2004 Tour Meltdown...

[DLR Bridge]

That's not possible, especially for Van Halen music.

For a start you would need to retire every song that had a low E in it which is probably most of them.

That's what I thought.

[DLR Bridge]

In contrast, in 2011 I think it was the VHND that reported Dave was a full-fledged member of the band with equal voting rights, and The Hollwood Reporter published a story about the recording of what became known as ADKOT, going into detail about the switching of labels and the brother's determination to accommodate Dave's wishes in this area.

So there seems to have been a huge shift with the brother's attitudes from 2000 to 2006. I suppose the tour with Sammy would have been a reality check.

Well put. It's always impossible to tell what they're thinking. I can't help but think that they wish they could have both Dave and Sam going at the time. We all see it as two completely different bands, but I'll bet they don't. Even if Ed publicly reacted poorly to Sam's shitty book, the music on the 4 Van Hagar albums still might be something the he'd like to play again. His son even praised Balance not long ago. There will never be any clear cut way to determine what we're in store for over the course of the next 5 or 10 years. How will this entire cast of loons (- Wolf. He's got more time) ultimately ride off into the sunset?

I almost forgot all of that "keep their front man happy" talk at the time of the 11th hour Interscope signing. The details of that deal are not public knowledge, right? As far as I know, VH doesn't even owe them another record. Maybe they do.

[Halen High]

Well put. It's always impossible to tell what they're thinking. I can't help but think that they wish they could have both Dave and Sam going at the time. We all see it as two completely different bands, but I'll bet they don't. Even if Ed publicly reacted poorly to Sam's shitty book, the music on the 4 Van Hagar albums still might be something the he'd like to play again. His son even praised Balance not long ago. There will never be any clear cut way to determine what we're in store for over the course of the next 5 or 10 years. How will this entire cast of loons (- Wolf. He's got more time) ultimately ride off into the sunset?

I almost forgot all of that "keep their front man happy" talk at the time of the 11th hour Interscope signing. The details of that deal are not public knowledge, right? As far as I know, VH doesn't even owe them another record. Maybe they do.

Sammy is too old now. I think he turns 67 this year? So he'd be 68-70 for a possible return. I'd be shocked if the brothers forgave him for his book and I don't believe Eddie wanted to work with him in 2004 either, one of the reasons for his bizarre behaviour. But yeah...you never know with these guys.

I reckon they've had a plan to take the band out on a high since 2007 with this line-up. One thing that could derail it though is Eddie and Dave writing fresh material together... it's something Dave wants and it could lead to problems.

Here is the link to the Hollywood Reporter story:

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/van-halen-sign-interscope-records-260692

[Terry]

In terms of the tuning, a good chunk of the CVH tunes were played in E flat, with some of them having the low E string dropped down to D or D flat (Unchained is an example). So the band were already a half step down from standard to begin with. Dropping the onstage tuning down another quarter or half step is possible, but the more the band tunes down the less the songs sound like they should.
Also, it's really not necessary. Dave just has to stop yelling and start singing. For whatever reason, Dave has it in his head that his strained mid-range shouting voice sounds good (possibly because nobody has told him otherwise). It's within his current capabilities to sing DTNA in the key it was originally recorded. Same goes for most of the other tunes in the set. He's just inserting that yelling in place of the screams and high notes he can't hit anymore as some sort of compensation. But he doesn't need to compensate. Just sing the tunes minus the yelling and it'll sound fine.

[Terry]

All I can say is I'm glad there was some degree of quality control for the 2007 tour: if the request came from the promoters as a result of the 2004 tour, or Azoff, or originated within the band, Ed going to rehab for a few months in early 2007 was obviously needed. It didn't prevent Ed from relapsing halfway through THAT tour, but the overall end result was miles above what surfaced on the 2004 tour.
I can accept some of what Sam says in terms of Eddie sort of conning him into thinking that [Ed] was gonna get his shit together for the 2004 tour, but even if Hagar looks at making rock music as product he should have realized Ed wasn't in any sort of condition to produce decent product. By Hagar's own admission, Ed was unable to get through a single rehearsal of the entire set prior to the tour starting, and Ed was often unable to remember how to play the tunes during these rehearsals. Hagar kind of deluded himself that the tour was gonna turn out okay in spite of these clear warning signs, and once it started to shit the bed he was unable to back out without being on the hook for a lot of money re: cancellation fees.
Hagar certainly likes the money, but being associated with that tour was something he clearly (as well he should) feels embarrassed about. As to if Hagar is too old to tour with Van Halen now, well, I had no interest in seeing Van Hagar in 1985, either...so it matters not to me if they reform again.

[VAiN]

Re: Dave's voice..

To your point Terry, have you heard any of the Japan bootlegs? Dave really sounded great, IMO. If he continues doing that I think we'll be more than happy with the results on a 2014 tour.

[BITEYOASS]

The 2004 tour was definitely history for the wrong reasons.

[BITEYOASS]

Heck with '08 Dave and '12 Ed, I would have loved me some '02 Dave and '04 Ed.

Yeah, Dave with the blonde hair and Eddie looking like the shrunken' head in Beetlejuice w/camoflague shorts, and Mike & Dave passing around the JD would have been fuckin' great. That would have been called the "Stopped Giving a Fuck" tour.

[big fatty]

Heck with '08 Dave and '12 Ed, I would have loved me some '02 Dave and '04 Ed.

29336cf4.jpg

In hidsight, it's good DLR didnt hook up with them back then, since EVH was reportably troubled. This was a good thing, as it ruined the Van Hagar era for good, and now we have a long lasting reunion.

[Terry]

Re: Dave's voice..

To your point Terry, have you heard any of the Japan bootlegs? Dave really sounded great, IMO. If he continues doing that I think we'll be more than happy with the results on a 2014 tour.

I have. He sounded somewhat better than he did in Tampa in 2012, although in both cases for me it wasn't necessarily that he sounded terrible from start-to-finish. In Tampa 2012 he hit the right notes about 50% of the time, then the remainder he sung either in that exaggerated low register he uses or yelled. But the odd part is that he wasn't going for the lower octaves or yelling during parts in songs that originally had that dog whistle/barefoot on hot coals shriek, and he wasn't changing it up as a way to compensate for not being able to hit those high-pitched screams anymore. It was almost as if he was doing it out of either boredom or because he thought it sounded good.

Like, Dave doesn't need to yell out the verses of (Oh)Pretty Woman. It's well within his current capabilities, and it sounds goddamned awful being shouted rather than sung.

I will say that if the setlist changes up a bit from 2012 and Eddie is still playing well, I'd probably go see 'em again. If it's the same setlist and Dave is still approaching the vocals the same way as last time around, no thanks.

[VAiN]

I have. He sounded somewhat better than he did in Tampa in 2012, although in both cases for me it wasn't necessarily that he sounded terrible from start-to-finish. In Tampa 2012 he hit the right notes about 50% of the time, then the remainder he sung either in that exaggerated low register he uses or yelled. But the odd part is that he wasn't going for the lower octaves or yelling during parts in songs that originally had that dog whistle/barefoot on hot coals shriek, and he wasn't changing it up as a way to compensate for not being able to hit those high-pitched screams anymore. It was almost as if he was doing it out of either boredom or because he thought it sounded good.

Like, Dave doesn't need to yell out the verses of (Oh)Pretty Woman. It's well within his current capabilities, and it sounds goddamned awful being shouted rather than sung.

I will say that if the setlist changes up a bit from 2012 and Eddie is still playing well, I'd probably go see 'em again. If it's the same setlist and Dave is still approaching the vocals the same way as last time around, no thanks.

I think Dave was more focused on his vocal performance for Japan than he was trying to dance around and all that shit. IMO it was some of the best, if not THE best, of the ADKOT tour.. 6/24 ans 6/26 are on fire.

[BenJammin]

I have. He sounded somewhat better than he did in Tampa in 2012, although in both cases for me it wasn't necessarily that he sounded terrible from start-to-finish. In Tampa 2012 he hit the right notes about 50% of the time, then the remainder he sung either in that exaggerated low register he uses or yelled. But the odd part is that he wasn't going for the lower octaves or yelling during parts in songs that originally had that dog whistle/barefoot on hot coals shriek, and he wasn't changing it up as a way to compensate for not being able to hit those high-pitched screams anymore. It was almost as if he was doing it out of either boredom or because he thought it sounded good.

Like, Dave doesn't need to yell out the verses of (Oh)Pretty Woman. It's well within his current capabilities, and it sounds goddamned awful being shouted rather than sung.

I will say that if the setlist changes up a bit from 2012 and Eddie is still playing well, I'd probably go see 'em again. If it's the same setlist and Dave is still approaching the vocals the same way as last time around, no thanks.

Not that the style scales well to the big venues... but what happened with the obvious self control of the 'downtown sessions' for ADKOT ?

[Terry]

Not that the style scales well to the big venues... but what happened with the obvious self control of the 'downtown sessions' for ADKOT ?

I dunno...I mean, I don't feel I'm being unreasonable by expecting Dave to be able to sing the tunes somewhat properly. It's not a case of saying, "Well, Dave can't do splits from the drum riser anymore and he can't scream well anymore, and it's not 1981 anymore so fuck him."
I get that the guy is older, and am totally willing to give concessions to his age for all the physical aspects of his former stage act that he can no longer do. And I'm equally willing to give a certain degree of concessions to how said age affects his voice.
What I'm not is a die-hard Roth fan to the point where I think everything he does is great by virtue of him doing it. Some would say that it's just Dave being Dave, or that singing was just part of the overall package when it came to Dave performing live. I'd agree with the latter part, and now that he's unable to leap around it makes bad vocal choices all the more difficult to ignore. Even more so when considering the rest of the band is playing well.
Whatever. Maybe I'm just being a cunt about it.

[Igosplut]

I dunno...I mean, I don't feel I'm being unreasonable by expecting Dave to be able to sing the tunes somewhat properly. It's not a case of saying, "Well, Dave can't do splits from the drum riser anymore and he can't scream well anymore, and it's not 1981 anymore so fuck him."
I get that the guy is older, and am totally willing to give concessions to his age for all the physical aspects of his former stage act that he can no longer do. And I'm equally willing to give a certain degree of concessions to how said age affects his voice.
What I'm not is a die-hard Roth fan to the point where I think everything he does is great by virtue of him doing it. Some would say that it's just Dave being Dave, or that singing was just part of the overall package when it came to Dave performing live. I'd agree with the latter part, and now that he's unable to leap around it makes bad vocal choices all the more difficult to ignore. Even more so when considering the rest of the band is playing well.
Whatever. Maybe I'm just being a cunt about it.

This. Fuck the rest, just make a good attempt at doing the songs justice. Not too much to ask....

[BenJammin]

Yep... not asking him to be superhuman anymore. Just glad he's the guy up front and not 'the other who shall not be mentioned', but I wish he would keep it in range of what he can do well and not reach for what he can't. And there is still a lot he can do reasonably well vocally and entertainment-wise if he just realizes it's not totally on his shoulders... uh Dave... they came to see the VH family too and a respectable show! Not someone reaching for the sky and failing. Seems he got that in '07, respectably so, but a wheel has come loose since then.

But despite any negative vibes... I must say I saw them in 2012 in San Diego and I had no regrets and wouldn't trade the experience for much of anything.