The Official Boston 10/30 Meetup/Review Thread

[diamondsgirl]

Originally posted by bantonelli
Sounds like a Spectacular Show!!!

DG - I think you'll have sweet dreams tonight

Hell yeah!

Can't stop thinking about Dave doing backbends!
Thats right...full on backbends at age 53!

and he is ripped!

Friggin beautiful!

Anybody get any pics of him doing that shit?

[rustoffa]

[i]Originally posted boston 10/30/07
the Lesfunk review

As I said before, at $170.00 a seat, This may be the only VH show I see this tour so I'll give you my thoughts and feelings on what I witnessed last night in Boston.
First of all, the Boston garden is a pretty good place to see a show. The employees were friendly and willing to help anybody who had an issue or question.
The merchandise was typical of what has already been described here. I grabbed a $35.00 Ball cap on the way out.
The show started ten minutes early with One of Bob Marleys hundreds of kids doing his reggae thing. He was pretty good and was recieved warmly by the 1/3 full arena. He wisley went out of his way to thank "Mr. David Lee Roth and Van Halen for this great opportunity..."
He also Threw in a couple of Bob Marley Classics "No Woman No Cry, I Shot the Sherriff" to keep the crowd friendly.
He played about 35 min, congratulated the Red Sox and got the heck off the stage.

During the switchover time, They flew Giant Radio Controlled Van Halen Blimps around the arena. Nice touch.

We all know the setlist so I won't bore everybody with repeating it.
As far as the overall impression of the show, I found it to be superb. After reading many of Lou's "super detailed, under a microscope" show analysis threads, I was deliberately looking for rough spots and mistakes that might diminish the presentation.
I didn't really find any. It was much better than expected, Dare I say Powerful?
Most surprising of all, and in a very good way, was EDWARD VAN HALEN. After what I had heard regarding his performance this year and years past ( I haven't seen or heard Edward in person since the mid '80s) I wasn't sure what to expect.
Well I wasn't dissappointed this time. What I witnessed last night was simply amazing. Here was a man who has had his Illnesses and his personal Demons riding him and pulling him down for the better part of a decade and a half ; almost to the point of defeat.
Well I don't know about the rest of the tour, but on October 30, 2007 in the Boston Garden, Eddie Van Halen took all his Demons and detractors, Held them down and fucked them in the ass for over two hours in front of 20,000 witnesess who I'll wager will testify on the bible that they saw the same thing I did.
I didn't hear the miscues and flubs that have plagued other performances. Ed appeared extremely animated, agile and intensely focused on his performance.
As as I'm concerned, he stole the show. Edward Van Halen won the MVP last night. I'd swear by it.
I'm very interested to see if this show was bootlegged so it can be studied and possibly prove me full of shit.

Mike was missed.
Wolfgang did an admirable job of playing the bass and singing the harmonies. He's sixteen years old and a talented greenhorn. A greenhorn he is nonetheless.
There was a noticeable hole where the energy of the fourth original member needed to be. Wolfgang will no doubt grow into a seasoned player and deserves a lot of credit for getting up there and doing what he did. He clearly isn't ready to be the fourth member of Van Halen yet. The group is just to big and legendary for him to" jump" into. But the kid does have Chops and Balls of steel. I'll gladly give him that.
BTW, I believe there were vocals piped in. They sounded too big to be real. But WTF? Everybody else does it And it was nice to have the Choruses really kick.

Alex was absolutely perfect. He's obviously older and not the wildman he once was but seemed to be working hard and deliberately at getting everything spot on.
He did a fantastic job on everything and it showed in the end product.
It was great to hear THE ALEX VAN HALEN DRUM SOUND live! Fucking awesome! That Thoonk! of the snare was there!


Dave was the only non surprise the show offered. Of course he does seem to be singing better than he has in years I'd agree. (I think he might have had a little backing tracks of his own pumped in)
Other than that, Dave didn't do any schtick that I haven't seen him do a hundred times before. He sounded great doing it and by doing it on a Van Halen stage it really gelled the whole scene. He is obviously in his glory and that's where Roth is at his best.

Speaking of gelling the whole scene.... Something remarkable happened in my row last night.
There were a couple of no show empty seats right next to my seat that were making it quite pleasant and easy to see the whole stage and enjoy the spectacle. About 1/3 into the show a group of about five or six longhaired kids ( early to mid 20's) descended on my row like a group of invading turks from the North Jumping, singing, and smoking pot.
I was initially put off by this vulgar distraction. How dare these wandering squatters choose my row to infest squeezing six writhing hairy bodies into three spaces!
Those fuckers! I'll tell on them! Get an usher to throw them out!
But after a couple of well placed elbows and knowing glances, we reached a tolerant understanting. They would not try to deprive me of my bought and paid for spot and I would not try to get them punished for simply being kids. Rock and roll fans that were there for the Rock and the Roll party and that's about it.
I saw in these young vulgar creatures a bit of myself that I had suppressed more than I realized. They reminded me what it was all about.
We sang, danced, partied, and shouted. After all. was fuckin' VAN HALEN!

[diamondsgirl]

And very cool that Dave mentioned that he saw a bumper sticker that said "Van Halen - I Can Barely See The Road"

[diamondsgirl]

Originally posted by Northern Girl
Van Halen returns to the party

By Joan Anderman, Globe Staff | October 31, 2007

Roth was a sadder version of his old cartoonish self, grinning madly and strutting stupidly and mustering as much enthusiasm as he could in a new, narrower vocal range. His halfhearted leg kicks and awkward twirling of the mike only served as reminders of antics gone by.

Joan, you ignorant slut. :D

Marley's earthy R&B and hip-hop has less than nothing in common with Van Halen. But there he was, dusting off his famous father's most famous songs.

Joan Anderman can be reached at : anderman@globe.com.

do your homework, bitch!

[Dave's PA Rental]

I'm speechless after witnessing that show last night.

I've been too busy in real-life (being at World Series games until 1:30, then getting up at 6 to teach 110 sixth graders about stars and planets...) to read anything about lousy shows in KC...so I had no idea.

They were absolutely on fucking TOP of their game last night. I can't believe how TIGHT this band is. This is my second show. Mohegan Sun was my first, so the 'shine' is off, and I was really able to study the musicianship of every one on stage. It's really comical how people are trying to suggest that Wolfie isnt playing/singing...or that Eddie isnt playing/singing...COMICAL.

Wolfie is LEGIT. Dave was right. The kid can bring it.

I hope...HOPE that they release a DVD of last nights Boston show. I was on the side of the stage so I had a good view of the video monitor off of stage left...the live video editing was crazy good. They looked great, and sounded better.

If you are still holding out on seeing this tour because Mikey isnt there, please reconsider. You will not believe how great they sound.

I saw it with my own eyes, heard it with my own ears.

Case closed.

Slam Dunk.

[pismo10]

There were some great videos on Youtube of the Boston show, but I cant find them now, just im the one.

[diamondsgirl]

speaking of I'm the One...wtf happened to "babadashoobeedoowah"? It was left out.

Or did I black out momentarily? :D

could be

[pismo10]

They just stopped there for a few seconds then started up again.

[diamondsgirl]

Originally posted by pismo10
They just stopped there for a few seconds then started up again.

yeah and then they bowed...but no "babadda...'. I was bummed.

[arastar]

Pismo, check my thread that reads "Halen Boston Pics and video. I have 3 vids posted and a few pictures...ENJOY!

[Loons The Great]

Where's the full reviews from Max and DG??