Van Halen 08

Well.

It was as good as possible, I suppose. I’m glad I didn’t spend more than what I did for tickets ($79.50ea + ticketbastard fees)

The bad parts: DLR (David Lee Roth for the youngsters) can’t sing anymore, the sound system was fucked and even when the mic did work, it was like karaoke – you got music and backup vocals with the audience singing. The whole sound system crashed (I saw them rebooting what looked like a DOS system with my binoculars) in the middle of Eddie’s 10 minute solo. We heard a good chunk of it through the monitors. Brilliant.

Yah. For the exorbitant prices they charge for tickets, I expect BETTER. I’ve not seen a clean, well mixed, well performed concert since the 80s, I swear. Which is why I rarely waste my money on them anymore. I don’t think people even know what a well done show sounds like any more. Judging from the crap I’ve heard from the last decade, I’d say the bar is set very, very low. It’s too bad, really.

In the defense of the band, it would be difficult to get your groove on when your mics are spotty and your sound system crashes. However, even when DLR could be heard, he sounded like an old Jewish woman. Oy! I have to demote Diamond Dave to CZ Dave, sorry.

The good parts: the band sounded amazing even with bad mixing. Eddie looked ok, but OLD and a little thin – but good considering he had cancer. His son, Wolfgang, was on bass and my gods is he awesome. The boy can play some bass – and drums, guitar and piano, too, apparently. Eddie says he’s a better musician than he is, which means we’ll be hearing from the Van Halen family for quite some time. I can’t wait to see what he does. Eddie’s also got a Wolfgang tat on his right bicep – very sweet! Wolfgang also sang backup with Alex and Eddie. The backups sounded perfect. DLR looked old, but in great shape. He gamely gave some kicks and an occasional crotch grab, but overall was sedate. He had a maniacal grin on his face for most of the show – even when he was singing – which was odd. I think perhaps it’s the plastic surgery gone awry or something.

I think my having seen the band in 1984 and remembering that show vividly really gave me issue when trying to listen to this older version of the band. It’s tough to watch your rock heroes get old and gnarly. I feel similarly about Pat Benatar and Stevie Nicks. I would have appreciated it if DLR had at least attempted to sing a bit more rather than just jump in with a few words every now and then. I think the foray into bluegrass ruined him! LOL

I’m very glad to have seen VH one more time before they disband completely (hmm, maybe Wolfgang will continue the band?). Despite the problems with the show and the issues with DLR, it was fun and worth $282 (tix $200, shirt $35, parking $15, 4 beers, $32) for a lovely Valentine present to my sweetie! He had a great time and so did I. :-)

Look for the complete (as much as we could decipher w/ the crappy sound) set list in Nick’s post.