Official 6/9 Los Angeles Meetup/Review Thread

[sadaist]

Patton Oswalt @pattonoswalt

"Oh, you lucky swath of leather..." -- David Lee Roth, before putting on his pants


Patton Oswalt @pattonoswalt

Van Halen just roared into "Running With The Devil" and Noam punched a semiotics professor sitting in front of us.


Patton Oswalt @pattonoswalt

And now I'm backstage. Thank you, @Wolfiesmom. You have not lost a micron of hotness. http://pic.twitter.com/iHlVgO6r



(always liked this guy on King Of Queens)

[jhale667]

I am home and drunk.

I am too, and getting there!

Here's a snippet of Ed's solo... epic.




Best part was right before he started, he looked down at the front row and yelled "I don't know what you guys are smokin' down there, but I'm high as a kite!"

[jhale667]

Here's the intro and a bit of "Unchained"

[jhale667]

[big fatty]

Sounds like it was a hot night for Rock and Roll.
whoayeah!!!!alright.
I wonder if gene simmons got up and cheered too.
Sounds like one of the best ones yet,but no BOTTOMS UP!!!

[jhale667]

Sounds like it was a hot night for Rock and Roll.
whoayeah!!!!alright.
I wonder if gene simmons got up and cheered too.
Sounds like one of the best ones yet,but no BOTTOMS UP!!!

They kicked ass... B and I talked about it, only sounded like Dave had a bit of difficulty again on HFT and whatever followed that, it's kind of a blur at the moment...but then he got it back under control and sounded great. The band was kicking ass!! Oh, and I wasn't kidding about Eddie saying he'd gotten a contact buzz...mentioned it at the time...lol

[Carmine]

Standard...


Unchained
Runnin' With the Devil
She's the Woman
Romeo Delight
Tattoo
Everybody Wants Some!!
Somebody Get Me a Doctor
China Town
Hear About It Later
Oh, Pretty Woman
Alex
You Really Got Me
The Trouble with Never
Dance the Night Away
I'll Wait
And the Cradle Will Rock…
Hot for Teacher
Women In Love
Beautiful Girls
Ice Cream Man
Panama
Edward
Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love
Jump

[Va Beach VH Fan]

Jump

[Va Beach VH Fan]

King Edward

[Light Em' Up!]

HAIL...

[bantonelli]

One very satisfying thought is that Jay and I had better seats than Gene Simmons! Fantabulous Show!

[sadaist]

One very satisfying thought is that Jay and I had better seats than Gene Simmons! Fantabulous Show!

So happy for you guys. I noticed your good seats on 1 of J's pics earlier. Fucking killing me I couldn't be there with you guys Thanks for the pics & updates!

And Gene can suck a dick. Roth Army deserves better seats for VAN HALEN than that money grubbing prick. RA there to enjoy the show....GS there to remind everyone he "found" them. Ass. I wonder how many times he mentioned that last night? Would have been a great drinking game. Every time Gene mentions how he discovered VH everyone has to drink!

By 10:15 pm everyone would be out cold from alcohol poisoning and Gene would be rifling through our wallets.

[sadaist]

@Jump video

I hate the part where it means the show is over

DO IT AGAIN! NOW!!!




ps - Dave rocked that baton like I've never seen. And he used both hands which is really good for those worrying about his fidgety hands of late. Means he still has total control and just can't sit the fuck still. WOOT!

DAVE OR THE GRAVE MOTHERFUCKERS!!!!

[jhale667]

I'm still kinda giddy.

OK, though I'm still in post-VH afterglow mode, have had a bit of time to recover, and here's my review/thoughts on the show:

First off, picking KATG - genius. If you've seen the feminine reaction up close (and you're not a total bonehead) makes perfects sense. All the booty in the building was shaking, perfect primer to a VH show! Looks like Ed gave one of their guitars player 2 Wolfgangs too. Great, tight, well-rehearsed band (much like VH in that respect), that put on a show that did not disappoint if you like their hits. And there was epic MILFage running around too, more so than '07-08 IMO, and more younger girls. Clever marketing indeed, Dave.

KATG played about a 45-minute set, then the tear-down/set-up for VH went off like clockwork - their road crew is on their shit. It was interesting watching them set up Dave's modular dance floor - they mopped and hand-scrubbed it for what seemed like a very long time. Interesting from a former tech's standpoint - Wolf's guy walked out with the bass and checked levels from the stage, but I only heard Ed's guitar being checked quietly (not through the mains like Wolf's sound) from backstage/the guitar pit, and I only saw the guy once during the entire show for a guitar-hand-off. Dude's seriously incognito, but Ed didn't seem to have any technical difficulties all night, so he's on his shit.

From what Bantonelli and I could see, the place was packed - and we'd wondered since we saw some floor seats going cheap online, and the fact that the Stanley Cup AND the Pacman/Bradley fight was happening made us wonder if it would effect turnout - didn't seem to. When VH hit the stage the place went apeshit, just like old times. The band was essentially flawless all night. HOLY CRAP they're tight, that never gets less impressive the more you see them (I'm still amazed I got to see them twice this year). I'd heard complaints about the sound from friends last week, but whatever the issue was they dialed it out this week - the sound was excellent from where we were seated. Not painfully loud, in fact my ears are barely ringing today. At one point Dave walked over to our section pointed, smiled and said "That's the drinking section over there!"

As for the tuneage - which the set list has already been posted - the standard one, but FLAWLESS. It was amazing. And the interplay Dave and Ed are doing in breakdowns in songs is awesome. They did one in "Unchained", culminating in an EPIC Dave scream punctuation/band stop. I looked over at B and said "Holy shit, did you hear that scream!?!" it was old-school for a sec! He uses it WAY more sparingly these days, but he can still whip it out if he wants to! They TORE through the set like a well-oiled machine, so killer to witness. "Romeo Delight" was epic, as was pretty much the entire set - one mini-lull might have been "Tattoo" (for which Ed broke out the Red Stealth; no Charvels this gig).
Ed's solo - OH SHIT. The dude is on. If he did have a contact buzz as he mentioned, it only enhanced his playing. Gotta love the Jumbotron close-ups of his hands, too...it was like a guitar lesson!

Dave introduced him by his full name (instead whipped out the "Shreddy Kruger" reference later) even skipped a verse in "ATBL" to instead say "That was one amazing fuckin' solo, brother!" The entire show was awesome. Great band interaction too. There were plenty of laughs, smiles and hugs all around if they're not getting along they're all seriously oscar-worty actors - this looked like a bunch of guys having a blast. Sounded like it too. Dave was clearly having fun, being silly - looked at a cute girl in the front row (that got some face-time on the Jumbotron) and said "Is it too early for a booty call?"


I loved it, but then I'm obviously super-biased. It sounds like whatever vocal issues Dave may be having are seemingly waning - he sounded great 95% of the evening IMO, but still smart to take some time off if that's what he needs. Ed seems to have a headcold, was blowing his nose I noticed, and B thought he looked tired. But they were on top of their game and delivered. I want to see them again, hope they come back to L.A. on the eventual rescheduled 2nd leg!

[jhale667]

A few more pics...



This was the "Is it too late for a booty call?" moment...