The Official Ft. Lauderdale 2/12 Meetup/Review Thread

[hotdog@ a shake]

Hey fellow Classic Van Halen bros and sistaz ...

I'm going 2 the show in Ft. Lauderdale, but I want real good seats this time, not fuck n nose bleeds ...

Does this mean I have to buy VIP tickets ? How do all those fucks down in front actually get there ?

Any help would b greatly appreciated ...

[Hyman Roth]

Originally posted by WARF
I'm buyin' tickets as soon as they go on sale!!

[VAiN]

Originally posted by hotdog@ a shake
Hey fellow Classic Van Halen bros and sistaz ...

I'm going 2 the show in Ft. Lauderdale, but I want real good seats this time, not fuck n nose bleeds ...

Does this mean I have to buy VIP tickets ? How do all those fucks down in front actually get there ?

Any help would b greatly appreciated ...

Well... you have 2 options - 1. Jump on ticketmaster and click away as soon as they're on sale and keep pluggin till you find a section that you like, or 2. Use a broker like stubhub.com or ebay. I've had great success with both of those.

I'll be following this exact plan myself...

[gamaradiation2]

just a reminder tickets go on sale this saturday at 10 am.

[VAiN]

I'm in! Sect 108, row 10 with the isle seat! Woooo!!!!

[VAiN]

2 weeks, bitches!!! I can't wait!

[Va Beach VH Fan]

Sticky, T minus one week.....

[ODShowtime]

Last summer I pretty much lived at the Crowne plaza right there by sawgrass. Not a bad hotel. It's a short walk to the arena and has a bar.

There are a shit load of bars in the mall right by the arena, as someone mentioned.

Just FYI.

[VAiN]

I'll be at GameWorks across the street from the venue, next to the movie theatre at Sawgrass enjoying 2-4-1 25oz. beers... Who will be joining me?

[VAiN]

I just got back from the show. This was my 4th show of the tour and overall, I'd say it was a very strong show. VH came out kicking some pretty serious ass. Eddie was playing a new version of the new Wolfgang. This one was like a dark grayish-blue. It sounded great and so did Eddie.
He was really sharp tonight up until ICM - he totally blew the solo for that song which was a bit of a let down for me. He just wasn't ready for it and kind of froze for a second... the silence was awkward. Also, no story to kick off ICM - Dave just launched into the song. It seems that the past couple of shows have been more business like... almost feeling rushed. I suppose to the average fan who hasn't seen or heard several shows you wouldn't notice.
Eddie's solo was also a bit of a let down.... he played through 316, and added a bit of 'Girl Gone Bad' in there, then onto Spanish Fly, but just the tapping part. Most of the solo consisted of tapping and Cathedral - which makes me think that Eddie may be having problems with his hands. It's been mentioned here before and now I'm more inclined to believe it. He just didn't do any of the fast runs that require a stretch.
But other then that, the show was excellent - Dave was awesome as always, Al killed it and Wolf played great as well. I just wish it didn't feel so rushed.
Some highlights for me were Romeo Delight, Everybody Wants Some and Hot For Teacher. Eddie nailed those songs and everything else up to ICM.
I'll also be catching them next time they hit Lauderdale on Feb 20.

[Grant]

I wish I could make some of these Florida dates. I'm taking a holiday across the Caribbean for much of March going into early April, arriving in Miami on 7th March. Too bad the boys decided to take a break during that period. Hope y'alls going have an awesome time!

[rwc]

Is that blue-gray Wolfgang really a different guitar - it looks like Eddie painted the white guitar he had Sunday night in Atlanta.


Good review for this show... If you click around they have pictures too.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/entertainment/sfl-0213vanhalen,0,2472152.story

SUNRISE - Gone so long -- banished, really -- David Lee Roth practically qualifies as Van Halen's new lead singer. And doesn't he know it. The huge smile tattooed on Roth's face on Tuesday night at sold-out BankAtlantic Center gave him the look of a disbelieving contestant, as if he'd just won the job on a reality show.

Van Halen proved it didn't need "Diamond Dave," their first frontman, to prosper and carry on as kings of radio rock. But his return, on a tour reprising the Roth/Van Halen years (1978-1985), gives this band a motivating kick in the backside and a reason to exist -- besides money -- that otherwise might not have presented itself.

There's a lot of music to be played and reclaimed -- songs that held up well enough with Roth's successor, Sammy Hagar, at the microphone but never sounded ideal. Hagar is a power vocalist; Roth more of a showman employing theatrics, timing and a bit of comedy. The first six albums depended on the sound of Roth sparring with the Van Halen brothers -- guitarist Eddie and drummer Alex -- and then-bassist Michael Anthony.



Related links
Van Halen at the BankAtlantic Center Photos
BLOG | Notes on Music: Van Halen in Sunrise - here's the set list
Roth's position in Van Halen might or might not be provisional, but if he doesn't own the job free and clear he certainly owned his performance on Tuesday in front of more than 15,000 people. With his voice sounding not-unpleasantly rough, and his vocals getting little or no sweetening from the soundboard, Roth sang, yelped, blustered, barked and crooned his way admirably through 23 songs in two hours of stage time.

Even his occasionally awestruck demeanor helped: Roth, 52, seems to be rediscovering what a fun band Van Halen is to be in. The mix of joy and relish he brought to being the frontman again was one of the concert's most appealing features.

And apparently, he doesn't want to muck it up. He was charming in the care he took when interacting with his bandmates, including new bassist Wolfgang Van Halen, Eddie's teen-aged son. It was as if Roth wondered how much horseplay was appropriate, how much he could presume on the old relationships.

The trio of Van Halens looked and sounded happy in any case to have Roth back in the fold. They performed with as much spirit and engagement as he did, from the slashing first strokes of "You Really Got Me" to a buoyant encore, two hours later, of "Jump." The new, familial rhythm section of Alex and his nephew attacked the band's pumped-up, pop-savvy rock songs expertly. "Unchained" contained the only miscue, insofar as something caused the youngest Van Halen's bass guitar to slip audibly out of tune.

The set contained just about anything a Roth-era Van Halen fan could have asked for. There were signature hits such as "Runnin' with the Devil" and "Hot for Teacher." There were "deep tracks" of the kind that separate casual fans from the devout, such as "Romeo Delight" and "Mean Street."

Eddie Van Halen's guitar work was the most essential ingredient in all of these, and he played as he always does -- like a race driver with the hood off the engine, the better to reach into the guts of the machinery to get every rev to its absolute peak and to put every ounce of power at his disposal. There's also a case to be made that having Roth as a spur made Eddie Van Halen that much sharper and faster around the course.

Van Halen plays the BankAtlantic Center again on February 20.

Sean Piccoli can be reached at spiccoli@sun-sentinel.com or 954-356-4832.

[VAiN]

Yeah, I do think it's a new guitar - he brought out the white one at the end of the show... The new one sounds great.
Great show overall, but I just feel that Eddie was having hand problems... he played great, but seemed to play it a little 'safe'.

[rwc]

That guitar is the shit. Literally. Look closely under the pickup...

:-D

[Jim Shetterlini]

Earlier this year he had a wrap around his left wrist, one that is similar to others I have seen people where for nerve or tendon problems.