The Official Mohegan Sun 10/5 Meetup/Review Thread

[tjvhou812]

not only was that the best concert i ever seen, but im going to see them again in worcester.....life is good

[topjimmy1984]

Just back from Mohegan Sun, Amazing, tight, energetic performance. I went to opening night in Charlotte, that was an a-, Mohegan the band was more loose, more talking by DLR, Dave and Edd have hit their stride, they are not faking this reunion. They hugged 2-3 times, ed and dave got pissed when eds guitar went out on SGMAD, wofie and the uncle jammed blues style, dave announced they were having technical difficulties, then ed plugged bak in.

Vocals were dead on, Wolfie has guaranteed that we will never see Michael Anthony again in this band again. dave and ed did that motorcycle sound during EWS, pretty cool. I was loge 114, and I thought the crowd was loud, noone sat during the entire show. During Jump, a big fight broke out on the floor, 5 state troopers and arena security could not subdue a 300 pound, 6 6 maniac. Don't miss this show.!!

[diamondsgirl]

I am sooo happy for Wolf. What a fucking rush it must be for a kid that age to get reviews like this when so many were so skeptical!

I am sure Val is beaming!

[Hyman Roth]

Originally posted by Chong Li
...Roth may have lost some of the athleticism in his trademark spinning kicks, but his persona — a combination of toreador, seen-it-all burlesque queen and judo-period Elvis — once again proved indispensable to the music. ...

Its funny and its accurate.

[cMb]

VAN HALEN KICKS ASS!

I don't know if there's a better place to see a show than the Mohegan Sun. At least not here on the East coast. I'm sure a show in Vegas would be pretty awesome, but here on the Atlantic, it doesn't get any better than this.

The atmosphere of the casino area is electric. There's pretty women everywhere, flashing lights & the smell of cigarette smoke in the air. I don't smoke, but the whole loose mood created by the alcohol, smokes & gambling just seems to 'fit' what a Van Halen concert is all about for me.

I managed to rid myself of a few hundred bucks within a couple hour span previous to the show. It was all in good fun though. The house always wins in the end, right?

On to the show! We had seats in section 18, which is in the back of the lower level, on Ed's side. People are saying there's not a bad seat in the house, well, these seats aren't great, but due to the massive screen on stage, you (almost) don't miss a thing.

Speaking of the screen presentation, why was it in black & white for at least 4 or 5 songs? Why is it totally off for the intro to Ice Cream Man? WTF?

Anyway, the setlist didn't vary at all from previous shows. For the most part, it was exactly the same as the 9/27 boot. One thing that wasn't done was the 'Bop Bada Shooby Doo Wah' part of 'I'm the One'. I thought they sounded great doing this on the boot & I wonder why it was cut out.

During 'Get Me A Doctor', Ed appeared to step on his guitar cable & it seemed to fuck up the jack on his guitar. They tried at least 2 new cables & nothing seemed to work until he went offstage & got a new axe. While all that was going on, Wolfie looked lost. He attempted a little improv thing, that I thought Shemp was trying to lead him into, but the kid didn't seem to know what to do.

"Oh, no, Dad never told me what to do if this happens!"

Wolf was all-around solid & I didn't miss Sobolewski at all.

Alex? He is bangin'! Obviously, much of his solo is piped in, but he really is the glue that holds the band together. He is as good, if not better than he has ever been. More-so than any other member of the band, I questioned his abilities on this tour, & I came away most impressed by him than any body else. He is really fuckin' good.

Dave? Plenty of roundhouse kicks, plenty of Dave-isms & all around spectacular showmanship. He is the prototype for rock-n-roll front-men & he sounds as good as ever. He never tried to be a clone of the albums in a live setting, & on this tour he is as close as I ever recall. He held the note at the end of 'Little Dreamer' like no one can. Awesome!

Ed? So much energy! He's jumping around like he's 30! He looks great & his playing is still amazing. His solo lifted parts directly from Cathedral, Eruption & Women In Love. Great stuff. A lot of people think Wolf has to prove himself on this tour, but I think it's Ed who has the most to prove. So far, he's getting props everywhere this tour is going, & I'll give him props, too. He was fun to watch & listen to last night.

He made a reference to 'This is a whole new band, which (at least to me) indicates new music coming up. Otherwise, this tour is really just a 'new band' covering another bands songs.

Piped in vocals? I don't know. The background 'Oooooh's' during the 'Little Dreamer' chorus sounded really clean, maybe a little too clean. With today's technology, you really can't tell unless somebody makes a glaring mistake, which no one did. If there isn't any taped vox, Wolfie, Ed & Dave are doing a bang-up job.

The crowd seemed pretty stoked to me. Everybody I could see was dancing & headbanging & throwing fists in the air. The floor became one big mass of people with no aisles to speak of that I could see. It looked like once you were on the floor, you could have gotten as close as you wanted or as close as the crowd allowed.

Highlights for me:
-Romeo Delight. This song sums up everything CVH is to me. Loud, abrasive & in your motherfucking face! I got chills down my spine!
-Everybody Wants Some! Another bangin' track. This was the absolute highlight for me last night. I fuckin love this song & they hit it spot-on last night. After 'Dance The Night Away' was the big hit for VHII, they came out heavy-as-fuck on WACF with bangers like this one. More chills down my spine, & even some tittie hard-ons too! :D

Like many others, CVH was the soundtrack to some great years in my life & this show took me back. If you can't have a good time at this tour, you must be trying to be miserable...

See ya at MSG!

[Hyman Roth]

Originally posted by cMb
VAN HALEN KICKS ASS!

I don't know if there's a better place to see a show than the Mohegan Sun.

...See ya at MSG!

Thanks for the review. Little Dreamer was one I questioned as well regarding pre-recorded vocals. I seem to recall seeing a YouTube showing Ed yelling at someone side stage when he is supposed to be singing...there was no audible difference in the vocal tracks....sorry no linkee.

[cMb]

This is the only halfway decent pic I got

[jharp84]

I can't wait to feel that love "chicago" style!!

[jharp84]

Originally posted by diamondsgirl
I am sooo happy for Wolf. What a fucking rush it must be for a kid that age to get reviews like this when so many were so skeptical!

I am sure Val is beaming!

NOTHIN BUT YEAH!!

[jharp84]

Originally posted by cMb
This is the only halfway decent pic I got

FUCK YES!!!!

[chi-town324]

let the count down to Chicago begin..thanks for the pics

[jharp84]

Originally posted by chi-town324
let the count down to Chicago begin..thanks for the pics

Rob! I vote you "toastmaster general" Let's hit the ground runnin!!!! No drink til hammersmith!!!! :bottle:

[Dave's PA Rental]

"Three-quarters Original...one part Inevitable..."

A great Roth quote from the show, that pretty much summed up my whole evening...

So where do I begin? That's a tough one. I think I'll begin somewhere close to the middle...

They are playing 'Everybody Wants Some' and the crazy-hot 43 year old mom and her 14 year old daughter (who must be the prettiest girl in her entire 10th grade) are standing next to me. They have been enjoying the show the entire time, and then during the song Dave says "Take off the fat dress...get on the mattress". Crazy-hot mom turns to said pretty daughter and the two exchange a LOOK. Mom's eyes get wide and a smile grows...

There were at least two Van Halen families there last night, and im sure that in other cities this is the case as well. Next to me was the family of the pretty daughter, the hot mom, the 12 year old pudgy boy and the father...

On stage there was the family of the father, the son, and the uncle...and “Uncle Dave”.

One of the many things that stood out to me about the show, and something that if you aren’t a father, you can’t appreciate…was the wonderful bond that Eddie and Wolfie share…all throughout the night there was evidence of a proud father teaching his son the craft of music and musicianship. Probably the same way, in essence, that Eddie and Alex’ father showed them…

The parents next to me were also sharing something with their kids. The daughter next to me was mouthing along with all of the songs…I can just imagine mom playing ‘Fair Warning’ in the CD player on the way to soccer practice for all those years…the son was doing some serious air-guitar all night…and generally just rocking the fuck out…probably thanks to dad playing ‘Van Halen I’ and ‘Women And Children First’ at backyard cook-outs, and air-guitaring it up in between sessions of ‘pull my finger’ and ‘go get me a beer’ with his son…

Let’s talk about “The Son”. One Wolfgang Van Halen. There has been a lot of speculation regarding Wolfie’s playing and singing. Is it really him doing all of that? Imagine that you are a young child, and your father is Eddie Van Halen. Your uncle is Alex Van Halen. You grew up in a house where the back yard was a recording studio. Do you suppose that since Wolfie was able to walk, his dad and his uncle were showing him how to play, how to sing and how to perform? Why is it such a leap of faith for some people to believe that Wolfie VAN HALEN can play the bass and sing and do a really fucking good job at it?

It has been documented that during SGMAD last night that Eddie’s guitar stopped working for whatever reason…and there was a four minute improv-jam session with the drums and Wolfie’s bass…I was very impressed that the kid was able to scramble and keep up with his uncle while his dad was having a mini-conniption and basically fixing the problem himself. The only thing I wish that Wolfie had done, was to walk out to the front of the stage while he was covering for his dad’s equipment problem. Wolfie, if you read this, and something like that happens again, don’t be afraid of the spotlight. You would have brought the house down…but I would like to believe that Dave or your dad already told you that after the show last night…

Rampant speculation regarding how the backing vocals were “piped in” because the sound is “too good” to be live…give it up, please. They aren’t moving around THAT much to be out of breath…’I’m The One’ was changed up a bit last night, so any backing track being played for the background vocals would be off-time with the rest of the song…there were hundreds of little nuances regarding the backing vocals to prove that they were live last night, and grainy camera-video YouTubes don’t show any of them. Singing into different mics, being a little bit late in getting there and having to speed up the words…I’m not saying that their live voices weren’t being processed a bit (pitch-correction, etc…which they can do in real-time now…), but please, stop with the conspiracy theories.

Eddie’s solo. I heard of few of the boots from the end of the Van Hagar reunion and I really felt bad for Eddie. His playing was awful. His solos were real bad. So last night as the rest of the band clears the stage and Eddie is getting ready to do his solo, I’m standing there and I think of the movie ‘The Perfect Storm’…the swordfish boat had struck out on the Grand Banks so the Skipper moved them out to the Flemmish Cap…their first string is about to come in and the crew is standing around looking at George Clooney…the anticipation builds and Mark Wahlberg anxiously says “Come on skip…do it”. Eddie’s solo starts and im anxiously watching him thinking “Do it Eddie…do it”

Eddie’s solo is like a familiar song in our heads…we know all the parts…heard ‘em dozens and dozens of times. Now when he deviates from that ‘song’, or brains try to tell us that “he fucked it up”. People have complained for years that Eddie’s solo is the same thing over and over again…The solo that he did last night was amazing. It was refreshing. It made me smile and laugh and yell and jump around…

It was a slammer.

The whole night was a slammer. Van Halen filled the storage tanks and returned to port last night as victors. And we get to enjoy the spoils…

Twenty-three years. Long-ass time. Have any non-sport, non-Van Halen fans ever waited so long for something that they loved so much? Dave and Eddie are back. And their new family is with them.

[jgdrag]

Sweet review. I hear Ed is playing better every show/

[Halen High]

More great reviews. These shows must be amazing!!!

I'm happy for all you guys in the US and Canada. You really deserve this for keeping the faith through all these years. I hope they come to Australia next year. There are a lot of people here who need to see the real Van Halen and hear all those hard rockin' tunes from the glory days.