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Sammy is the kind of asshole you know from high school who is your friend to your face and then stabs you right in the fucking back when you're not looking.
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Sounds more like Ed to me.No! You can't have the keys to the wine cellar! -
You're my brother and soul mate. You're like family. A few years go by and Ed has thrown you out of the band and blames you for quitting.No! You can't have the keys to the wine cellar!Comment
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Y'all need to quit looking or expecting any sort of credibility or some hint of reality from any of these jackasses from the Van Halen realm...
They're only good for a punch line, a wink... a smirk or a smile... and every once in a while a song to sing and dance to...
Are they really any different than the Mickey Mouse Club..? Why expect more?
The parallels are amazing...
"If you want to be a monk... you gotta cook a lot of rice...”Comment
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“Great losses often bring only a numb shock. To truly plunge a victim into misery, you must overwhelm him with many small sufferings.”Comment
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I suppose at this point seeing Van Halen live again with the CVH lineup would be cool, but Mike Anthony not being there hasn't exactly been a deal breaker for me buying tickets to the 2007/2008 and 2012 tours, either.
I'm under no illusions that getting Mike Anthony back is going to make the band sound any better now live than they already do. Wolfgang was a trifle unsteady onstage in 2007/2008, but he fitted neatly into the fold far as I was concerned in 2012. It's not like Anthony's gonna rejoin the band and all of a sudden Dave's gonna get his CVH scream back and start doing splits off the drum riser again. THAT era of CVH is gone, forever.
Of far greater concern to me in 2012 was the off-putting vocal tactics and approach Roth took. In 2007/2008, the guy was focused and sounded good. In 2012, he spent far too much time shouting out verses in a strained key that a) either didn't fit or mirror the original recordings and b) he clearly wasn't comfortable singing in, inasmuch as it really sounded damned awful at times (it rendered DTNA and Pretty Woman pretty much unlistenable, vocally). Someone SHOULD have told Dave as much, but apparently nobody ever did. I don't think I have to prove my Van Halen bona fides as a fan to any of the longtime members of this site (nor they to me), but I'd agree that after seeing Dave in 2012 it wasn't unreasonable to think that maybe this band should start thinking about a final tour, before they become yet another substandard oldies group unintentionally but no less sadly unable to offer little more than a ghostly parody of their glory years (for overpriced rates, to boot - I paid over $100 a pop for tix in 2008 to see a drunken Eddie unable to play adequately and the same price 4 years later to see Dave reverting to not remembering verses, mush-mouthing/mumbling words and yelling in a strained key. Sorry, folks, but neither of those concerts were worth $100 a ticket).
It'd be a goddamned shame to see Van Halen go out like that, and they've been teetering toward that since 1996, yet have usually managed to find some redeeming aspect even in the worst of their debacles. I mean, even with Cherone in the band, at least Eddie was still playing well live and the band were bringing out long-neglected CVH warhorses for an airing live. The 2004 biz was pretty much botched all around. However, at least neither of these undertakings were with Dave. The 2007 reunion, despite Anthony not being there, started out with some solid shows. Then Eddie relapses mid-way through the tour. 2012 starts off with a decent album and Eddie playing great live, but now Dave isn't really quite up to snuff anymore and they had to cancel the tour (for whatever reasons - health, problems with 'blowers' onstage, blah blah blah). Now it's over two years later and they've done a few gigs here and there, but how much better are they gonna get?
It may well be the perfect time to bring Anthony back (if Anthony wants to come back and the band want it to happen) and do a proper (and - I hate to say it - but hopefully final) reunion tour, and go out with a bit of class. It just seems like ever since Hagar left the band in 1996, Van Halen blew the simplest thing in the world and the surest thing that would have made fans happy, which was a Roth reunion. Ten years after that, they finally put it together, but now Anthony's not there, and either Eddie isn't in a condition to play well or Dave doesn't feel like singing properly. It's like they can never quite get their collective shit together. And it'd really be great to see them get their collective shit together, get the CVH lineup back together, play the songs properly live, get all the band members playing to the best their abilities allow for nowadays, then just fucking call it a day. Release new studio stuff after that, or just clean out the vaults.
I just don't want to see the band go out as some meek, pale, pitiable imitation of what they were in the glory years (1978-1984). It's heading that way now, slow but steady, and it'd be a shame if it comes to pass that way. Save that trite shit for Bon Jovi...or Poison...or Ratt...Van Halen are better than that. They deserve a better ending than that.
Don't they?Scramby eggs and bacon.Comment
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That kind of sums it up for me. Dave needs too quit the dance shit and focus on singing the fucking songs like 07/08. He was great that tour. Why there wasn't a live album is beyond me ? I think Ed is truly a fucking asshole too his fans. Just a clueless idiot about the history of the band. They could use Mike but don't need him if they all get on the same page for one or maybe two more tours, but at their pace one might be it/enough. VH with Dave was a party band. I don't need too see them standing around like the Stones did last year like they didn't want too be there. I can forgive Dave for not jumping off the drum riser because I get he is 60, but he lost some of his wit last tour. I mean we didn't even get Look at all the people here tonight ! out of him. I enjoyed the 07 show much more. And it was Dave kicking ass proving he wasn't dead yet. He was o.k. in 12. But it was Ed's show though.Comment
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I have to say I'm with Terry on this one. Get it together for one more shot with MA and call it a day. Hang around the studio put out some stuff, old and new. Sooner rather than later for time waits for no one especially for aging bands. Hanging on to past glories is tough to watch and listen to at times....Comment
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Agreed... there was a time here when any honest reflections of Dave's performances were met with hostility but now even the diehards are starting to admit at least this last tour left us with those "I really like Dave, but this is getting hard to justify" feelings. Maybe like I've said before, with a few adjustments, acceptance of reality, and the return of MA could be a winner, but only if they really work hard. Probably harder than they've ever worked before. And Dave... even screaming with all your heart and soul does not sound good if it's beyond your range ! Stay still, sing in your range and everything will be fine. If people need the acrobatics, get two or more hot blonde female acrobatic style dancers dressed like CVH Dave to do the riser jumps, backflips, and leg kicks around him while he kind of flows in the middle, doing very minor movements and JUST SINGS ! Or even delve into some Classic Dave entourage mode and have some midgets do the moves for him, lol !Last edited by BenJammin; 10-16-2014, 12:24 PM."Money can't buy poverty." -Marty FeldmanComment
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minus 30?Comment
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