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Alrighty. So background here... in 1985 I was 9 years old and my best friend's older brother was 10 years older than we were. He introduced us to The Who, the Doors, Led Zeppelin (despite the fact that they broke up years before), and, most significantly, Van Halen. 1984 was the first album I ever bought with my own money; and I spent two weeks deciding between vinyl, which would have come with the full meal deal, and cassette, which would have been "portable." For What It's Worth, I chose the cassette.
Less than a year later, for whatever reason (Dave leaving or being fired, it doesn't matter which), my childhood ended. For real. To me, David Lee Roth's separation from Van Halen was one of those incidents that Ruined My Childhood(tm). Now please don't get me wrong. Yes, I fucking well know that I'm lucky that I can look back and that's the worst fucking thing that I had to deal with: kids deal with far. far worse than their favorite band "breaking up." But to me, no DLR in Van Halen was tantamount to something totally fucking wrong with the world.
Sammy Hagar, he of such half-ass rock-n-roll tracks as "I Can't Drive 55," was the new lead singer in Van Halen whether I fucking liked it or not; and something was utterly fucking wrong with the world. I'm sure that there are people out there who had their rock-n-roll awakening to something by Van Hagar, but all I can feel is total for those poor sods. "Finish What Ya Started" might have had some sweet ass booty in the video and licks in the solo and "Right Now" might have been The Right Song at the Right Time(tm), but fucked if it was proper Rawk Out Witcher Cock Out the way Van Fucking Halen was meant to be. Meanwhile. Dave was rocking out with a fine band on the EEAS tour, but to no avail. Dave & Ed(tm) was the shit and even the stupid weren't fooled by Dave's, nor the "new" VH's pretentions to same.
A decade later, I got a taste again. The MTV Music Video awards circa 1996 made me think, for however briefly, that DLR and VH were once again the same thing. I made preparations; fuck, I opened a bank account (how ridiculous does that sound) specifically to contain the money it would take me to get to and attend a Van Halen show.
How completely fucking foolish I was.
It's now 2007, ten years again after the last time I was totally fooled. I've been following rumors since late 2006 about David Lee Roth "returning to the fold" and going on tour with Van Halen. And I got caught up; I got excited...
...but not so excited that I was willing to spring for tickets. I saw Toronto got up and said to myself, "if there's any legs, they'll do Montreal and I'll buy tickets then..." and then Montreal was announced. And yet I sit here, Toronto and Montreal shows not withstanding, with no tickets on the way. And I can no longer justify such a cost, creative accounting notwithstanding...
The totally sad fucking fact of the matter is, I can't afford to go. And yet after the rehearsal clips on YouTube. After the Real Fucking Deal on YouTube, I never had the stones to believe that it was real, that Van-Fucking-Halen was going to be in full effect on stage, large and fucking in-charge, two hours by air away from me.
I was never one to back Michael Anthony; original member or no, I don't believe it matters a whit whether he's there or not as long as Dave and Ed are rocking the stage.
I just didn't believe that a tour would happen. And, if it did, I didn't believe that it would be anything close to what I believed, as a 9 or 10 year-old or even as a 30 or 31-year-old, it could possibly be.
In short, I was a total fucking non-believer.
You people who bought tickets, you people who truly believed that whatever it was it would justify 20 years of frustration and pain, you folks are the true fans. Me, I'm a complete fucking douchebag. And I deserve the regret that I feel every time I load this forum as I reflect upon those people who, despite all the naysayers and shit-talkers, made the commitment and bought the fucking tickets.
You guys are the true fans. I don't deserve to hold your jockstraps.
Enjoy the shows, my friends, and honor yourselves as the few and the proud, who believed when belief was for suckers. I'll just cue up the classic 6-pack and wish I was a better man than I am.
Less than a year later, for whatever reason (Dave leaving or being fired, it doesn't matter which), my childhood ended. For real. To me, David Lee Roth's separation from Van Halen was one of those incidents that Ruined My Childhood(tm). Now please don't get me wrong. Yes, I fucking well know that I'm lucky that I can look back and that's the worst fucking thing that I had to deal with: kids deal with far. far worse than their favorite band "breaking up." But to me, no DLR in Van Halen was tantamount to something totally fucking wrong with the world.
Sammy Hagar, he of such half-ass rock-n-roll tracks as "I Can't Drive 55," was the new lead singer in Van Halen whether I fucking liked it or not; and something was utterly fucking wrong with the world. I'm sure that there are people out there who had their rock-n-roll awakening to something by Van Hagar, but all I can feel is total for those poor sods. "Finish What Ya Started" might have had some sweet ass booty in the video and licks in the solo and "Right Now" might have been The Right Song at the Right Time(tm), but fucked if it was proper Rawk Out Witcher Cock Out the way Van Fucking Halen was meant to be. Meanwhile. Dave was rocking out with a fine band on the EEAS tour, but to no avail. Dave & Ed(tm) was the shit and even the stupid weren't fooled by Dave's, nor the "new" VH's pretentions to same.
A decade later, I got a taste again. The MTV Music Video awards circa 1996 made me think, for however briefly, that DLR and VH were once again the same thing. I made preparations; fuck, I opened a bank account (how ridiculous does that sound) specifically to contain the money it would take me to get to and attend a Van Halen show.
How completely fucking foolish I was.
It's now 2007, ten years again after the last time I was totally fooled. I've been following rumors since late 2006 about David Lee Roth "returning to the fold" and going on tour with Van Halen. And I got caught up; I got excited...
...but not so excited that I was willing to spring for tickets. I saw Toronto got up and said to myself, "if there's any legs, they'll do Montreal and I'll buy tickets then..." and then Montreal was announced. And yet I sit here, Toronto and Montreal shows not withstanding, with no tickets on the way. And I can no longer justify such a cost, creative accounting notwithstanding...
The totally sad fucking fact of the matter is, I can't afford to go. And yet after the rehearsal clips on YouTube. After the Real Fucking Deal on YouTube, I never had the stones to believe that it was real, that Van-Fucking-Halen was going to be in full effect on stage, large and fucking in-charge, two hours by air away from me.
I was never one to back Michael Anthony; original member or no, I don't believe it matters a whit whether he's there or not as long as Dave and Ed are rocking the stage.
I just didn't believe that a tour would happen. And, if it did, I didn't believe that it would be anything close to what I believed, as a 9 or 10 year-old or even as a 30 or 31-year-old, it could possibly be.
In short, I was a total fucking non-believer.
You people who bought tickets, you people who truly believed that whatever it was it would justify 20 years of frustration and pain, you folks are the true fans. Me, I'm a complete fucking douchebag. And I deserve the regret that I feel every time I load this forum as I reflect upon those people who, despite all the naysayers and shit-talkers, made the commitment and bought the fucking tickets.
You guys are the true fans. I don't deserve to hold your jockstraps.
Enjoy the shows, my friends, and honor yourselves as the few and the proud, who believed when belief was for suckers. I'll just cue up the classic 6-pack and wish I was a better man than I am.
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