Van Hagar To Tour In 2017

[cadaverdog]

They were here on the first go round a few months ago. I didn't go. I saw them several times when they were really GNR. Why would I spend a fortune to go see this version?

I don't get that. Adler and Stradlin left the band years before Axl pissed the other members off and decided to keep the name with him as lead singer and hire a backing band. If it was because Axl pissed you off sometime in the past I could understand your point but as long as Axl, Slash and Duff are still in the band I don't. Then again I don't get some peoples attitude towards The Who. Moon and Entwhistle are dead. As far as I know Entwhistle didn't have a problem with The Who carrying on after Moon died. Seems like he'd want them to carry on if he died as well. As long as Daltrey and Townsend are still in the band they're still The Who IMO.

[FORD]

I don't get that. Adler and Stradlin left the band years before Axl pissed the other members off and decided to keep the name with him as lead singer and hire a backing band. If it was because Axl pissed you off sometime in the past I could understand your point but as long as Axl, Slash and Duff are still in the band I don't.

The 3/5 lineup can pull off a GNR live show, but if they ever made another record, Izzy's absence would be obvious. He was essential to the songwriting, which is why the only GNR album made after his departure was a covers album (no, Chinese hypocrisy doesn't count. Axl spent twice as much time on that record than Tom Scholz spent on any "Boston" album, and it STILL sucked ass).

Then again I don't get some peoples attitude towards The Who. Moon and Entwhistle are dead. As far as I know Entwhistle didn't have a problem with The Who carrying on after Moon died. Seems like he'd want them to carry on if he died as well. As long as Daltrey and Townsend are still in the band they're still The Who IMO.

After that horrible Super Bowl performance, they really should have hung it up. They're still touring with scabs, but the Super Bowl hasn't had an actual musician play the half time show since then. Hard to forgive Roger & Pete for that.

[Terry]

Daltrey and Townshend are legally able to call the band 'The Who' and punters are perfectly free to see it.

Personally, for me The Who means Daltrey, Townshend, Entwistle and Moon. And even THAT lineup was showing signs of strain in the last couple of years before Moon died.

When I think of The Who live, it's with those four guys banging away onstage. Not doing so with 1/2 dozen supplemental musicians. To be fair, The Who did some decent stuff with Jones in 1979, 1980 and 1981 live. They did some decent stuff live with Starkey from 1999 to 2002 live.

People are free to define what The Who is and means for them any way they like. For me, that band's best days are 40 years behind them.

[Terry]

That was one of the reasons why DLR left/quit/got fired...

The VH boys only wanted to do a couple dozen stadium shows in 1985, but Roth didn't like it....

I mean, it's not to say that Van Halen COULDN'T have went on to become a band that filled stadiums solely on the strength of their name had Roth stuck around in the 1980s: their career was well on the way to doing so by the time 1985 rolled around.

I gotta be honest, though: if I've seen...say...roughly 80-100 shows over the last 30 odd years, precious few of the really memorable ones were those that took place in stadiums.

It's a large part of why I didn't bother going to see Guns and Roses this past year: I no longer feel the need to pay hundreds of dollars per ticket to schlep off to some stadium 70 miles away and cram in there with 60,000 other people to see a rock band.

[chuckjitsu]

Daltrey and Townshend are legally able to call the band 'The Who' and punters are perfectly free to see it.

Personally, for me The Who means Daltrey, Townshend, Entwistle and Moon. And even THAT lineup was showing signs of strain in the last couple of years before Moon died.

When I think of The Who live, it's with those four guys banging away onstage. Not doing so with 1/2 dozen supplemental musicians. To be fair, The Who did some decent stuff with Jones in 1979, 1980 and 1981 live. They did some decent stuff live with Starkey from 1999 to 2002 live.

People are free to define what The Who is and means for them any way they like. For me, that band's best days are 40 years behind them.

That's how I feel too. When you get to the point that there are as many (or more) non original band members onstage as there are originals, it's probably time to hang it up.

[Terry]

That's how I feel too. When you get to the point that there are as many (or more) non original band members onstage as there are originals, it's probably time to hang it up.

I mean, I suppose 'The Who' are a viable band as long as people are still willing to pay money to see them.

When I see the amount of side musicians dwarfing the amount of original members...it doesn't really resemble (or even particularly sound like) the band I identify as The Who. And I fucking LOVE The Who...it's just that what is transpiring under that band name now isn't The Who to me. The Who, to my mind, is a group that is simply part of history now. And they have been since, fuck, I was barely a teenager when they did their first Farewell Tour in 1982. And THAT was 4 years after Moon died.

I mean, nobody is gonna convince me what the band have been doing over the last 30 odd years live stacks up to what the band did when Moon was around. But, sadly, that is gone forever.

At least today we still have great contemporary pop rock artists like...Beyoncé...

[cadaverdog]

I mean, it's not to say that Van Halen COULDN'T have went on to become a band that filled stadiums solely on the strength of their name had Roth stuck around in the 1980s: their career was well on the way to doing so by the time 1985 rolled around.

If they had done the stadium tour Roth wasn't interested in doing because nobody would see his queer as a three dollar bill shoes they probably would have or come close to selling out every show as long as they stuck to really big cities like L A, New York City, San Francisco, Chicago, Detroit. Philly and such.

[cadaverdog]

When I think of The Who live, it's with those four guys banging away onstage. Not doing so with 1/2 dozen supplemental musicians. To be fair, The Who did some decent stuff with Jones in 1979, 1980 and 1981 live. They did some decent stuff live with Starkey from 1999 to 2002 live.

You were only 8 or 9 when Moon died. How many live shows did you see with Roger, Pete, Keith and John? The first and only time I saw them was in San Diego in 82. It was supposed to be the last or next to last live Who performance in the U S. I had been to quite a few live shows myself and I still rate that one at or near the top of the best live shows I've ever attended.

[Va Beach VH Fan]

I mean, it's not to say that Van Halen COULDN'T have went on to become a band that filled stadiums solely on the strength of their name had Roth stuck around in the 1980s: their career was well on the way to doing so by the time 1985 rolled around.

I gotta be honest, though: if I've seen...say...roughly 80-100 shows over the last 30 odd years, precious few of the really memorable ones were those that took place in stadiums.

It's a large part of why I didn't bother going to see Guns and Roses this past year: I no longer feel the need to pay hundreds of dollars per ticket to schlep off to some stadium 70 miles away and cram in there with 60,000 other people to see a rock band.

True, I guess the point that I'm making is that post-1984 tour that's the trajectory that VH was on....

The vast majority of us saw VH on the 1984 tour... We saw firsthand what an event (not just a concert) Van Halen coming to town had become by that point....

I had the pleasure of seeing VH in southern California in San Diego that year... They were there for 2 nights over the weekend..... San Diego is a fairly large city, you couldn't go anywhere without people talking about VH.... Downtown, beaches, you name it.....

I just think, if done right (which is a big IF, of course, in hindsight), they could have been hitting that elite level of bands.... IMO their combination of fantastic music and stage shows gave it at least a possibility....

[Von Halen]

True, I guess the point that I'm making is that post-1984 tour that's the trajectory that VH was on....

The vast majority of us saw VH on the 1984 tour... We saw firsthand what an event (not just a concert) Van Halen coming to town had become by that point....

I had the pleasure of seeing VH in southern California in San Diego that year... They were there for 2 nights over the weekend..... San Diego is a fairly large city, you couldn't go anywhere without people talking about VH.... Downtown, beaches, you name it.....

I just think, if done right (which is a big IF, of course, in hindsight), they could have been hitting that elite level of bands.... IMO their combination of fantastic music and stage shows gave it at least a possibility....

I've told this story many times, but in 1984 my buddy Barrie, who had been front row with me for the 4 previous tours, and I decided we were going to join the Navy. We go to the recruiting office, and we're talking to the recruiter. We get down to the nitty gritty and he tells us we'll need to go home and pack, as we'd be leaving in the morning. I'm like "In the morning as tomorrow morning?" He tells us yeah, that's the deal, we sign up and then leave in the morning. Now I don't know the real logic in that, other than they might want to move fast so you didn't have time to change your mind, back in those days, but that's the way he presented it. Anyway, I tell the guy "I can't leave tomorrow, Van Halen is in town next week". He tells me if I'm signing up, I'm leaving in the morning. Long story short, I never went in the Navy. Barrie did, and hated every second of it. I still have Barrie's full ticket from the show, that he never got to use.

Van Halen had the biggest stage show/production of any rock band touring in 1984, period. However, to me, the "stage show" and some of the production hurt the '84 tour. The flow of the show just wasn't as good with all the extracurricular crap. Dave had to change costumes every other song it seemed, do his sword routine, the long drum, bass and guitar solos. I don't know, the previous shows seemed more straight ahead in your face rock music shows, than productions. I never wanted VH to go stadiums, even though I would have loved to have been at the US Festival.

I still don't care for Stadium shows to this day. I saw several bands at the Pontiac Silverdome. Didn't care for that. I prefer a more intimate show.

[vandeleur]

Cool story but a little sad, am sorry you only ever had one friend and he went away and you didn't know anyone else to give the ticket to.

[Seshmeister]

Given the amount of backing tapes stadium acts use and the fact that you watch the TV monitors most of the gig it's basically worse than putting a small plastic chair in your lounge and watching a DVD while drinking $10 beers. In the summer here it is still daylight at 10pm so that sucks away even more atmosphere as you lose any light show.

That promoters have the fucking cheek to charge extra for stadium shows pisses me off, it would need to be something extra special to pursuade me to go to one these days.

[cadaverdog]

I never wanted VH to go stadiums, even though I would have loved to have been at the US Festival.

The US Festival wasn't really a stadium show. Glen Hellen or whatever it's called now is an amphitheater. It was all lawn seating then but it has reserved seating with actual seats and lawn seating now. It was more like Cal Jam at Ontario Motor Speedway but way more organized. I had to hold my piss at Cal Jam from 2 in the morning until it got dark that evening. At that point I just whipped it out and started pissing. So did thousands of other dudes. At the US it was fairly easy to move around once you made it out of the crowd.

[Von Halen]

The US Festival wasn't really a stadium show. Glen Hellen or whatever it's called now is an amphitheater. It was all lawn seating then but it has reserved seating with actual seats and lawn seating now. It was more like Cal Jam at Ontario Motor Speedway but way more organized. I had to hold my piss at Cal Jam from 2 in the morning until it got dark that evening. At that point I just whipped it out and started pissing. So did thousands of other dudes. At the US it was fairly easy to move around once you made it out of the crowd.

You have got to be one of those dogs that does nothing but chase its tail.

[twonabomber]

I still don't care for Stadium shows to this day. I saw several bands at the Pontiac Silverdome. Didn't care for that. I prefer a more intimate show.

What are they going to do with the Palace now that the Pistons are moving downtown?