MR

I'm watching (and unfortunately hearing) Velvet Revolver do a tribute to VH right now... ugh!

So very sad! Glad they pulled the plug!

Okay... there's Mike and Sam!!!!!!!!!

It's The Late Show with Sam and Mike supported by the Late Show Band. Bad. Very bad.

That really really sucked. Velvet Revolver SUCKED trying to play Aint Talkin' Bout Love. No Roth and no Van Halen's.

Very sad.

Dare I say that both performances fell a bit flat.

Scott Weiland is no David Lee Roth and Sammy & Mike played with the most crappy house band in history.

Reporter: "Are you surprised Dave wasn't here tonight?"

Sam: "Honestly? Yeah!"

What a disgrace.

I take back one-fourth of the negative things I might've said about Vic Johnson playing EVH live!

Can I get some reports PMd to me - I need text for the frontpage news item...I can't get the footage here in OZ....

Andrew wrote:Can I get some reports PMd to me - I need text for the frontpage news item...I can't get the footage here in OZ....

It's not even worth watching when it shows up on You Tube. The footage of the band they showed before the induction was the best part. The rest SUCKED.

I liked The Ronettes performance so much better.

Andrew...

There's not much to write about, period.

Mike gave a speech how great everything had been. Sammy was less eloquent, but said basically the same. Both of them acknowledged the fact that Ed was getting help. Sammy said he was open to a full-blown reunion tour with Dave if it could be realized (by Ed, I assume), having both singers on stage for performances (separately, I assume) in one tour.

Not much more that I could gather out of the whole gala event.

And the closing number wasn't good. "Power to the people?"

I agree. Velvet Revolver fucking sucked BAD! I can see why DLR didn't want to sing with them. That fucking lead singer acted like he was high on crack or meth. What a disgusting joke! They trashed the songs they played, almost like they were making a mockery of Van Halen.

I thought Sammy and Mike were very respectful and humble, but I cannot agree with Sammy saying Velvet Revolver was the best band left on the planet. What the fuck was he thinking? Maybe too much Cabo Wabo Tequila before the show?

Whenever Paul Schafer is involved things usually end up in the shitter, save for Anton Fig. The Mike & Sammy performance, while better then Silk Peashooter, was far from perfect. Props to Mike & Sammy for TRYING to save the memory of Van Halen. And props to Mike for starting out his speech wishing Eddie get healthy soon.

As for Sammy's comment about VR, he was being a nice guy. I'm sure a few of them have gone down to Cabo and partied with him. He was being a gentleman.

All in all a pretty boring RNR show. The fat tub known as Aretha Franklin was worse than VR. The Ronnettes, minus one memeber were not bad, I can't say anything bad about them. I used to sing to their stuff in the car with my mum when I was small (still do - without mum). Patti Smith was horrible. I turned it off after Van Halen. I f**king hate REM.

I saw a bit of Patti Smith. Who did she blow way back when to get a record deal? And who would accept it?

I recorded it and will check it out tonight. Sounds like it was a pretty lame way to go into the HOF. I think I'll watch my Diver Down boot in their honor.

-----------------------
As for Sammy's comment about VR, he was being a nice guy. I'm sure a few of them have gone down to Cabo and partied with him. He was being a gentleman.
-----------------------

Let's not forget, Slash was once a potential Planet US member. He chose to form VR with his old G 'n R bandmates instead.

The thing is, the playing itself wasn't the worst part of VR. It was the singing. Scott Weiland should be banned from ever singing Van Halen.

And I hate to disagree, but the Late Night with David Letterman band comprises some of the most talented mofos on the planet. Low rehearsal time is to blame for that. I think had they rehearsed more than once, and on the same day as the gig, it would have been fine.

I have to agree with Collector on this one. The Late Night band is extremely talented. I don't think the problem was their fault. That Why Can't This Be Love performance had the smell of a last second throw together. As I watched the netcast when VR finished thier abortion things just kind of sat like there was some sort of break. Out of the blue the anouncer told everyone to stay in their seats for another musical performance. It seemed really off the cuff. I think they were just making the best of a bad situation.

shaka wrote:I have to agree with Collector on this one. The Late Night band is extremely talented. I don't think the problem was their fault. That Why Can't This Be Love performance had the smell of a last second throw together. As I watched the netcast when VR finished thier abortion things just kind of sat like there was some sort of break. Out of the blue the anouncer told everyone to stay in their seats for another musical performance. It seemed really off the cuff. I think they were just making the best of a bad situation.

That was my impression as well. Like they realized VR was really sucking up the joint and they turned to Paul and said, "Do something." At least they tried. Sammy sounded like he clearly was not in good singing voice; it was clear to me he would have been in better singing shape IF he had planned on singing a VH song.

Sorry, no. I'm a lifelong musician, and not particularly talented, but I can still pick up my axe after hearing a song 4-5 times and do it some justice; same for the keys. You can't tell me those Letterman band guys NEVER heard "Why Can't This Be Love" before, that they didn't have SOME familiarity with the song. I've covered it before; I massacred the vocs, but my guitarist nailed it, and I worked out the keys in a couple of days. It was highly unprofessional of them to go up there without knowing the damned songs. They had at least 10 days to prep that mateial, too, because Diamond Dave made his announcement at least a week before the ceremony, and that decision had been made well in advance. Any group of professional musicians should be able to do a song SOME justice, at least, with 10 days prep time. Sorry. There are no excuses for those histrionics. Don't even get me started on Wail-land and the rest of the heroin addicts. They were ambivalent, at best, in their approach to VH songs, and their "speech" was a pile of dogs**t, and was more insincere than a Republican at a global warming summit.

StyxCollector wrote:

shaka wrote:I have to agree with Collector on this one. The Late Night band is extremely talented. I don't think the problem was their fault. That Why Can't This Be Love performance had the smell of a last second throw together. As I watched the netcast when VR finished thier abortion things just kind of sat like there was some sort of break. Out of the blue the anouncer told everyone to stay in their seats for another musical performance. It seemed really off the cuff. I think they were just making the best of a bad situation.

That was my impression as well. Like they realized VR was really sucking up the joint and they turned to Paul and said, "Do something." At least they tried. Sammy sounded like he clearly was not in good singing voice; it was clear to me he would have been in better singing shape IF he had planned on singing a VH song.

Did you notice that the late night crew was playing on Velvet Revolvers drums and backline? This tells me that this was a last minute throw together. They honestly could have picked an easier song to play. WCTBL is fairly intricate and is mostly a synth driven song. The Late Night guy was playing it all on guitar so of course it sounded strange. I actually didn't mind the horns, they sort of gave it a cabo flair.

shaka wrote:Did you notice that the late night crew was playing on Velvet Revolvers drums and backline? This tells me that this was a last minute throw together. They honestly could have picked an easier song to play. WCTBL is fairly intricate and is mostly a synth driven song. The Late Night guy was playing it all on guitar so of course it sounded strange. I actually didn't mind the horns, they sort of gave it a cabo flair.

Exactly. The other things is that I've heard them do "Right Now" going into breaks on the Letterman show years ago, so they can do it. Did it sound somewhat amateurish? Yeah, but so would I if I had 3 minutes to pull it off.

7 Wishes wrote:Sorry, no. I'm a lifelong musician, and not particularly talented, but I can still pick up my axe after hearing a song 4-5 times and do it some justice; same for the keys. You can't tell me those Letterman band guys NEVER heard "Why Can't This Be Love" before, that they didn't have SOME familiarity with the song. I've covered it before; I massacred the vocs, but my guitarist nailed it, and I worked out the keys in a couple of days. It was highly unprofessional of them to go up there without knowing the damned songs. They had at least 10 days to prep that mateial, too, because Diamond Dave made his announcement at least a week before the ceremony, and that decision had been made well in advance. Any group of professional musicians should be able to do a song SOME justice, at least, with 10 days prep time. Sorry. There are no excuses for those histrionics. Don't even get me started on Wail-land and the rest of the heroin addicts. They were ambivalent, at best, in their approach to VH songs, and their "speech" was a pile of dogs**t, and was more insincere than a Republican at a global warming summit.

Hearing it a couple of times is not trying to play it. As we have been discussing, it's pretty evident the intent was not to have them play. VR just sucked so bad they had to do something. I do not even think they prepped for 10 days. More like 10 minutes because it was spontaneous.

Sammy and Mike perforing with Paul was the only spontanious thing on the nite... yes that end song SUCKED way bad....and Patty crappy smith...WTF.. yes the Ronettes were the class of the nite.

YES REM DOES SUCK!!

Rick

The Sam and Mike performance was not spontanious,MA had his Yamaha bass with him. The horn section had the arrangements. No way was that a last
minute performance. The VR induction speech seemed spontanious to me,I know it wasn't but thats how it sounded.. What a sham.

StyxCollector wrote:Sammy sounded like he clearly was not in good singing voice; it was clear to me he would have been in better singing shape IF he had planned on singing a VH song.

My take was that they didn't have proper stage monitors (Sammy usually uses in-ear monitors), and Sammy couldn't hear himself so he was straining. Plus, there were no vocal effects on the mix at all and it sounded harsh and dry. I would not have wanted to be in Sammy's shoes for that song. Whoever was playing guitar sounded like fucking shit. I could have played the song better, and I'm more of a drummer than a guitarist.

Ya, I like Velvet Revolver as a band. I like their first cd and look forward toward their next one BUT they BLEW last night. When Scott sang those first words I was like What THe F**k is he doing. They butcher a VH classic and also Round and Round, my brother was asking what song was that and I told him R & R and he was like rightttttt. It was really really disappointing, I just couldnt believe that. I am glad they showed the Whole award ceremony. The two hours edited ones they have played in the past really suck and I hope they continue this format. It makes for a better show. Even though sometimes the performances suck. Rock On

I'm sure Michael Anthony brought his bass just in case.

The horns were mostly played in unison. Those guys are all top notch studio cats. They can listen to a song once and fake it which is what it sounded like to me.

The guitarists name is Sid McGinnis. He's one of the most in demand session players on the New York scene. You can see him every night on David Letterman. I guarandamntee you he's an extremely good guitar player. In fact, I'd wager he's the best technical guitar player that took the stage that night including Slash. And that's another reason why I think this was an off the cuff performance. Sid tried to make what is essentually a keyboard part sound decent on a guitar in a big hurry. If what I think is true and the performance was a last second deal then he actually did a pretty good job. The person you should moan about is Paul Schaffer. He shouldn't have had any trouble copping the keyboard parts on Why Can't This Be Love but he left everything up to Sid.

If it wasn't a last minute deal then why did they use Velvet Revolvers amps and drums? Why no monitors for Sammy? I've had experience with this type of situation and it felt exactly the same as that looked and sounded.

Boycott Velvet Revolver. They disgraced Van Halen just to get publicity.