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Back during CVH days... a Long time ago... in a galaxy far, far away... The only place you could hear Ed, Alex, Mike or Dave was predominately on the radio. That would be your local radio station if you lived in an area with a VH tour stop and the guys were willing to do a radio spot. You'd get a few minutes of nonsense and no in-depth content beyond boiling strings, trashing hotel rooms, and other sorted shenanigans.
Not a lot was shared nationally via radio unless it was some syndicated program like Red Beard or Dr Dimento's Flower Power Hour or crap like that...
MTV launched in 81... but I don't recall any VH interviews until the 96 Roth reunion meltdown... Ed first appeared on Letterman in 1984, back when Shaffer still had hair... but didn't do an interview...
A little earlier than this Ed was on Letterman when they were filming in LA for a week...Didn;t do a song like that but they had extended songs after commercials ended
Shit, that whole 2003-2006 period, I was half-expecting the guy was gonna drop dead any moment.
I remember watching clips of the NAMM show appearance he made in late 2006, just before it was confirmed that Roth was working with the band again, and Ed turned in such a disjointed appearance...at points barely able to play close to what had been considered standard or par/normal for him.
He started off playing pretty well on the 2007 leg of the reunion tour, but he appeared to have relapsed early into the 2008 leg: he was having trouble playing the set 5 months into the tour at a point where that far into the tour, if anything, Ed should have been improving. I seem to recall post-tour he claimed he was having arthritis-related issues with his hands and underwent treatment for it, but at the 2008 Tampa gig he just plain looked drunk: his solo spot late into the show was just embarrassing, and the majority of the arena was silent watching him trying to conjure up the speed and brilliance which used to come to him so easily...and failing.
Fortunately, he got his shit together in a big way by the time 2012 rolled around: the Tampa gig I saw from the ADKOT tour was spectacular. In 2008, Roth carried the show. In 2012, Ed carried it.
There was a show when Ed was so hammered that in the end Wolfgang threw his bass on the floor in an outburst of anger. Can't remember which one.
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I can't remember if it was the 2008 Tampa show I saw or another show on the tour I watched on a dvd boot or youtube, but at the conclusion of Jump Ed was dragging his monitors across the stage in disgust after Roth's oversized inflatable microphone knocked over Ed's mic stand.
One thing I do remember from the Tampa show was they were playing Little Guitars...for about the first 5 or 6 songs, Ed was playing...decent. Not great, but decent. I can't recall whereabouts in the set Little Guitars was, but Ed was fumbling with the main fingerpicked chorded riff of the tune throughout the tune. At the end of the song, where Ed plays that fingerpicked chorded riff by himself and the song abruptly stops, the fumbling was even more noticeable because the rest of the band weren't playing along. And there's Ed, fumblefingering the riff, while Roth slowly walks over to Ed and stands right in front of him. Ed has this goofy grin on his face as he's fucking it up, and when he stopped playing the riff to end the song, [Ed] lightly rested his head on Roth's shoulder and Dave turned to the audience with what I'd best describe as a mild smirk, almost as if Dave was saying to the audience "yes, I know Ed didn't play the tune correctly."
It was a weird moment. From there through the rest of the show, Ed was very erratic. One moment he'd be playing the tunes accurately, the next he'd be fumbling around on the fretboard - often doing both within the same tune, mind you - almost as if he hadn't practiced the tunes enough. Which, as I said, was...strange, because by that point in the tour the band had probably played...I dunno, at least 30 to 40 gigs. The setlist didn't vary THAT much from one show to the next. The other tune I remember him having big problems with was the beginning of the Ice Cream Man solo, where his picking hand and fretting hand weren't coordinated. All of this blown up and laid bare to see on the massive video projection screen behind the band, so it wasn't like any of this wasn't clearly visible and it was all clearly audible.
I felt embarrassed for Ed. Even more so because Dave and Al were nailing their parts (I couldn't really hear the bass well, so I can't say how well Wolfgang played, but I'd be willing to wager the backing vocals were at least partially piped in).
Truth be told, the way Ed has looked in general for the last several years, I tend to doubt I'd recognize him if I saw him on the street: would just think it was some random guy.
Truth be told, the way Ed has looked in general for the last several years, I tend to doubt I'd recognize him if I saw him on the street: would just think it was some random guy.
Context is important in recognition - at a gig in LA standing beside Wolfgang I think you would recognize him.
Truthfully, for a regular person, Ed looks ok.
But does look retired.
As "Eddie Van Halen" though he looks like shit.
Sagging old man titties for fuck sakes. Dude is NOT planning to tour or play any shows anytime soon.
I'm glad he isn't out there dragging his saggin old ass out on stage. Heck, even bass player looks better than Ed.
Eddie does not look good at all. He doesn't look any worse than any other chain-smoking, life-long alcoholics. But he does not look healthy in any context.
64 is not old. Not even close. He looks rough.
Dave looks rough in terms of wear and tear on the face, and some of that is likely due to being outdoors all his life. But he is in better shape than the rest of them put together.
EVH probably can barely climb a flight of stairs. DLR still climbs in the Himalayan mountains. Only well conditioned people can even try that.
Bass Player looks better than all the other 3 put together as far as his face reflects his age, because he didn't trash the fuck out of himself for 40 + years. But I doubt he can climb more than a few flights of stairs.
You can look good and not be fit. You can be very fit but look old on the outside. You can be both. You can be neither.
In the case of EVH, he looks rough outside and is obviously rough inside. You don't trash the fuck out of yourself for 40 years or more and be healthy suddenly.
I cant stand people saying "he looks healthy". He does not look healthy and he is not healthy. That doesn't mean hes gonna drop dead, but he is not a heathy person.
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