BTMN Posted March 29, 2015 Posted March 29, 2015 Summer of 1979? St. Paul Theater? I was 7th row center. WOW!!!! Women and Children First tour next door in the Civic Center a few years later was maybe the best show I ever saw until I saw the same show almost word for word, flup up for flup up in Jacksonville a few months later. Never felt quite the same about them after that. Running With The Devil.... "I'm so F**&%@ up... I... forgot.. the words. " Still pretty big fan, but like KISS, my days sending money that way might be over.
FGJ Posted March 29, 2015 Posted March 29, 2015 "Oh like you could do better" is right up there with "I know you are, but what am I"..... If you dig Van Halen and Kenny Wayne Shepherd, that's great! Say it loud and proud. Spend your money on those tickets! I saw the first Roth reunion tour in 2007... that was enough for me. David can't sing anymore...his stage moves are some strange combination of Bob Fosse jazz hands and WWE posturing... and Edward...who is one of my ultimate influences and a total hero... is playing the same solo he was when I saw them in 1982, and not playing it as well. Is it to much to ask that he write something new??? Maybe it is...and maybe its too much to ask for me to shell out the $$$ to see them play again. I'll keep my opinions of Kenny Wayne Copycat to myself I opted not to see them for this same reason.... Last saw classic VH in 1984 - Last saw DLR in 94, last saw Van Hagar in 92? ------ didn't want to ruin the memories. Seeing Dave in Bristol UK in 1994 was a shock - a coked up Yankee doodle dandy with the Bob Fosse thing going hard ----- a sad and unexpected fall from the Eat 'em and smile and Skyscraper tours --- After enjoying the hell out of the 5150 tour (multiple shows) I was hugely disappointed in the ou812 Monster of Rock tour and -- and bitterly disappointed with the F.U.C.K. tour -------- Eddie was wasted and couldn't give a fuck - Sammy was doing everything he could to keep the boat on the water but I just wasn't buying it because Ed was so fucked up and pissed (off). I just couldn't chance killing my last memory of 1984 by seeing them in 2007 and beyond.. I'm with you EVH was my fav --- I've had the good fortune of being right in front of him on the barricade for 5 shows --- feet away. His creativity, musicality, drive, ambition ---- they all started falling hard after1986 and never recovered. I want them well, happy, wealthy, and living life and making great music -- but I need to keep my memories intact. Apparently there's no fucking Santa Claus --- and Christmas has sucked Donkey ever since I found that shit out - I need VH alive in my memories or I'll have nothing left from my childhood beyond the day I first tugged on my wiener and went "well hello there!". I can appreciate that sentiment. I actually stopped listening to Van Halen right before their last album with Sammy. It just didn't too it for me anymore, and I sort of figured I'll just enjoy the memories. But then a buddy got me interested in playing guitar again. I dusted off my old Cali (thank God I resisted the temptation to sell it when my interest in playing was at its lowest), and I decided to give Van Halen's latest album a listen. Hearing their latest album after not listening to any of their stuff for so long was like jumping in a time machine, and I enjoyed listening to rock guitar again as if I were a kid in high school. The big plus was that, because people reviewing that album kept noting that some of the songs were from their old demos, I decided to look that stuff up on YouTube and discovered songs I had never heard. So I had the pleasure of hearing a great new album as well as old material that was entirely new to me. It was a great year for me as an old Van Halen fan. To digress a bit, I thought some of the versions on the demos were better mixed than the versions on some of the albums. That was one of the interesting discoveries of that demo material. Frankly, rather than the upcoming live album or remastered versions of their old albums, I would dig it if they released a remastered, official, giant collection of all of that demo material. Heck, they could even call it "The Official Bootleg Collection", or some such thing. I would dig having better versions of those than what I hear on YouTube audio files.
hamerhead Posted March 29, 2015 Posted March 29, 2015 Same boat here. The latest with DLR sent my looking for the demos, a lot of which I hadn't heard. It was cool to hear how some of it morphed into material on later releases.I saw them 3 times from '79 to '84, but never with Sam. And at the cave that was The Dane County Memorial Colliseum, the sound was pretty much mush with mostly Dave screams thrown in. Dave definitely had his schtick, but I always liked Sam's voice better (his lyrics not so much). By the time Sam arrived, Ed had already done what I thought was his best work. The solos were a bit rehashed, the guitar tones too chorus-y, and the keyboard stuff - meh.Don't get me wrong - EVH did more for my thought process on playing than anyone and I love him. He showed up and changed the game at a critical point of my developement (a couple years earlier would have been nice....) and I learned a ton. The "Oh like you could do better" comment was just a(nother) jab at Shawn, but I agree with him. KWS and VH is a great double-bill, but I'll live with the memories.
GC Ron Posted March 29, 2015 Posted March 29, 2015 Saw them in '78 opening for Sabbath. No plans to see them now. And I'm araid to see what the ticket prices will be.
Brooks Posted March 30, 2015 Posted March 30, 2015 i saw the roth '07 reunion, 2nd tour stop i believe, i thought it was great (except some mistuned keys on "jump"). have not heard the vids of that show, dont want to, i remember it as great and thats the way i want to remember it. also saw rush on the time machine tour (they did the entire "moving pictures" album, i almost got choked up). and i saw sabs at ozzfest 2005 (wish i had skipped that one, they were much better in 96.. but maiden killed). i will not be seeing any of them again. i can't afford tix, and i don't believe they can better the memories. i will be seeing john scofield again, and the aristocrats too. instrumental heros age better
carbenez Posted March 31, 2015 Posted March 31, 2015 Ummmm, this.... really Dave?https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=102&v=HNrIUagLaZQ
MCChris Posted March 31, 2015 Posted March 31, 2015 I was expecting worse based on the widespread criticisms of Dave on here and TGP. I'm a DLR fanboi, however, so my opinion may be skewed.
cynic Posted March 31, 2015 Posted March 31, 2015 I'm admittedly a DLR fanboy as well, but Dave is always just 100% Dave. He throws it out there, warts and all, and doesn't give a fuck.For better or worse, he still grabs peoples attention while sharing the stage with one of the greatest guitarists of the 20th century.
cmatthes Posted March 31, 2015 Posted March 31, 2015 DLR has definitely gotten weirder. Agreed that his voice is pretty awful, but I still enjoyed watching the band. Didn't really feel like VH to me for some reason, but I didn't hate it. I'd probably like it better with MA in the mix, because it still seems like a VH cover band with Wolfie for some reason. I saw them a few times in their heyday - the early/mid '80s with DLR, and that's the best it ever could be. Saw them with Sammy twice and wasn't the same. Saw twice in the 2007-08 tours, which were actually very good. After seeing the Kimmel stuff last night, I'll do like Brooks and stick with the good memories.
SSII x 2 Posted March 31, 2015 Posted March 31, 2015 Must be Ed REALLY hates bass players. He buries hisown flesh and blood in the mix same as he did Mike.And poor Wolfie. Your mom's Valerie, your dad's Ed, and youwind up looking like that!
MCChris Posted March 31, 2015 Posted March 31, 2015 And poor Wolfie. Your mom's Valerie, your dad's Ed, and youwind up looking like that!Blistering commentary.
conorb Posted March 31, 2015 Posted March 31, 2015 I saw them a couple of years ago at the Tacoma Dome with Kool and Gang and they were awesome.A much better show than I expected and a real musical highlight for me. Eddie was playing very well and Roth's voice seemed credible - more credible than other aging rockers that I've seen; other than Glenn Hughes and Paul Rodgers maybe.Honestly, it was worth it and I wouldn't mind trying to see them again.Plus, I'm a big KWS as well.conorb
princeofdarkness56 Posted March 31, 2015 Posted March 31, 2015 Plenty of room for improvement that's for sure. That said, I think I am going to make a change from my previous post that it would be about 25 dates into the 40 date tour before some sort of "fatigue" set in to make them change or cancel the tour. New number is going to be around 15.
devrock Posted March 31, 2015 Posted March 31, 2015 I don't know why anyone is surprised. He sounds like this live ALL THE TIME. Listen to bootlegs form the 80s. Same thing. Can't sing in key if his life depended on it.As much as I like the early VH stuff, I'm still a bigger Sammy fan. I felt they really raised the bar in terms of the quality of music they produced. Their live shows were massive and a LOT of fun.I'll snag tickets for this tour, I guess. Saw them last time around and it was fun (despite Dave's "dancing").
MCChris Posted March 31, 2015 Posted March 31, 2015 I felt they really raised the bar in terms of the quality of music they produced.For me, Hagar's lyrics plus pandering dreck like "Love Walks In," "When It's Love," "I Can't Stop Loving You," "Feels So Good," etc. combined to create a signifiant drop-off in quality.
BTMN Posted March 31, 2015 Posted March 31, 2015 Guess Dave whacked himself in the nose with his stick twirling and they had to restart the song hench the bandaid on his nose.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6RaoMXV87Q&feature=player_embedded
coolfeel Posted March 31, 2015 Posted March 31, 2015 Wolfie does seem more fit for WWE nowadays...When I saw them in 2007 it was their first show of the tour and they sounded really good and Dave sounded good - lucked out being the first show!I miss MA - a LOT...
BTMN Posted March 31, 2015 Posted March 31, 2015 http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/music/posts/la-et-ms-van-halen-jimmy-kimmel-live-hollywood-blvd-david-lee-roth-20150331-column.html
devrock Posted March 31, 2015 Posted March 31, 2015 I felt they really raised the bar in terms of the quality of music they produced.For me, Hagar's lyrics plus pandering dreck like "Love Walks In," "When It's Love," "I Can't Stop Loving You," "Feels So Good," etc. combined to create a signifiant drop-off in quality.Was anything on the last album any better? No. That album is a footnote at best.
MCChris Posted March 31, 2015 Posted March 31, 2015 Was anything on the last album any better? No. That album is a footnote at best.Disagree. I consider ADKOT to be a triumph.
LucSulla Posted March 31, 2015 Posted March 31, 2015 I miss MA too, but after watching the Smithsonian piece that was posted here a couple of weeks ago, I find the bitterness I had is largely gone. The more I read about the band getting back together, the less the options sounded like MA or Wolfie. It sounds more like it was either doing a band with his kid or probably living like a hermit until he ultimately drank himself to death. I'm definitely not so chagrined over MA being fired that I would prefer Eddie to have gone out like that, which in my opinion seems the most likely scenario had Wolfie not got him working again.Dave is pretty god-awful, but Eddie seems healthier and sounds really good. Whatever the personal issues and soap opera behind the scenes, the guy's music has entertained me for almost all of my 35 years. I was four years old when "Jump" was released, and I can remember commandeering the radio every time I got to ride in the front seat and desperately searching for that song. Even if I don't particularly want to see the band as it is now, I'm glad to see Ed having a good time up there again. I can always go back and listen to those old albums, and I appreciate that he made that possible.
polara Posted March 31, 2015 Author Posted March 31, 2015 DLR has definitely gotten weirder.Agreed that his voice is pretty awful, but I still enjoyed watching the band. Didn't really feel like VH to me for some reason, but I didn't hate it.I'd probably like it better with MA in the mix, because it still seems like a VH cover band with Wolfie for some reason.I saw them a few times in their heyday - the early/mid '80s with DLR, and that's the best it ever could be. Saw them with Sammy twice and wasn't the same. Saw twice in the 2007-08 tours, which were actually very good.After seeing the Kimmel stuff last night, I'll do like Brooks and stick with the good memories.+1 on Diamond Dave getting very strange. Not in a a good way, IMO. When I saw them once in the early 80s in Detroit it was all excess, all the time. Dave did high kicks and leaps and talked smack. Oh, sometimes he sang bits of the songs, too. Eddie was sloppy (possibly not sober.) I was unimpressed, and I was just a kid. It didn't help that I saw Talking Heads about that time, who were one of the most powerful live acts I ever saw (on the tour which Jonathan Demme made into a movie) and also the Chicago Symphony Orchestra doing Beethoven's Symphony No 9. VH was a distant third on my list in 198..4?I unashamedly love a lot of VH songs and EVH is a monster innovator and player with a brilliant sense of melody and rhythm. His brother is a heck of a drummer and sometimes overlooked. Yeah, Mikey was always cool, fun, great harmonies and Dave, when he was on, did the perfect balance of being a rock star and parodying rock stars.But this was a band that could never age gracefully. When you've built yourselves on being lycra-clad, long-haired party rock with good times lyrics... you either reinvent yourselves completely in your late 30s and hope a few fans hang on, or you end up being old dudes with new full-body tattoos croaking out tired-sounding covers of your own hits that were about young men getting laid.
kizanski Posted March 31, 2015 Posted March 31, 2015 ... you either reinvent yourselves completely in your late 30s and hope a few fans hang on, or you end up being old dudes with new full-body tattoos croaking out tired-sounding covers of your own hits that were about young men getting laid.⬆︎More blistering commentary.For me there is only DLR Van Halen. I have nothing against Hagar, but I just don't dig his vocals, and as Muse already pointed out, the music got very sappy after he joined.But you all know there's a "BUT" coming...To say DLR has become a caricature of himself would be too kind.The excessively toothy smile, the gum-chewing, and - MY GOD! - the waist-high leg kicks all combine to form a very disturbing image of a man who's train has left the station. Without him....and I was half way through the first video before I realized that wasn't some freaky t-shirt he was wearing!
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