Last week my as-cool-as-can-be brother (the only one I have) invited me to see Van Halen in concert at the
VH have reformed with David Lee Roth on vocals and Wolfgang Van Halen (Eddie’s son) on bass. I still do not understand why Michael Anthony is persona non grata, whether it’s due to some deliberate attempt to avoid splitting money with him, excessive monetary demands on his part, or just Eddie’s preference to allow his son to play. Having said that, WVH did a competent job on bass, and absent the zzz bass solo which Anthony could have expected to inflict upon us, was indistinguishable to my ears.
David Lee Roth, on the other hand, is inimitable. Now his hair is cut short. Sammy Hagar, for all his down-to-earth, likeable amiability, is actually a victim of his good nature. He is actually TOO nice. You can honestly imagine him having a beer or tequila with literally any member of the audience, male or female, with zero arrogance or pretension. Roth strikes me as the kind of guy you need to pass through a David Spade-type “and you are….” handler to approach. But lo and behold, that phony show-biz persona actually works for him. Go figure. Is it a “true reunion” without Anthony on bass? No. But in between this version with Roth, and “Van Hagar” with Hagar and Anthony (not that Roth and Anthony are mutually exclusive) I think I speak for most, if not all, VH fans when I say I’ll take the Roth w/o Anthony VH bastard over the Hagar w/Anthony VH bitch any day.
By the way, I wouldn’t mind seeing Chickenfoot (the Hagar w/Anthony “supergroup” also featuring Joe Satriani and Chad Smith/Aronoff), but they’ve yet to realize that DC is on the map, and I don’t like them enough to drive to Atlantic City or NYC to see them.
For his part, Roth did not disappoint. He was on his game and enjoying himself immensely: 100% showman, vaudeville huckster, even a bit… swishy (even swishier than Rob Halford!). But he hit the notes, kicked around a bit, and kept us entertained with banter (though to me, both Bruce Dickinson and Ian Anderson are still tied for top). Very few frontmen can match DLR for style. As I said, he is irreplaceable in Van Halen.
Set list: heavy on VH1 (Running With the Devil, Eruption, Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love, You Really Got Me, Jamie’s Cryin’, Ice Cream Man), VH2 (Dance the Night Away, Beautiful Girls, Somebody Get Me A Doctor), Diver Down (Pretty Woman, The Full Bug, Hang ‘Em High); 4 songs from the new album, A Different Kind of Truth (Tattoo, She’s The Woman, China Town, Blood And Fire) a few from 1984 (I’ll Wait, Hot For Teacher, Panama, and Jump) and just one each from Women and Children First (Everybody Wants Some) and Fair Warning (Unchained – not Mean Street, the song I most wanted to hear).
Alex’s drum solo was mercifully short, and Eddie’s extended guitar solo featured “Cathedral” and “Eruption”, as could be expected (as I recalled from the prior shows – one aspect in which “Van Hagar” was no worse than this current version). I had forgotten how good he really is. Dweezil Zappa joked that when he first heard the Kinks play “You Really Got Me”, his reaction was, “these guys really butchered that Van Halen song”. Eddie played through his signature Peavey amps (5 full stacks), and had at least two of the older-style Strat-types with the distinctive red/white/black stripes, though not the classic original Kramer with the humbucker falling out. Mostly he used his Peavey signature model, which I find rather dull considering his flamboyant style.
Bottom line: make no mistake, this band rocks, and will keep you entertained for the duration of the festivities, all 2 hours. I’m getting older, so many concerts veer towards tedium for me – particularly if I’ve seen the band before. But here I was wide awake from start to finish. Bravo!
I even got an excellent tour shirt, but here’s a question: why not sell brown M&Ms with the VH logo? Missed the boat on that one. Get on it, people!
Good review. Roth looks good with the shorter hair, too.
ReplyDeleteI like your M & M's idea!
(Damn, now I'm thinking about chocolate!)