The Official Jacksonville 2/16 Meetup/Review Thread

[Va Beach VH Fan]

New date announced....


VA

[unregistered]

FUCKIN A

I am there!!!!!!!!!!!!!


KANE, WHERE ARE YOU MY LITTLE BIOTCH? BRING YO ASS UP FROM HASTINGS :D :D :D

[mjm1984]

we are going! know any close hotels?

[unregistered]

Originally posted by mjm1984
we are going! know any close hotels?

I'll let you know, there is a nice hotel within walking distance to the arena--used to be adams mark --but has changed the name recently-


********tix go on sale dec 8th at 10am**************

[VanHalener]

Originally posted by unregistered
I'll let you know, there is a nice hotel within walking distance to the arena--used to be adams mark --but has changed the name recently-


********tix go on sale dec 8th at 10am**************

Why don't you register?


Just talked to Dad and a couple of childhood friends who are in Florida and it looks very likely that I'm gonna hit this show too. Dad has no idea how much fun he's gonna have watching me rock my guts out right next to him.

NC, Fla, NJ...I gots to have sum mo Van Halen. The future is so bright I'm outta here to go get some new shades.


VAN HALEN BITCHES!!!!!!!!!!

[SparkieD]

We'll be driving through Jax that day for our annual visit with Mickey. Sure would love to stay for this show. Come to think of it, the Daytona 500 is the next day. Those of you needing to book accomodations better do it early. I'm betting hotels will be booked at least as far as Jacksonville.

[VAiN]

Does anyone plan on getting extra tickets? If so, please PM me!

[unregistered]

Originally posted by mjm1984
we are going! know any close hotels?

There is the hyatt regency, that is the closest hotel to the venue.

https://www.jacksonville.hyatt.com/h...tels/index.jsp It is across the street from the Jacksonville Landing, Also there is a crowne plaza across the river

https://www.cpjacksonville.com

Hope this helps

I secured section 113, row P --- this is club seating --with a full bar right behind you. and restrooms very close

[Firebrand]

Tickets in hand!!

I just hope to goodness the momotum of the tour is still alive in eight weeks...

Regardless, looking forward to it!!

[Va Beach VH Fan]

Sticky, T minus one week....

[Firebrand]

T-minus 24 hours....

OK...who else is heading down?

Leaving South Georgia around noon!!

[Firebrand]

Great show...horrible PA

The boys were excellent, really, really enjoyed it...but FIRE THE STINKING SOUND COMPANY AND GET SOMEONE WHO CAN ACTUALLY MIX LIVE MUSIC!!

David Lee's vocals were simply buried for about 1/2 the show. Background vocals dominated lead vocals constantly. At times Eddie's guitar was so loud it was literally painful. Overall, the mix was AWFUL for far too much of the show.

But - BUT - besides that, it was a great night. Eddie was on and DLR was really working to get the vocals right. Wolfie smiled through most of it, and Alex - well, Alex was the anchor as always. There is a magic that exists between DLR and EVH, and you can feel it in the room when they are onstage together. I found myself with tears in my eyes more than once, and for gnarled and calloused 44-year old that was no small feat.

I will post a column I've written for our local newspaper later this afternoon about the entire experience.

[Firebrand]

Here y'all go....

Old Rockers Reunite - with Kids


I’ve been a rock music fan since the day I arrived on this earth some 44 years ago. For around 30 of those, I’ve actually made a stab at being a rock guitar player – and some folks have told me through those years I’m pretty good at it.

As a teacher, I get the opportunity to spend time around today’s teenagers, and the more time I spend around them the more I learn they have about as much use for much of today’s rock music as I do – which ain’t much.

Some of my ‘coolest’ students today have Boston music on their cell phones as ring tones. I bought my first Boston LP in 1976. I saw Boston live in 1977.

And kids are using their music for their ring tones today.

In fact, I will go as far to say that most kids who listen to rock today are listening to almost the exact same music I listened to when I was a kid. Furthermore, in some cases, the parents and their kids are today listening to the same music.

This point was illustrated perfectly this week.

On Saturday, my favorite band from my younger years, Van Halen, played in Jacksonville with their original lead singer, David Lee Roth, for the first time in 23 years ago. So Gene Carlton – with whom I have played in a band with for the last 25 or so years – and I loaded up to go to a real rock concert together for the first time since the last time we saw Van Halen in 1984.

On the way down, we reminisced about all of our rocker glory days. Neither of us played because we were wild men – actually, quite the opposite. We played because we loved the music.

I wondered out loud if this tour, with 50-something rockers starring, might be sponsored by Metamucil.

When we pulled into the parking lot, I got out of the truck to hear “Mr. Young!, Mr. Young!”, and lo and behold up pulls one of my students and his family – mom, dad, and brother – parking right beside us.

His dad asked how the young man was doing in my class, whereupon I told him he had missed a major project, what he could do to improve the grade, etc., and the dad responded he would get with me to talk about it.

In other words, I had a teacher/student/parent conference in the parking lot of a Van Halen concert. Wow.

Once inside, we settled next to a 50-something Gator fan sitting next to us who had the worst breath in the western hemisphere, and of course who proceeded to talk my head off at close range for an hour.

I scanned the room constantly, not just to avoid his halitosis, but mainly to take in all the moms, dads, sons and daughters who were in attendance together. In fact, out of the 11,000 or so there, probably near half were families.

The concert itself continued that theme. The band’s original bass player has been replaced with the 16-year old son of genius guitarist Eddie Van Halen, Wolfgang. There was something inspiring, if not cool, to see this god of rock and roll onstage with his own son - and Eddie’s pride in being up there with him beamed through his countenance.

See, Eddie Van Halen has had his share of rock star troubles, and then some. He had hip replacement surgery over a decade ago, the socket worn out from all the wear and tear of years on the stage. His bouts with severe alcoholism led to a well-publicized divorce from actress Valerie Bertinelli. Then his smoking led to oral cancer, which led to part of his tongue having to be removed, reconstructive surgery, depression, another bout of alcolohism, etc.

Wolfgang Van Halen, his son, told his father that it was a mistake for him to continue his near quarter-century feud with Roth because, as he has been quoted as saying to the press, “together the two of them made some of the best rock in history.” Eddie asked his son to mediate, and eventually be in, the reunion of the band.

Now, I don’t know this for a fact, but it seems common sense. I believe Eddie discovered several things along the way to this years’ tour. He discovered that, yes, he and Roth still made magic together. But he also discovered that it is far more difficult for a father to self-destruct under the watchful guise of his own child.

In the past when Van Halen played, Eddie endlessly chain-smoked and drank. In fact, on their last tour, things got so bad that at times the man generally regarded as arguably the single best rock guitarist in history was booed by his own adoring fans, nauseated at the sight of what he had become.

On Saturday, Eddie never lit up. He drank bottled water. He was fit, tan, clear-eyed, and beaming from ear to ear, playing and moving around the stage like he did 25 years ago, glowing like a man reclaiming years of time lost.

And when he prowled to the side of the stage where his son played, he looked – well, he looked like a proud daddy.

Roth and Eddie hugged, winked, sang, hugged, and played together throughout the set. Whatever venom that existed between them seems almost an afterthought. Could be that the demons that had possessed Eddie through his self-destructive spiral have finally been exorcised – all by the hands and heart of his own son.

I watched the show unfold, and at times I found myself with tears in my eyes. Why, you ask? Maybe it was because for one moment in time, I was 19 again, taken back to those glory years through that music I loved. Maybe it was because someone I have admired so much – Eddie -had triumphantly, finally returned with his elixir - David Lee - and his tonic – Wolfgang – on either side.

But in the end, looking around the room and seeing mothers, fathers, sons and daughters dancing, clapping, and singing together, I was reminded of my own son and daughter. In the end, they are what it is all about, the greatest blessing in our lives.

All the mom and pop rockers with their kids in the stands knew it – and thankfully, now so does a living legend who was blessed to be given the opportunity to be onstage with his.

[Douglas T.]

Nice! Cheers Firebrand!

[Knuclebones03]

Firebrand, this was a fuckin cool piece, thanks.