My history with Van Halen goes back pretty much to the beginning of Van Halen, or at least when their first album came out. They actually got it started in about 1972, but their debut album in 1978 was when most of the world got a peek. I was 12-years-old and rocking Zeppelin, KISS and Black Sabbath. When I first heard "Runnin' With The Devil" and "You Really Got Me" I knew I'd found a new band to worship. I caught them live 4 times through the next 3 decades, with David Lee Roth once and with Sammy Hagar 3 times. This time around they've got David Lee Roth fronting again, but instead of Michael Anthony on the bass it's Eddie Van Halen's son, Wolfgang. Having your son play bass in your band is a good sign you've been around for a while (Eddie's 53).The opening act was Ky-Mani Marley, son of deceased Reggae superstar Bob Marley. The only songs I knew going in from Ky-Mani were "Warriors" and "One Time" but I like his music a little bit. Not enough to probably go see him solo, so I was glad they got someone completely different from their style of music to open. To me though, a couple of reggae songs is enough and then it all sort of blends together. We got there a little bit late and I got to my seat and asked the guy next to me how long Ky-Mani had been playing and he replied "too long". Ha ha well we did get to hear a couple of songs, inluding the closer that his father made famous, “I Shot the Sheriff."
Another good sign that Van Halen is older than me even is that they kicked off their set at 8:22, very earlier for rockers. With a giant big screen behind them, they open the night with their remake of the classic Kinks’ rocker “You Really Got Me” on full blast and the crowd went ballistic. Not a sold-out show, but a pretty good sized crowd. Probably could have squeezed another 4,000 or so in I'm guessing. The guys look really good, especially considering they're 50+ year-old rock stars. Eddie is shirtless and Dave is before long and both are in great shape and sporting short hair. Dave still does the kicks and Eddie does the scissor jumps, but the kicks aren't as high and you could barely get a phone book under the scissor jumps.
They quickly blast into their early catalog with songs like “I’m the One,” “Runnin’ with the Devil” and “Romeo Delight” (which had a bit of The Who’s “Magic Bus”). When they performed “Somebody Get Me a Doctor”, they worked in Humble Pie’s “I Don’t Need No Doctor”. Not a lot of chatter between songs, with Roth keeping the banter to minimum. They quickly tore through 1 classic after another. Lots of great sing-a-long moments on the stuff like “Beautiful Girls” and “Dance the Night Away.” The tribal drum beat to kick off “Everybody Wants Some!” sent the place into a frenzy and Dave sounded great on it, especially the part in the middle where he tries to talk up an imaginary girl. After seeing what a mess Dave was on his solo tour years ago, I never thought I'd say this again... but Dave's still got it. He handles the mic stand like it's a f'n samurai sword or something at times, swinging like no majorette has dared rock a baton. Dave was smiling and laughing a lot and interacting with the other guys. His happy facial expressions and exaggerated surprise looks are easy to buy into. He's either having a blast or is a hell of an actor.
After “Mean Streets” and Roy Orbison’s “Pretty Woman,” Alex Van Halen launched into his drum solo... which of course means pee-pee and beer time. Not that it was a bad drum solo, but hey, it's a DRUM SOLO. He hit things.
One thing that stood out a bit and got me to wondering is that there were no visible keyboards as they were either offstage or piped in. While I don't really mind it, it got me to wondering if some of the excellent sounding backing vocals weren't tracked also. Wolfie either sounds exactly like Michael Anthony or there's some backing tracks playing. No biggie, as it sounds great and adds some kick, but I'm curious to know.
While we're on Wolfgang, I guess the big question is how does he do? Well, his bass skills are obviously good but not flashy or showy at all. His stage prescence is non-existent. Personally, there can be no comparison for my money to Big Mike stomping around prowling the stage and hammering on his big Jack Daniels bass and laying out awesome backing vocals. I'm a bit disappointed that they packed away the cases of Jack Daniels and replaced them with cases of Clearasil, but the kid does an OK job musically. It's definitely not detracting from the show, but could only be better with Mike. Just my opinion though.
Back to the show... during “I’ll Wait” again instead of playing the keyboard parts on stage like they used to do, they piped them in from offstage. The harmony vocals on this track more than any seemed really fishy as well and I would bet this one had to have some vocals added. Sounded great though, no doubt. Time to tear though the awesome hook that kicks off “And the Cradle Will Rock…” followed by Eddie just ripping up the guitar on “Hot for Teacher” before “Little Guitars” changed the pace again. Then David brought out the acoustic guitar and strummed while talking about the old days and some dude named Kenny who drove an ice cream truck. Somehow, even after over an hour of show already, things picked up and reached a near peak when they launched “Ice Cream Man” followed “Panama” as the entire place pumped fists in the air and screamed the chorus.
Eddie's solo time was next and he showed why he's who he is... a freakin' guitar wizard. The sounds he conjures are amazing. He incorporated a bit of “Cathedral” and did some flamenco style stuff with tapping and picking. Awesome. Of course, he finished with "Eruption" and then just brutally launched into “Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love” as the band came back out and the very foundations of Alltel Arena shook. People were just coming unglued.
After a quick hiatus from the stage, they came back out with the synthesizer music of “1984” before launching into the crowd-pleasing “Jump” as showers of confetti came out while Eddie jumped, Roth smiled and did jumping karate kicks, Alex pounded and Wolfie hammered the bass. Needless to say there were a lot of smiles and laughs in the audience as well. At the end I was left with no doubt, Van Halen can still bring it. It has been broughten my friends.
Set List:
You Really Got Me
I'm the One
Runnin' With the Devil
Romeo Delight
Somebody Get Me a Doctor
Beautiful Girls
Dance the Night Away
Atomic Punk
Everybody Wants Some
So This Is Love?
Mean Street
(Oh) Pretty Woman
-- Drum Solo --
Unchained
I'll Wait
And the Cradle Will Rock
Hot for Teacher
Little Dreamer
Little Guitars
Jamie's Cryin'
Ice Cream Man
Panama
-- Guitar Solo -- ("Cathedral", "Eruption")
Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love
-- Encore --
1984
Jump
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