rock-steady rhythm section.
Roth, who toured with Van Halen in 2007 after decades of estrangement, offered focused effort on "She's the Woman."
But he lost the plot on the program's next song, 1980's "Romeo Delight."
At his most eccentric, Roth shares traits with 1970s-era Elvis Presley: dropped lyrics, martial-arts poses and an affection for handguns (in Roth's case, one is tattooed on his derrière).
When Roth inspires, he's suggestive of James Cagney portraying George Cohan in the 1942 film" Yankee Doodle Dandy" -- strutting purposefully while singing "Panama" and "Ain't Talkin' 'bout Love" as esteemed anthems of the Sunset Strip.
Another of these, "Dance the Night Away," taxed the high end of Roth's vocal range and made him appear to be a 57-year-old man out of his element.
Yet precisely when the show needed age-appropriate context and some heart, Roth sang "Ice Cream Man" as an unplugged solo number and he shared childhood memories of Bloomington and New Castle, Ind.
Roth's substantial role actually comes as somewhat of a surprise when compared to the 2007 tour, when Eddie Van Halen towered above his band mates.
This time around, Eddie is working hard with Wolfgang to tag-team high vocal harmonies (an important job handled by former bass player Michael Anthony from 1974 to 2006).
Many of Eddie's guitar highlights were stop-on-a-dime transitions from sonic aggression to subtle interludes.
And a brutal clinic in six-string mastery arrived with "Girl Gone Bad," an often-overlooked gem from the album "1984."
Kool & the Gang, perceived my many to be a mismatched supporting act on this tour, played a well-received selection of hits.
The 11-man crew thrived during the rock of "Emergency," the pop of "Get Down on It" and the funk of "Hollywood Swinging."
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
Do these idiot holes just get a bag of random magnetic words and pull them out wearing a blindfold to write these articles...?
the 2007 tour was all Dave and now it's Ed who pulls the heavyweights so far...man, chief "halftounge" is so badass in the vids I never thought he could play like this again...
Roth Army Icon First official owner of ADKOT (Deluxe Version)
I was going to comment on the same passage. My vivid memory of the Meadowlands, NJ show I attended in '08 was a bit different from this. Dave owned the night, Alex came in second, Wolf was shittin' himself and Ed was as still and as plain sounding as I had ever seen him.
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