Van Halen tour reviews

jay ratkowski · #1 10-30-2004, 09:14 PM

Still reading mixed reviews... I'm hoping they're getting better as the tour goes on. Wondering if anyone has thoughts/news on how it's going now that the tour has been going on for a bit?

I'm going to see them this coming Wednesday, they are the ONLY band that I have never been able to see that I really want to see... let's hope for the best.

FWIW, I found a nice collection of reviews here:
http://www.vhreunion.com/the_press.htm

revsharp777 · #2 10-30-2004, 09:38 PM

When they were here last week, the show resembled a lot of the reviews here. Besides Eddie being piss-drunk & screwing up the guitar solo a few times, it wasn't half bad. Everyone else in the band was top-notch.

Petie · #3 10-30-2004, 11:05 PM

The word on the street is that Sammy has had enough of Eddie's alcholism and won't continue after this string of dates.

www.melodicrock.com

fettouhi · #4 10-31-2004, 01:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Petie

The word on the street is that Sammy has had enough of Eddie's alcholism and won't continue after this string of dates.

www.melodicrock.com

Figures if Eddie really is back on the bottle, then this was bound to happend! The reviews for the HV Reunion to have been very mixed but they do seem to support that they're getting better as the tour continues!

Regards

André

the.godfather · #5 10-31-2004, 01:59 PM

It is just such a shame though, everyone would love to see them carry-on going for as long as possible. I am a HUGE Van Halen fan, and would love them to come to the UK, if not Europe at least.

I too have read (more than once) that the whole band were excellent, apart from Eddie. It is a shame, and I really hoped he was off the bottle.
I suppose things like this happen, especially in the industry. I sooo hope that things get a little better.

jay ratkowski · #6 11-01-2004, 09:42 AM

They should just give it up if Eddie can't go out and perform. I am really worried about how the show will go. I should be nothing but excited as this is by far my favorite band of all time (with either singer). I've missed them countless times for various reasons and I don't think there will be another chance. I'd hate for it to be ruined by a guitar super star who is letting his addictions destroy him.

Still hopeful though. The last three dates have gotten rave reviews!!!!

jem7vwh · #7 11-01-2004, 07:30 PM

The show I saw was 90% amazing. They opened with "Top of the World" and were spot on for the first hour or so. They did an unreal version of "Somebody Get Me a Doctor" which was much faster and I swear Ed hit every note.

The two low points of the show were "Eruption" and "Why Can't This Be Love?". Ed basically started Eruption by saying, "I'm just going to play around here and if I **** it up, that's ok- right?" The crowd roars and he starts playing with feedback and the trem. This continues for upwards of 5 minutes as he's now rolling on the floor just making weird sounds. After 10 minutes of odd sounds and dives he launches into "Eruption". He skips most of the middle sections. He plays the opening riffs, the legato and the two-handed tapping part very well, and then goes into "Spanish Fly". He completely destroys that song (it was terrible) and then spends the next 15 minutes trying to play "Cathedral". He never actually gets it right and finally just quits.

In "Why Can't This Be Love" I got the strong impression that Ed either didn't know what song they were playing or couldn't heard the drums and keyboard in the mix; because his playing didn't match or complement anything else in the song.

My guess is that he was totally plastered and he was able to play by sheer muscle memory on most of the guitar driven stuff he's done for years, but his ear wasn't good and his ability to improvise wasn't either. Still, I'd give the concert a B+ because it was 2.5 hours of great songs and a half hour of dissapointment.

If Ed would ever get his act together, he's still a captivating guitarist.

OlafLenk · #8 11-02-2004, 06:59 AM

does anybody have pictures from these recent gigs??

i really hope they come to europe (belgium) too!

jay ratkowski · #9 11-04-2004, 09:17 AM

Show was last night. I'm super tired, I'll try and collect some thoughts and then either post someone else's review later or try and write a full one of my own.

I'm both terribly happy and disappointed at the same time. From the opening of "Jump" to the 2nd encore of "When It's Love" I was bouncing up and down and smiling the whole time. At the same time, I was trying to put Ed's playing out of my mind. All and all, they had a great set list and the band had a ton of energy. Sammy amazed the heck out of me, still got it after all these years. I thought Mike's bass solo would be the low point of the show, but no, it was the guitar solo. Before reading the reviews from previous shows, I was hoping to hear the same awesome guitar solo Ed has been playing for eons. Starting out with 316 and just going more and more insane from there. Instead he started out by jumbling some notes together (eventually making his way into the "Hot For Teacher" intro) and hitting the fretboard and then saying something like "Okay I'm just gonna play around with some **** for a while" and going into something that reminded me of a frustrated kid screwing around in a guitar store. He managed to pull off the tapping section of "Eruption" in halway decent fashion. I think he was trying to play the "Mean Streets" intro along with part of "Cathedral". In the end, it was just hard to tell. That still didn't stop them from putting on an awesome show. I left with a huge smile on my face, as long as I kept Eddie out of my mind.

Oh and the opening band, I guess they were called Tribe of Judah. They really sucked. However, as soon as the singer pranced out on the stage and started to sing, I asked some random kid next to me "Is that Gary Cherone or something?" I just received a look of "who the hell is Gary Cherone?" Anyway, looking today, I see that singer was Greg, Gary's brother. Amazing how similar they are. They finished with a cover of "Edge of Seventeen" by Fleetwood Mac which made my insides hurt.

whatshisname · #10 11-04-2004, 09:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jay ratkowski

Oh and the opening band, I guess they were called Tribe of Judah. They really sucked. However, as soon as the singer pranced out on the stage and started to sing, I asked some random kid next to me "Is that Gary Cherone or something?" I just received a look of "who the hell is Gary Cherone?" Anyway, looking today, I see that singer was Greg, Gary's brother. Amazing how similar they are. They finished with a cover of "Edge of Seventeen" by Fleetwood Mac which made my insides hurt.

Gary's BROTHER is singing for TOJ now? Are you sure? TOJ is Gary's band. Maybe since he's been doing some stuff with Extreme, he got Greg to do the shows? Hmmm...

whatshisname · #11 11-04-2004, 09:30 AM

BTW, was Pat Badger and Mike Mangini still in the band? I doubt it, though.

Uh... I'm avoiding VH, because I'd rather remember them for how great they were.

I wish all of the bad things I've heard weren't true.

jay ratkowski · #12 11-04-2004, 09:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by whatshisname

Quote:

Originally Posted by jay ratkowski

Oh and the opening band, I guess they were called Tribe of Judah. They really sucked. However, as soon as the singer pranced out on the stage and started to sing, I asked some random kid next to me "Is that Gary Cherone or something?" I just received a look of "who the hell is Gary Cherone?" Anyway, looking today, I see that singer was Greg, Gary's brother. Amazing how similar they are. They finished with a cover of "Edge of Seventeen" by Fleetwood Mac which made my insides hurt.

Gary's BROTHER is singing for TOJ now? Are you sure? TOJ is Gary's band. Maybe since he's been doing some stuff with Extreme, he got Greg to do the shows? Hmmm...

Oh that is it? I went to a Van Halen tour page and they had some quick blurb about the band and then said something about Greg writing a new song with Gary. I figured Gary was the one helping the band out and not something else. Nevermind.

That makes a ton more sense now.

There was one song that had some decent drumming on it, could've been Mike, but it wasn't. I don't know who is drumming for them now as their site is not fully functional. However, the band members were just average at best.

jay ratkowski · #13 11-04-2004, 09:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by whatshisname

Uh... I'm avoiding VH, because I'd rather remember them for how great they were.

I wish all of the bad things I've heard weren't true.

I wish I could say the same. I would like to remember the amazing band they were (best band in the world), but as I said in post 1, I never had a chance to see them before now. There's no way I could let this opportunity pass, in their prime or far from it, it was well worth the price of admission.

On a related note, I heard a Van Hagar song on Sirius this morning and sang along just like any other time, so I don't think this has spoiled my feelings about the bands past.

whatshisname · #14 11-04-2004, 11:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jay ratkowski

Oh that is it? I went to a Van Halen tour page and they had some quick blurb about the band and then said something about Greg writing a new song with Gary. I figured Gary was the one helping the band out and not something else. Nevermind.

That makes a ton more sense now.

There was one song that had some decent drumming on it, could've been Mike, but it wasn't. I don't know who is drumming for them now as their site is not fully functional. However, the band members were just average at best.

Oh, I see. So, it was Gary, still.

I'm disappointed that the band wasn't so great. The songs I heard were really good, but, that was just the recorded versions, with the Extreme guys, minus Nuno.

jay ratkowski · #15 11-04-2004, 12:10 PM

They only played a few songs, but it was cheesy late 80's style music and the guitarist had to put a bad solo in every song. It was the type of original music you'd find at crummy bars in 1992, just polished up a few notches. This is coming from a pretty big Extreme fan... I was hoping for better from Gary (even though I didn't know it was him

)