Do we expect too much?

[Zing!]

As for Mikey - I miss him like everybody else does - but I hold out hope that he might one day return. Here's my logic: The upcoming tour looks to be bigger than the last =VH= tour since Van Halen (supposedly) has a new album with Dave behind the mic to support it. So how do they top that four, five, six years from now when they decide to get around to touring again? A new album isn't going to be enough to fill venues - the thrill of having Dave back was done the first time - the thrill of having him back on a new record will have been done, too. After this tour, I see a new non-Mikey album a few years down the road, but he will be asked to join the band on tour, playing as a 'guest-star' on a few songs, maybe while Wolfie takes over on keyboards. That way they are almost guaranteed to have another tour that continues the tradition of each one being bigger than the last. I know it's a long-shot of a dream, and I know it's incredibly folly to speculate about Van Halen years from now (it's dangerous to speculate about this band even weeks from now...) but we can dream, no?

[Seshmeister]

it saddens me mostly because my other favourite band, iron maiden, are still producing great tunes, touring, and bringing it live. why not vh?

Bruce Dickinson is the Sammy Hagar of Maiden. They haven't been the same since Paul Dianno left.

[Seshmeister]

It's surprising that Van Halen can still get insurance to tour.

If you worked for an insurance company would you underwrite them with millions so that they could do another big tour without Eddie falling off the wagon, splitting up due to infighting, Wolfgang having a breakdown or even one of them getting ill or dying?

[ZahZoo]

Whoever insured the 2004 tour had to have been suicidal... or believed in the Mayan end of the world boloney.

2007/8 was nearly a bust twice and almost didn't make it off the ground.

No idea, if any of the same risks exist today but Ed appears to have stayed clean or at least stayed home when not. If Ed's sober though odds are fear is his biggest enemy...

[kwame k]

I think the 07-08 tour went a long way in showing that the band was bankable again and Ed was capable of doing a tour. Yes, barely but he did it.

2004 had to scare off any sane insurance company.........

Now they have a record company and a pending [or pretending] tour in the works. With Ed's history, anyone investing in VH would have to be very cautious about Ed's sobriety. Might explain why it took so long to get a record company to sign the band........more along the lines of, "Look Ed's been clean and sober for 4 years now, his hand surgery was a complete success and Ed and Dave have found a way to work together without actually being in the same room.

All the objections any sane exec would have when considering investing in this band have been addressed.

Ah fuck.......just when I think I'm above baseless speculation about this band, I get pulled right back in

[Seshmeister]

Or arguments. Sounds like things are no better than they have ever been. If I was a promoter I would want huge penalty clauses for non performance because apart from the Wolfgang factor after the last tour we are back in the 80s where they are all rich enough to throw the toys out of the pram. All it will take is someone to get an extra towel or eat someone else's sandwich backstage and it's all over.

[kwame k]

Any sane business person would want huge insurances that the band can actually pull off any contract or commitment they make, period.

Ed seems to be the only wildcard in the deck.......Dave, it seems, comes off as a guy willing to work things out and Ed comes off as a spoiled, drunk 4 year old.

So it would seem that Ed would be the one who has to prove himself to the powers that be.......

[Hardrock69]

Whoever insured the 2004 tour had to have been suicidal... or believed in the Mayan end of the world boloney.

[VHscraps]

All it will take is someone to get an extra towel or eat someone else's sandwich backstage and it's all over.

Heheh - man, I love this. I mean, I actually like the fact that they could implode at any moment. Keeps it interesting.

The happiness of thousands - tens, hundreds of thousands of patient obsessives - could be riding on Ed and Dave not looking at each other the wrong way, or not sharing a cigar. Remember in Dave's book after the 96 MTV Awards show - he gave Ed one of his prized Cuban cigars, probably to try and keep the peace when it was too late. Didn't he write something like, 'I gave that little fucker one of my rare Cubans' !!!

[Seshmeister]

Heheh - man, I love this. I mean, I actually like the fact that they could implode at any moment. Keeps it interesting.

Less interesting when you are flying a few thousand miles to the gig...

[SunisinuS]

The music world is way too different to hope vh will be the biggest band in the world again. But big like U2 ain't gonna happen, big like the Stones if they tour ain't gonna happen. they might be able to give Bon jovi a run for their money. As others have said, we wish it was 1984 again and that the guys who played that album were who they were then, only now. Are we expecting too much? Yes. Will we be forgiving, lower the bar and change our definition of "stellar"? He'll yes. Once the single is released, Dave gives his screech and sings about some type of excess, at night , in a car and Ed hammer/taps those same notes, all will be forgiven. Then there will be petitioms to radio stations to play the record to give it a chart boost. They will tour, play. 3 songs from "N****m S*****", (piss break), continue to close the show with JUMP for some reason. Everyone will exit and say it was better than they expected. That's how this kinda thing works, when you have devoted all that you have devoted to this band on this and other boards, you will not let them fail, you are not going to trash their new music and effort. If you were to do that, you would be mocking all that you have written of them before this. If you go in with the attitude it is going to be awesome, you won't let it be anything else.

Was that supposed to be one paragraph?

[Hardrock69]

Seems like some kind of fart, actually. But when the trolls open the asshole under their nose, what can one expect?

[ashstralia]

Bruce Dickinson is the Sammy Hagar of Maiden. They haven't been the same since Paul Dianno left.

we both know that's complete rubbish, mate.

it's been more like britains bruce lee roth dickinson. fly the plane? no probs.