The Official Washington 11/1 Meetup/Review Thread

[thome]

Originally posted by riggodrill44
Review from today's Washington Times:


REVIEW: Roth-flavored Van Halen rocks

In Concert/Scott Galupo
November 2, 2007

David Lee Roth can thank his lucky Netherlanders.

Last night at Verizon Center, Mr. Roth was back as the triumphantly cheesy lead singer of ’80s hard-rock superstars Van Halen.

Before his rapprochement with brothers Eddie and Alex Van.

Let me guess Scott is a pen name for some bulldyke , who would rather be at a kD Lang show or scott is a guy who would rather be at his real gig as a drag queen.

I see masculine hater overtones.

Not so much a review as a slam on Dudes.

Yes /No?

[diamondsgirl]

or his girlfriend loves Dave and he's a jealous prick :D

[naturochem]

Originally posted by diamondsgirl
sum bitch needs to do his homework

and wtf is an elliptical pit?

He's talking about the (oval) pit adjacent to the catwalk.

The dude seems to be a bit full of himself, linguistically speaking...but, and I've been a major DAVE fan for 30+yrs, you have to admit the "Strummin wit the Devil" thing was pretty fuckin embarrassing...

[Hyman Roth]

Originally posted by VanHalener
Have a bit more to share (assuming people want to hear it), but I have not slept in two days, need food, need pain killer for my vocal chords and sore stomach muscles, and my girl is in bed waiting to hear how things went.

(whisper mode active) gonna try to get in a late night make out session.

Speaking of hot chicks...as riggo said, "...did you see the talent walking around the concourse tonight?" WOW! I could have posted in several threads for quite a while had I taken a camera with me.

Want to give a shout out to Tiki-Tom and SparkieD. Cool folks, man!

What a night to remember!


Here's to the Roth Army

Van Halen is alive and well.

GO PEOPLE! JUST GO! You will never regret it!

Long Live Van Halen!

:bottle:

[DLD]

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kubacheck/sets/72157602833937912/

a slideshow.....

[jgdrag]

Nice pics

[Dan]

Originally posted by DLD
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kubache...7602833937912/

a slideshow.....

Thanks.

[thome]

Originally posted by DLD
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kubache...7602833937912/

a slideshow.....

Wow,, great pics ,must have been a great show.

[MrSwede]

I tried to find an e-mail address for Scott Galupo as that was the most biased self-gratifying review of the tour I have yet to read. How do people like that get to write for papers like the Washington Times?

Here is a review that makes a little more sense http://www.baltimoresun.com/entertai...rtslife-movies

[Dan]

Originally posted by MrSwede
I tried to find an e-mail address for Scott Galupo as that was the most biased self-gratifying review of the tour I have yet to read. How do people like that get to write for papers like the Washington Times?

Here is a review that makes a little more sense http://www.baltimoresun.com/entertai...rtslife-movies

Sweet Review,Thanks MrSwede And Roth On.

[Tiki-Tom]

Originally posted by VanHalener
[B

Want to give a shout out to Tiki-Tom and SparkieD. Cool folks, man!

What a night to remember![/B]

Thanks man. Wish we could have been there. Sounds like you had a blast.

[DLD]

17 or 18 shows? The way things look (between songs etc) they seem to have finally buried the hatchet. Lets hope it stays buried because this configuration of the band could make a tremendous LP!

[riggodrill44]

From today's Washington Post.

Van Halen: Alive and Riffing

By Dave McKenna
Special to The Washington Post
Saturday, November 3, 2007; Page C01

As sure as the rivers will flow and the sun will rise, David Lee Roth will get canned from Van Halen. Again, that is -- just as he was canned in 1985.

But for more than two hours at Verizon Center on Thursday, Roth was in the fold, and the giggles were back. By the time Roth yelled, "We're back! I heard you missed us!," as Eddie Van Halen plucked the golden riff that carries "Hot for Teacher," it was clear that hard rock was never more fun than when these guys were making it together.

Roth, now 52, described the current Van Halen lineup as "three-quarters original and one-quarter inevitable," the originals being himself and Eddie and Alex Van Halen. The inevitable is ingenue bassist Wolfgang Van Halen, the teenage son of the onetime "It" couple Eddie Van Halen and Valerie Bertinelli. (During a brief walk-through of the arena, proud mom Bertinelli, now a spokeswoman for Jenny Craig, got more cheers than the Van Halen dirigibles that floated above the crowd just before showtime.)

The night had flaws, for sure. The sound mix was often horrendous, with Wolfgang's bass muddy from first note to last. And although every audience member knew every word and how and when it should be sung, Roth occasionally seemed lost: He missed every vocal cue on "Jump," rendering perhaps the band's trademark tune unlistenable.

But the minuses got pancaked by the pluses. The old guys were far fitter than tabloid reports indicated. Since the first parting with Roth, Eddie has survived: oral cancer, a hip replacement, the breakups of his marriage and his partnerships with Sammy Hagar and original bassist Michael Anthony, and enough trips to rehab to embarrass Lindsay Lohan. He didn't even show up at Van Halen's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction this year, reportedly because of health issues. But here he was at 52 shirtless and so ripped you could see every tendon in his upper body whenever he launched himself off the drum riser for any of his countless flying split kicks.

Eddie's fingers can still walk, too. For "Ain't Talkin' Bout Love," he nailed the solo break that, back in 1978, announced him to the pop world. By now, other folks have adopted his fret-tapping, hyper-fast playing style, and even surpassed him in technique. Then again, Picasso wasn't the only guy ever to paint a bent nose: Eddie introduced tapping to the dirtball masses and thereby changed the way electric guitar was played.

Roth, too, flaunted a physique that can come only from a diet of tofu and pull-ups. Roth let his Dirty Dave side hold court for most of the night. He told the crowd he was "lookin' for my own Hannah Montana!" during "Running With the Devil." He stuffed a fan's cellphone into his leather pants during "Everybody Wants Some," then launched into a monologue that had him telling an imaginary partner to "Lose the dress, keep the shoes." All in fun, mind you.

Roth dropped the nutty act only briefly, while introducing "Ice Cream Man," as he recounted how great life was when he first joined the band in the early 1970s and they charged $1 a head to play local house parties.
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The band's melding of gaiety and ingenuity was clearest during "Panama." While Roth frolicked and led the crowd in a screamalong of the title, Eddie and Wolfgang sang falsetto harmonies. Like much of the band's vintage output, it mixed the power-chord crunch of the heaviest metal with the high-lonesome angst of bluegrass. Nobody before or since ever made such a sound.

[BALLYJUNKIE]

FOR THE 100TH TIME .....DAVE LEFT VAN HALEN ,HE QUIT ,HE WAS NOT FIRED !!! I WISH THESE PEOPLE WOULD GET THEIR FACTS STRAIGHT !!!

[riggodrill44]

My take on the concert, FWIW.


INTRODUCTION
Why does some music transcend time while other songs have relevance for 15 minutes and then pass away into the "where are they now" bin at the Target? I think it is the way the songs make us *feel* that makes us add those 20+ year old songs to our collective playlists. We want to recapture that feeling or have that feeling apply in the next season of our life. Baby Boomers do it with "Jailhouse Rock"... fondly remembering watching a black and white television with a rough looking southerner strut on stage during the Ed Sullivan Show... "A Hard Days Night"... recapturing how they felt when the Beatles stepped off the plane for the first time in America. Jimi Hendrix playing the "Star Spangled Banner" on a foggy morning to a bunch of tired hippies barely awake in a huge field in upstate New York. There is a feeling I, and evidently, many others like me, get when watching two suburban-bred Southern California guys singing about girls, partying with friends but also a twist of modern age-angst while grinning ear to ear, cutting up and displaying musical/theatrical virtuosity much copied by rarely replicated. Van Halen playing "Dance the Night Away" caused 20,000+ people to sing along and play air guitar perhaps making us feel that the girl (or guy) from across the room could feel love in the third degree.

THE DISGRACE
Just seven months ago, I witnessed a spectacle that pained me on the level of watching my favorite football team getting blown out in a Super Bowl. At the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame ceremony, my favorite band, Van Halen, was ushered in to the "hallowed" Hall. But the spectacle of Velvet Revolver performing an abortion of "Ain't Talking 'bout Love" and some other song and then watching in horror as Sammy Hagar and MIchael Anthony lead a group of other musicians in a rendition of "Why Can't This Be Love" made me turn off the TV. I erased the file from my DVR. The two icons who made VAN HALEN were not present. And their reputation was tarnished by people painfully trying to honor their legacy. It was a disgrace.

THE CLOUDS PART
In August of 2007, a tour was announced and David Lee Roth and Edward Van Halen committed to performing live together. David Lee Roth. Edward Van Halen. Two icons. Reunited, almost unbelievably and touring America in the fall of 2007. The question hanging over this announcement was clearly, "Could they pull it off?". One member from the original line up would be missing. His replacement, the son of Edward Van Halen... a boy only 16 years old, would be taking his place. I bought my ticket and eagerly awaited their appearance at the Verizon Center on November 1, 2007.

I am happy to report that not only did they pull it off... they recaptured much of the feeling that made them worthy of placement in a Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame.

THE CONCERT
Starting with their traditional supersonic guitar and drum noodling, the curtain dropped to the opening chords of "You Really Got Me". David Lee Roth at the highest part of the stage set waving a giant red flag. The crowd went fucking crazy. Diamond Dave and Eddie did soulfully noodle around a bit in the breakdown part of their first hit. It was followed immediately by "I'm the One", my personal favorite from the band's illustrious catalogue. This fast-tempo'd, guitar-led diddy implores you to "Show Your Love" which the crowd did. There is a breakdown near the end of the song that has a little "bop bada, shooby do wah" a capella. The band went silent while those in attendance stood and cheered wildly. This is the moment that made the hair on my arms stand on end. I was not alone. You see, "I'm the One" is a trendsetting song. You've got to be fucking good on your instrument to pull it off. You can't "fake it" like you can with the maw that record companies have forwarded to us as music in the past 20 years. And the singer has to bring an attitude to the vocals that can back up the phrase, "I'm the one the one you love, come on baby, show your love... hey, give it to me". Playing this song second is like walking into a party, socking the host in the mouth, taking his woman out to the car (with her approval), having a shag and then bringing her back in, a bit frazzled. Oh yeah, then you take a six pack of beer out of the fridge, get back in your Mustang and drive away.

I felt at this point like I could run through a brick wall.

Van Halen was all business. The first 8 songs pretty much rolled one into another. Dave did one little rap break that was less than a minute.

You Really Got Me
I'm the One
Running with the Devil (crowd singing vocals full throat)
Romeo Delight (breakdown part wanders into "Magic Bus"... Wolfie and Ed together obviously enjoying this)
Somebody Get Me a Doctor (introduced by Diamond Dave with a harmonica through a bullhorn... sounded very cool)
Beautiful Girls (Dave and background vocals sounded really good. Crowd sang along like at a keg party from 1980)
Dance the Night Away (Dave again sounded really good)
Atomic Punk (Ed breaks a string at the beginning of the solo which sets him back a little.)

I think much of the crowd was breathless by this point. My observation is that from this short list of songs it was clear that this was no Van Hagar or Van Gaylen concert. We were witnessing the REAL VAN HALEN, admittedly without Michael Anthony. But, his replacement wasn't a hired gun. He is flesh and blood. It reminded me of the Eat 'em and Smile tour when Dave and the band was all business and out to prove themselves. No one was resting on their laurels. They were rubbing your face in it.

So the opening part of the set was off the first two albums except for Romeo. The next four songs were off the "middle albums" and led up to the drum solo.

Everybody Wants Some (the breakdown was again a trip... I like... I like... I like... the anticipation was pretty fucking cool. Dave took us to a place that was the polar opposite of "Love Comes Walking In")

So This is Love (whoever the jackass is that says Wolfie ain't playing should shut the fuck up. Sit down, Waldo. He ain't perfect, he ain't seasoned... but he can play and, he's a Van Halen. I'll take my chances with him. The family name has a pretty good fucking track record... jackass.)

Mean Street (Dave appears to take pleasure at spitting out the words to this song. Eddie, of course, works out some anger issues during the solo in this tune. Fucking killer. He does miss the harmonic at the end of the intro this night)

Pretty Woman (I roll my eyes but when I look around, everyone is singing the words. Plus, they need a break as it has been 11 straight rounds of musical mayhem up to this point. Wolfie *is* singing and he blends well with Dave. I close my eyes and listen... I can't really hear a difference from my US Festival VHS)

Drum solo. I think they have a deal with the beer vendors... you have to do a drum solo so we can move more product. Seriously... why else do we still do this? This was cool in 1977. It ain't so cool in 2007. That is my opinion and I respect those who feel differently.

Over the next 8 songs, the band alternates paces. High energy and then they bring it down a little. This is also the part of the set where they introduce the keyboards.

Unchained (Crowd is going crazy for this one. Eddie is on his game as is Dave. Back up vocals sound good and again, I really can't see how people say they're piping it in. The breakdown features Dave doing a self-imitation with "hey man... that suit is you." He is interacting with Wolfie who asks if Dave will give him a break. 20,000+ respond ONE BREAK... COMING UP!!! It *feels* like old times again.)

I'll Wait (Hey... I'd rather hear Bottoms Up!, Hear About it Later or DOA, too. But, they need a break, all the girls are singing along and Eddie fucking nails the solo. He does this thing pretty regularly now where he slides up the neck and hits a high note that sustains with a WOOO... WOOO. Sounded really cool in this solo.)

And the Cradle Will Rock (another sing-a-long fest with this song. Eddie is fan-picking on much of the verse... yup... he can still do it.)
Hot for Teacher (This one brought the house down again. They're jumping around a lot on stage so things get a little sloppier musically but jesus h. christ this is a great song, especially live. I think it kind of sums up what this band has been missing the past 23 years.)

Little Dreamer (Sing-a-long city... especially the females in the crowd. Dave is up top in the white spotlight. Eddie plays the solo differently. Contrast this with that retarded Mad Anthony Express YouTube of this song.)
Little Guitars (A fine moment in the set. Dave really sings this song well. Backup vocals sound good. Pace is good. Crowd is singing along. Wolfie is playing what appears to be a 3/4 scale VH II paint style bass.)

Jamie's Crying (Eddie augments the guitar part on this and it sounds fucking killer. The backup vocals are there and Dave is nailing the words. All the guys in the crowd are chiming in during "And she knows, what that'll get her!" I felt like I was back in high school warily eyeing the girls in the parking lot as this song was pouring out of someone's Camaro.)

Ice Cream Man (Diamond David Lee Roth. At his finest. He starts out in the corner under what is supposed to appear as a streetlight. Then he walks out and tells the story. All of you who were around back then (circa 1975 - 1982) definitely can relate to the references. Deseeding pot. Pink Floyd albums. Keg parties. Girls being more proactive rather than passive. Backyard band gigs.

Panama (Great song. The whole package. Crowd is singing along. Sheep are still getting the lyrics wrong in the first chorus.)

Guitar Solo. He has to do it. It looks like he still wants to do it. I wouldn't mind if he didn't do it.

Ain't Talking 'bout Love (NEWS FLASH FOR SLASH and whoever that freak of a singer was at RRHOF... this how the song is supposed to be played, you morons.)

Encore
Jump (Dave on an inflatable microphone. Keyboards in synch with the guitar. Crowd enjoying it. Me... not so much.)

CONCLUSION
David Lee Roth and Edward Van Halen still got *it*. They have a magic that Eddie was not able to re-create after Dave left. And, Dave wasn't able to have the same counterpoint in his post-1985 world. The band, though three parts original... one part inevitable, has a catalogue of songs that take many in my generation to a place that feels really good. We fondly remember those times. They smiled the whole time, had fun, didn't take things to seriously and enabled the audience to participate in the party. I left wishing that they had played more. The crowd as at full capacity. They stood the whole time. They sang most of the lyrics along with the band.

The music they made on those first six albums transcends time. Perhaps with a new generation introduced *in* the band and *to* the band, they'll be able to apply that magic and create some new feelings in this fan. I just know that I now feel redeemed after that cold, dark night in March. When I felt let down and embarrassed to be a fan. I can now say again, firmly, that I am a fan of the greatest rock 'n roll band in my generation... the Mighty VAN HALEN.