REPORT: =vh = to headline australian festival april 20-21

[atomicpnk47]

Great job Northern Girl! Band sounds tight

[loucap81]

Figured I'd throw in my two cents from everything I've read and the YouTube videos.

1) Dave is unquestionably far stronger now than he was last year and seems to be close to 2007-08 form. While he'll never regain the range or the howling ability he had in 1978, the 2007-08 Dave was really fucking good, powerful and strong, and the best he had sounded since the '80s IMO. It also seemed like he was on a mission to nail the high notes, and that he did with punch and authority. Dave carried the 2007-08 tour; Ed carried the 2012 tour. But yesterday they matched each other's game and it's great to hear. Looks like the time off, getting out of the country and hooking up with a new girl has done Dave a world of good.

2) The mix sounded fine in the videos. While the bass was a tad high it wasn't offensive at all; the sound reminded me of the 2007-08 bass. I'm fine with the punchier 2007-08 sound, I'm also fine with the more restrained 2012 sound. Non-factor for me. Be aware however that the sound as heard in the venue can be completely different from how it comes out in the recording. I know this first-hand from recordings I've done. I thought the VH Pittsburgh 4/30/08 mix was absolute shit, it was deafeningly loud to the point of being white noise in person. Yet the recording came out great with clear separation of instruments. People were also rightfully complaining about Soundgarden's mix in 2011 with the bass being too loud and Kim Thayil's guitar being buried. But again, when I recorded them in Atlantic City the recording came out clean and crisp and didn't really sound like it did in person. So when people claim it sucked in person, that very well may have been the case.

3) The most important thing to glean from last night is how the band sounds, and they really sounded like they were firing on all cylinders. However--and few seem to want to address this so I will--they shouldn't escape uncriticized for what was a jobber setlist IMO. I understand it's a festival, so that means it's going to be shorter and you're dealing with fans who are less knowledgeable about the band on the whole than fans who go to VH's own shows. But they put no effort into this setlist. It was the same thing, in the same order as the 2012 template, with four fewer songs, three of them being the spots where the older deep cuts would go plus "The Trouble With Never." Just take a look on setlist.fm and you'll see what I'm talking about. I can't say I'm surprised but I hope this isn't going to seep into their own shows going forward. I hope they don't say, "Hey we can get away with only playing 90 minutes of the hits, so why not take the path of least resistance." You guys can't honestly tell me that you'd be OK with yesterday's setlist for their own shows in North America.

Think about it. The way this band functions, this is possibly the only time they'll ever play Australia (1998 doesn't count of course) and they felt that "She's The Woman," "Tattoo" and the fucking DRUM SOLO were valuable usage of precious time? Come on, you think any casual fan is going to feel deprived not hearing any of that? While I'd also prefer not to hear the likes of YRGM, Pretty Woman or I'll Wait again, you can understand why they feel they have to play those songs. But playing a song like Tattoo, which is long forgotten about by everyone but us, over songs like Hear About It Later and Women In Love, was poor judgment. And they couldn't have done the three minute "Outta Love Again" in lieu of the three minute drum solo? Let's hope Wolf was serious and we'll not only get the deep cuts back they were doing last year, but some other ones like Light Up The Sky and of course the yet-unplayed gems off ADKOT like As Is and HBSD. I do hope that I'm wrong and VH will do a proper tour of Australia eventually, and the fans down there will get a full, proper setlist someday.

Anyway I'll end this post by saying they did look tight, Dave is back, and watching those videos put a smile on my face. I do hope that they have some serious plans for late 2013/early 2014 because I'm ready for them again. Today, 4/21 is actually the one-year anniversary of the Greensboro meetup and was the last VH show I saw. After a year, I'm jonesing for VH again.

[sadaist]

Why the hell is Dave chewing gum??!!

**and when Eddie won't do the improv with Dave at the break watch his mouth....looks like he says "NO TIME"

I bet that was it

[Dan]

Why the hell is Dave chewing gum??!!

**and when Eddie won't do the improv with Dave at the break watch his mouth....looks like he says "NO TIME"

I bet that was it

Agree With What sadaist has just said.No Time is What Ed Said To Dave Or Maybe He said Time For Bed.:D

[Dan]

Anymore Youtubes?

[Dan]

Van Halen Live @ Stone Music Festival - AVH Drum Solo

[vaijuju]

hft

[ToraToraTora]

I think the guys sound great, that crowd on the other hand are fuckin terrible.....i thought the Aussies knew how to rock, looks like they know how to stand still and sway a bit. Standing gigs are always more rockin than seated gigs, not in this case though. Come to Britain WE'LL show you how to ROCK!!!

[ELVIS]

You're blaming that on the audience ??

Van Halen phoned it in and the audience could feel it...

Don't blame that on the audience...

They are standing in the fucking rain after paying good money waiting to be wooed by the mighty Van Halen and that obviously didn't happen...

EVH from the get go gave the impression he'd rather be doing something else...

That combined with Wolf's droning distorted bass and Dave just getting by, it was lackluster and the audience show it...

On top of all that , it was a bad idea following Aerosmith...

[ELVIS]

Oh, and the set list sucks ass...

[ELVIS]

hft

Dave knows they're sounding like shit in that clip...

[ELVIS]

The whole fucking time Dave is trying to signal to the sound asshole to turn the guitar up...

[katina]

Somebody Get Me A Doctor !

[saint]

Oh, and the set list sucks ass...

Oh no it doesn't, That is the set list you want if you attend your first Van Halen concert, especially at a festival where not everybody are die hard Van Halen fans.

[Northern Girl]

Little bit of Panama...