Being a site which is devoted to Van Halen...

[Terry]

I viewed the 2004 tour as the last opportunity to see VH and more specifically EVH perform live ever... the path and condition of EVH was clearly heading to a tragic end. Had EVH not cleaned up... I honestly believe he wouldn't be here today.

It's pretty much the same as to how I viewed the 2007-2008 tour. Yeah, Ed clearly cleaned up for that tour, but I thought it just as possible as not that all of that was just a rehab 'buff and shine' to satisfy promoters, and Ed had no intentions of staying sober. And his appearance in the early months of 2008 visually confirmed this: Ed's fucked up again/his 'sobriety' wore off.

I suppose it is a positive thing for the people who care about Ed that he has seemingly managed to stay sober for quite some time. At least unlike 2006 he no longer looks quite like the Crypt Keeper knocking at the Grim Reaper's door anymore. The years of smoking and the whole 'rock and roll lifestyle' have sort of taken a bit of a toll in other physical respects, but I suppose it was also a positive thing he managed to pull it together after the 2004 and 2007 tours and provide a decent display of his talents from 2012 onward to the present. Better to go out serving up passable approximations of his guitar prowess 30 years ago than to go out and a debilitated drunk meth head.

[VHscraps]

I have a theory that maybe we know too much now and that colors some of the negativity around here a lot of the time.

That and the fact that Hagar doesn't seem worth kicking any more...

Oh, I dunno!

Wasn't there some 'Sammy Hagar Random Insult Generator' thing on here once upon a time? Maybe I saw it in my dreams ... but whatever, it was cool.

[Igosplut]

Whatever, or however we've ended up here, here we are. The thought that this site will return to the 90s vibe is no less false than you going back in time. People age, and the older people get, they tend to hold on to things from their youth. Age old story. This, or any other board will never what it was, as much as any of us will never be that young again...Be glad you had it once...

[cadaverdog]

Oh, I dunno!

Wasn't there some 'Sammy Hagar Random Insult Generator' thing on here once upon a time? Maybe I saw it in my dreams ... but whatever, it was cool.

Sounds familiar.

[Jetstream]

I have spoken to some people of recent in the last two years who have met Ed and are in the closed music circles and despite his improved playing of that said geetar as Donnie would put it, is still in not very good shape at all and rather fragile and unhealthy past the stage... sure he has put on weight but the dude is not only old but very damaged and he really might be why Van Halen is doing nothing, while Dave looks ragged but in better health than Edward but cannot sing or rather can if he would lay off the careless attempt of high octaves

[Terry]

I have spoken to some people of recent in the last two years who have met Ed and are in the closed music circles and despite his improved playing of that said geetar as Donnie would put it, is still in not very good shape at all and rather fragile and unhealthy past the stage... sure he has put on weight but the dude is not only old but very damaged and he really might be why Van Halen is doing nothing, while Dave looks ragged but in better health than Edward but cannot sing or rather can if he would lay off the careless attempt of high octaves

Yeah, it wouldn't surprise me if Ed was in worse health than he appears.

Even in early 2012, when the promo video for the Tattoo track and the Café Wha? gig photos were released, Ed looked a bit dreadful. His hair looked frazzled and unkempt, and his face looked...weird. Even though his onstage appearance on the subsequent ADKOT tour was a bit better, his face looked somewhat bloated, even beyond the obvious weight he had put on...like his face was almost too big for the rest of his body.

And at the Smithsonian talk he gave a year or so ago, he just looked like what he is: a graying, old man. And, to be fair, he is 60 years old or so (61? Somewhere around there). Plus, Ed hasn't particularly healthy since 1996. He went through his hip replacement, his bout with cancer, diverticulitus, long periods of alcoholism. I mean, even though over the last 7 years or so he apparently has been taking better care of himself, it's quite possible he has done damage to himself that can only at best be managed now. I'm not wishing the guy dead by any means, and I don't know the particulars of his ailments, but it wouldn't surprise me if he passed away tomorrow: the guy didn't take care of himself properly for a long time, and sometimes there are consequences for this.

Dave looks healthy enough, and I think he could be doing much better vocally live if he just flat-out sang the tunes rather than yell them: if he has the energy to yell out the verses in a higher key than the songs were originally recorded (not the correct key, but a higher key) than seemingly he should have the energy to simply sing them. As to why he choses not to is a mystery, but it sounds terrible and isn't worth paying money to see anymore.

[Va Beach VH Fan]

I disagree....

This is nothing more than Ed/Al re-hibernating like they always do, then they'll reappear in about 18 months to 2 years from now, doing whatever it is they decide to do and with whomever at the mike.....

[Igosplut]

I disagree....

This is nothing more than Ed/Al re-hibernating like they always do, then they'll reappear in about 18 months to 2 years from now, doing whatever it is they decide to do and with whomever at the mike.....

Nope, the time has passed. They no longer hold the interest of the people, and most young people don't even know their names. regailed to the nostalgic circuit the time away will never matter as IF there is any new music it will fall on deaf ears.

[ZahZoo]

Nope, the time has passed. They no longer hold the interest of the people, and most young people don't even know their names. regailed to the nostalgic circuit the time away will never matter as IF there is any new music it will fall on deaf ears.

Yeah the time has passed... but... for what's left and still alive of late 70's/early 80's "ground breaking" hard rock guitar based rock... There's not a lot of artists left alive and able to to even bring it to the table. Seriously what do we have left from the era..?

Is there anything out there better than EVH when it boils down to iconic Rock and Fucking™ Roll..?

Just asking from the simple progression of ... Jimi Hendrix... Eddie Van Halen... TBD..?

[Va Beach VH Fan]

Yeah the time has passed... but... for what's left and still alive of late 70's/early 80's "ground breaking" hard rock guitar based rock... There's not a lot of artists left alive and able to to even bring it to the table. Seriously what do we have left from the era..?

Is there anything out there better than EVH when it boils down to iconic Rock and Fucking™ Roll..?

Just asking from the simple progression of ... Jimi Hendrix... Eddie Van Halen... TBD..?

I saw Satriani in concert last night here (sans Bette, thank goodness, wouldn't have gone...), and I was thinking the same thing....

Dude is up there absolutely shredding for 2 1/2 hours, and I'm just thinking there is no one in this generation who is remotely close to any one of the several 'rock gods' from our era....

Now, I'm sure there are very good guitarists out there, don't get me wrong... But in terms of today's rock/popular music, it's completely blank....

[Terry]

Well, so far apparently there hasn't been a shortage of aging white American males who think Eruption continues to be something worth paying $100 a ticket to see...even a shoddily played version of it, as long as it is Eddie Van Halen playing it. How many of said males remain willing to pay good money to see Eddie play is something only the box office of another tour will answer.

Far as people who play guitar in today's pop rock acts, they are much more career-oriented in terms of what they choose to play onstage: no contemporary shredder is going to be filling stadiums these days, because songs (not solos) are where it is at. Technical rock guitar wankery is a niche audience.

[DONNIEP]

I disagree....

This is nothing more than Ed/Al re-hibernating like they always do, then they'll reappear in about 18 months to 2 years from now, doing whatever it is they decide to do and with Sam and Mike.....

Exactly