Nov 21 2007
Van Halen Reunion Show
Thanks to a ticketmaster connection we got some ridiculously awesome seats for the Van Halen show at Staples last night. I’ve given up on trying to actually BUY good tickets, I am always the guy who logs on right when the pre-sale starts and still never gets anything (or anything good).
The wife and I have been waiting many years to see a David Lee Roth-fronted VH show, and after a recent aborted tour (or ten) we finally got our wish.
My review to most people has been “The highs were high and the lows were low.”
I absolutely love David Lee Roth. And 1984-and-before Van Halen is some of the sweetest stripper-rock on the planet. But I couldn’t help this feeling all night that this was the absolute best Van Halen tribute show I’d ever seen.
There was plenty of rock to be had, and when the band was in sync they really delivered. This tended to be during choruses of their big hits and during the last few songs of the night.
The rest of the time I felt as if there were 4 different people on stage, each doing their part, exactly as scripted (or notated). I guess 4 people playing the exact same song at the exact same time equals performing said song, but I don’t think it equaled a performance the way I saw it.
I loved DLRs usual stage antics and banter, but it all seemed very rushed and scripted. Nonetheless, good ol’ Dave is the consummate showman and he gave us exactly what we wanted, enormous inflatable microphone and all. Extra points for the holding up a hat with his unit bit.
Reunion type shows are either a hit or miss with me. The Murder City Devils reunion show two weeks ago in Austin was an example of how it should go down – a bunch of guys playing their hearts out, thrilled to be back on stage with each other and connecting to their sea of devoted fans. I just didn’t get that full connection with Van Halen.
Maybe it was the mix – the sound was pretty bad. A wall of guitar noise and DLR somewhere in there.
Like I said, high highs and low lows. But at the end of the night, when all was said and done, it was a DLR-fronted Van Halen show, and it rocked.
