Van Halen Concert Review
Last Saturday night, the wifey and I squeezed into our old spandex and went and saw Van Halen at Joe Louis Arena. The “Rockers with Walkers” tour features David Lee Roth back with the band, minus original bassist Michael Anthony. The new bass player is Eddie’s son Wolfgang. Dave introduced the line up as “Three parts original - one part inevitable”.
Man I’m getting old.
Not only did my fat ass barely fit into the seats, I wasn’t alone. I might have actually been the youngest one there. There was a row of 5 guys in front of us all wearing khaki’s and button down oxfords. They were checking their email via their blackberry’s constantly before the show. 50+ year old women stuffed into tight fitting pants, and the old geezer behind me who lamented about the time he saw Humble Pie at Cobo and that Peter Frampton turned into a pussy when he left to go solo and start singing them faggy girly songs. Whew.
The show started on time, and they opened with “You really Got Me”. Right from the start it was obvious that DLR was in shape and well tuned. His vocals were right on the mark, and despite the crappy sound from where I was sitting, he was nailing all the familiar screams, indian calls, and high notes just like the old days.
Eddie seemed to also be in top form. His playing was inspired and he looked like he was having a good time on stage. Although his trademark guitar solo was a bit boring - “Lets turn on some effects and watch me make strange noises” - it got tedious after a while.
Wolfgang, besides providing a vehicle for Daves game show personality to “educate the young boy”, seemed to be very low in the mix (deliberate). The bass parts in VH where never anything complicated, but rather it was the harmony vocals that Michael Anthony provided that where a hallmark of the band. Unfortunately,Wolfie was just adequate in that department.
Alex played drums.
Early on Dave tried to do a few of his trademark windmill karate kicks. They didn’t quite make their mark and looked a little awkward. But by end of the night - he was nailing them just like the old days.
With no “new album”, the set list consisted of only early hits, including a few oldies that they rarely played on tour before.
So did they live up to their ticket price? Who the hell cares, it’s Van Halen with David Lee Roth! The Rawked! End of Story! Period!
Fuckin-Ay.
So this video has been going around lately and show one of there first shows where something terribly goes wrong. Rumor is that the keyboard recording was played back at a slightly faster pitch resulting in it being in a higher key, which in tune make all the other instruments out of tune.
