Key Arena - Seattle - December 03

[conmee]

Highlights of night for me.... Romeo Delight, Atomic Punk, So This Is Love, the "shoo be do wop" interlude in I'm The One, which they did in Portland, but not Seattle. A nice touch...

I thought DLR nailed the vocals in those songs, and he was spot on for I'll Wait... which isn't my top song, but was very surprised to hear how well they pulled it off live. DLR actually SINGS the song all the way through, as he does with the ones mentioned above. In fact, you might say that these are the songs that sounded closest to the album versions, and when the band was hitting on all cylinders like that, when DLR was singing and hitting notes, when Ed was spot on, that's when I got chills... totally fucking amazing. Period.

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[xk319]

I think I'm going to try and give my review differently as I did on the other board. I'm going to try bullet point style. I tend to think the long winded paragraphs are sometimes hard to take in. So here it goes complete with my background so you know where I'm coming from.

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as a lead in to show just how great they were, better than I've seen in any other show thus far.

-I'm 34

-Jump was my first favorite song ever at the age of 11. It remained my favorite song for around 10 years and remains in my top 5. First seen on MTV with my sister and mom. "wow, look at those jumps" I remember them saying, heh.

-I basically grew up during the Sammy years though. Liked them then, but loved Roth and so wished they had never broken up.

-Last night was my first VH concert.

-The crowd, everyone up to the rafters, stood the entire show.

-I used Hearos high fidelity ear plugs. The volume level therefore had no effect on eventually "muddying" the sound for me. It was clear and crisp the entire night. Everything sounded great. I made sure to keep them out for at least the first song so I could get the full blast, which believe me I did.

-I sat in the rafters on Wolf's side with 8 of my friends, all first time VH with Dave concert goers. Half VH familiarites, half not. All loved the show and said they were great, i.e., better than their expectations.

-Everyone was on so no sense saying Dave or Eddie did this good or that. They just all had a great time and played/sang great.

-I will say Dave sounded 10 times more powerful in real life than any video I've seen to date, even like Oakland 81. This means video does these guys 1/100th justice to the real live thing.

-Dave did 4 or 5 full on mid air round house jump kicks, the big ones.

-Dave got his mic stand caught in Eddies cord one time as he was moving to the front of the stage. He simply stopped where he was and didn't even look back, just kept singing (knowing exactly what was going on). He just patiently waited (about 4 seconds) for Eddie to untangle his stand. This was very close to Eddies set up btw, basically on it.

-During the beginning of Jamies Cryin, the bass and drum intro....during the end of that part Dave said "Edwards son!" They were all huddled around the drum kit at this point btw. At which Eddie gave the most absolute priceless proud father look directly at Wolf. It was very short but probably the most emotionally powerful moment of the night. It was something that hardly anyone would have seen.

-Panama seemed to get the biggest reaction from the crowd.

-The crowd really liked the less deep cuts (one would only figure that though). They loved Panama, Jump, I'll Wait, Runnin With the Devil, and Pretty Woman to name a couple. Of course, the more well known tunes to the average Joe.

-The group no doubt fed off the crowd, who drowned out and actually finished a verse for Dave on Ice Cream Man at the end. He just stepped back and let the crowd finish then pointed out with a giganto smile saying "you're the best!". I haven't kept up with the reviews from the past 3 weeks (to cleanse my pallette), but I don't remember him doing this in previous shows.

-Eddie smoked one cigarette the entire show that I could see. Could see him off stage during Alex's solo.

-Dave was smiling and having a great time (as they all were) even when he didn't need to be. I mean that during times like low lights on the stage during intros or between songs I could still see him with my binoculars just loving it. He really has a thing for music and the groove, as they all do, and just love doing it.

-Eddie wore white long pants the entire time

-Eddie played all white, striped black and yellow, striped white and black and red, and Frankie from what I saw.

-Eddie went over to hug Al after the first "ending" of the concert but Al had already turned to exit stage right. Eddie did a shrug and chuckle to himself as he turned and left the other side. Again a super small thing that no one would really notice as he only took a single step in that direction. The ends clearly aren't scripted or anything as to who hugs who and when or whatever.

-These guys were so good, it makes me cringe to think how good they were say at the Oakland '81 concert. The one thing that they have down way better these days is playing the songs correctly and singing everything correctly. Trade off right? Less acrobatics and stage frenzy, so the level of musicianship goes up for the band. So the ultimate would be the early 80's concerts where they happen to really be paying attention to playing and singing the songs correctly. Those specific concerts must have been jaw dropping.

-I will go again in a heartbeat.

-I have no idea what the reviewer from the seattle times was talking about when he said they had to get revved up. That's insane and writer jibberish just trying to make a story exciting. They came out and blasted the entire arena from the beginning.

-Dave motioned twice to have a tech come out and tape a mic cord down coming from Wolf's stand. He motioned once at the cord, which was only half of around 20 feet taped down (first half from mic stand wasn't). About 10 minutes later he motioned again. Tech came right out and taped it down. No doubt don't want to be tripping on those things

-I looked at Wolf about 4 times the whole night. His playing was very noticable at certain points to me as a non musician, and seemed really good. I thought about Mike twice and wondered what it would be like. I thought it would be good, but just knew it wouldn't be the same. This is the reason. Wolf does not give energy to the performance himself. Rather he gives his dad REAL energy by just being there. In turn Eddie gives Dave his energy because Eddie is so happy. And so comes the real energy of the concert, as it always has, from Dave and Eddie, all stemming from Wolf just by his presence as Ed's son.

[conmee]

I think you hit it on the head with your last bullet point... there was also that one moment (was it And The Cradle Will Rock?) when they are in front of the drum riser on their knees playing/facing each other... smiles, EVH gives him a quick hug says something to him and they jump back up... I thought 3-4 times EVH was definitely a proud father beaming with happiness.

Also agree on the crowd favorites... I thought Panama and ATBL was a close second.

I actually think EVH is using the cigs as a "prop" he did the same one cig thing in Portland, but didn't look to actually smoke it, and in both shows after fiddling with the cigs, either secured it to the headstock or chucked it on the ground.

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P.S. Pojo and I are known for our long treatises...

[Eyes of the Night]

Originally posted by gorndog
Eyes, my friend from '01, where were you? I hope you had fun.

Great review, you nailed it ... that white peice of shit does sound better than the rest and at least he didn't play that sunburst shite either:D ...

I was roaming, didn't see the Irish pub post ti'll I got back online today ... fuck! Oh well, fookin' had a blast though!

Roth on!

[Eyes of the Night]

"xk319 -The crowd, everyone up to the rafters, stood the entire show."

I can attest to that, we were standing the whole time ... right form the opening cord ... killer review btw ...

[chi-town324]

glad too see you all had a kick ASS time!

[ELVIS]

Killer review, xk...and spot on...

[xk319]

I forgot something! Eddie used one of Al's drumsticks on his guitar at one point. Think it might have been after Al's solo? Can't remember exactly when, but he walked up to the drum kit and leaned in and grabbed a stick from Al's right hand. I don't remember him doing this before in other concerts (anyone?). He used it like a huge tapping stick . He then slowly walked to the edge of the stage, held it out like a waiter holding a platter of food and then tossed it to the front rows, and mayhem ensued.

[conmee]

Actually Wolf was holding the stick and banging on some cymbals standing right behind Alex.... He did this at the Portland show too.

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[Eyes of the Night]

Nah man, Alex played moby dick in his spot ... then Ed used the drumstick in his spot in response I guess ... didn't see Wolf though ...

http://www.rotharmy.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=51633

[conmee]

Ok, bro, I know i was fucking coked out, but seriously, I SAW Wolf standing right behind Alex, and he's the one who holds out the drumstick and gives it to Edward... do we have a fucking YOUTUBE of that moment??!? It'll drive me crazy until I see it again... remember, my "coked out" trumps your "baked out" Eyes... lmao ;-)

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[jharp84]

xK319! Nice!