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I have been a Halenite since 1979...bought tix to see the Women & Children first tour, but Dave threw a rod in his back and the show was axed. Finally got to see them on the 1984 tour, felt like I was watching some kind of other-world creatures performing...they seemed almost more than human, if that makes any sense. A meshing of power, show, skill, tension, that-butterflies-in-your-belly oomph...you name it, if had anything to do with what rock is supposed to be and be good, they had it in spades.
Then the split, and Hagar. 5150 (good record, by the way) came out, and I thought, OK, not bad at all. Caught the tour...Sammy (who I like, by the way, too) offered something different live than Dave, but his contribution was more "musical" - for sure not magical.
And therein lies the rub.
Eddie is still producing some great music. Crap, he's the best rock guitarist ever. Rock today doesn't need more music - it needs magic, something it just doesn't have very much of anymore.
That's what this tour, which probably isn't horrible in the grand scheme of things, cannot create. Magic. Pure and simple magic, like we all have seen and heard before. It has never reached that level with Sammy.
Van Halen is not about a bunch of guys getting up there and being all lovey dovey. It's about one guy doing all he can to show the other one up for two hours, and I mean each one of them...pushing each other into the outer limits of comfort and creativity.
It all comes down to this: I fear the chapter we all wanted to read in regard to this band is all over. It will take at least three years to incarnate another incarnation of the band (if that happened), and by that time, too many of us real fans are just not going to give a crap. Hell, so much for THEM being too old - WE will be too old. David Lee, less than a decade away from his 60th birthday? Think about that.
I love what the real Van Halen was - but to be honest with you, I just am not interested in the repaved road this band has to offer. I don't really want to buy any new songs from them, and I won't spend a big chunk of money on something that was already dead before the plug was pulled on it the first time around.
There is a part of me that really aches thinking of what might have been, what could have been. I am shaking my head as I write this...it really hacks me off - but you know, there's too much to life to just sit and stew. I've moved on, and most of you have, too.
I know he will hate reading this, because I have true admiration for him...but I feel sorry for Diamond Dave in a way...again, it's all about what could have been. I know some on here are "happy" for him and feel "good" that he isn't in on what's happening with Eddie and the boys, but I for one am not.
I wish he were right there in the middle of it, grabbing whatever remaining moments that alchemy between them might be able to create.
It's all about the magic, and I fear it has left the building for just about every one of us.
Then the split, and Hagar. 5150 (good record, by the way) came out, and I thought, OK, not bad at all. Caught the tour...Sammy (who I like, by the way, too) offered something different live than Dave, but his contribution was more "musical" - for sure not magical.
And therein lies the rub.
Eddie is still producing some great music. Crap, he's the best rock guitarist ever. Rock today doesn't need more music - it needs magic, something it just doesn't have very much of anymore.
That's what this tour, which probably isn't horrible in the grand scheme of things, cannot create. Magic. Pure and simple magic, like we all have seen and heard before. It has never reached that level with Sammy.
Van Halen is not about a bunch of guys getting up there and being all lovey dovey. It's about one guy doing all he can to show the other one up for two hours, and I mean each one of them...pushing each other into the outer limits of comfort and creativity.
It all comes down to this: I fear the chapter we all wanted to read in regard to this band is all over. It will take at least three years to incarnate another incarnation of the band (if that happened), and by that time, too many of us real fans are just not going to give a crap. Hell, so much for THEM being too old - WE will be too old. David Lee, less than a decade away from his 60th birthday? Think about that.
I love what the real Van Halen was - but to be honest with you, I just am not interested in the repaved road this band has to offer. I don't really want to buy any new songs from them, and I won't spend a big chunk of money on something that was already dead before the plug was pulled on it the first time around.
There is a part of me that really aches thinking of what might have been, what could have been. I am shaking my head as I write this...it really hacks me off - but you know, there's too much to life to just sit and stew. I've moved on, and most of you have, too.
I know he will hate reading this, because I have true admiration for him...but I feel sorry for Diamond Dave in a way...again, it's all about what could have been. I know some on here are "happy" for him and feel "good" that he isn't in on what's happening with Eddie and the boys, but I for one am not.
I wish he were right there in the middle of it, grabbing whatever remaining moments that alchemy between them might be able to create.
It's all about the magic, and I fear it has left the building for just about every one of us.
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