MR

was just wondering if there were any other fans of the Van Halen lineup featuring Gary Cherone? i seen the band live in Toronto in Aug 1998 and i must say it was a great show, my first and thus far only VH show! anyone?

I saw the band twice on this tour: May 19, 1998 The Palace of Auburn Hills and September 03, 1998 Pine Knob Music Theater. I went to the first show because I was, at that time still a VH fan. I went with pretty low expectations and left with a pretty low opinion of the band, not the performance itself which was great. It was Gary - he was a bad choice. I went to the second show because I always want to give favorite bands of mine a second chance. MY expectations were lower then before, however I had a better time the second time. I still thought Gary was a bad choice, but for some reason I was able to appreciate this version of the band more.

In regards to the VH III album, I only have 6 songs on the iPod - New World, Without You, One I Want, Dirty Water Dog, Fire In The Hole and Ballot Or The Bullet. The rest is bad, at least in my opinion. Your results may vary. Thankfully I had 3 shows in 2004 with Sammy to remind me why I liked the band. I have not nor will not see the band with DLR.

The Van Halen III album is no long in print, according to Amazon.com

I like the Van Cherone album. It was different and I think that was what turned a lot of the Van Halen fans off. Van Halen's music has generally been party oriented music, then they went out and got Gary Cherone to sing vocals for them and Cherone's lyrics in Extreme weren't of the party variety and a lot of times had a deeper meaning to them and it makes the listeners think a bit. Mix those kind of lyrics with Eddie wanting to experiment musically and you have VHIII. In this instance I think the fans had to have been used to Cherone's lyrics from Extreme in order for this combo to work, I for one like Extreme so maybe that's why I like this record.

I listen to it rarely but that's not necessarily because it's bad....I like 'Without You', 'Dirty Water Dog', 'Fire in the Hole' and I love 'Once' - 'How many Say I' however, sucks dog balls and is easily the worst thing VH ever recorded.

The production doesn't do much for me either.....out of 10 I'd give it a 4.5.

one of the few shows ive walked out on
i thought gary would be an excellent choice
i thought he had the voice to pull off the sammy and save stuff
just not the right choice.

I hate that album.

I remember listening to it, and thinking 'the vocals seem out of tune'...really weird.
Maybe they put too much harmonizer on him in mixdown or something. It was hard
for me to get through.

great to see different opinions of 1998 era VH! like i said, i always loved the album although i wouldn't put it up there with 1984 or 5150. i liked the album cause it was a bit different. i thought the live show was great, Cherone was under pressure singing Hagar and Roth songs and i think he done his best. VHIII will always have a special place in my VH collection!

I thought the audio was ok on the cd, but when I saw them live in Dallas I could not believe what I was seeing. It honestly looked like a gay man fronting Van Halen. I was a fan of Extreme and Gary's vocal abilities but other than some mtv videos I never saw him perform live until this show. My wife and our friends had to leave. It just looked really really bad on stage.

The way he acts in this vid is just frickin weird...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_jIdmNPv8Q

Disclaimer: I have no idea if Gary is gay and I could care less if he is. He just looked and acted a bit too fem to play the lead role in a band like Van Halen.

I thought it was a great show and the album wasn't bad at all. A couple of songs were not too good but overall I thought it was very good.

texafana wrote:I thought the audio was ok on the cd, but when I saw them live in Dallas I could not believe what I was seeing. It honestly looked like a gay man fronting Van Halen. I was a fan of Extreme and Gary's vocal abilities but other than some mtv videos I never saw him perform live until this show. My wife and our friends had to leave. It just looked really really bad on stage.

The way he acts in this vid is just frickin weird...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_jIdmNPv8Q

Disclaimer: I have no idea if Gary is gay and I could care less if he is. He just looked and acted a bit too fem to play the lead role in a band like Van Halen.

I like Cherone on stage. He's no DLR, but he's moves around a helleva lot on stage and he puts on a good show.

Tex you're wondering about Cherone, I'm wondering about Al. He looked like a samarai

I guess it doesnt matter, but if he isnt gay Im a pontoon boat.

I was at that Palace show in May of '98 in the 10th row. Loved it...

VH3 has some great music on it...problem is it's not great Van Halen music, and as long as that band name is on the spine, it was always going to be compared to what came before. It felt very much like an EVH solo album with a more serious tone, and had it been a side project or a new band (a la Chickenfoot) I think it would have been better received.



Problem was, by 1998 Van Halen had passed the point where anyone outside of the diehards would've cared about new music...it was too late to establish a 3rd incarnation of the band the way they had in 1986 with Hagar. I always felt bad for Cherone, he seems like a very genuine person and a tremendous talent...it was just an impossible spot for him to be in.

texafana wrote:I thought the audio was ok on the cd, but when I saw them live in Dallas I could not believe what I was seeing. It honestly looked like a gay man fronting Van Halen. I was a fan of Extreme and Gary's vocal abilities but other than some mtv videos I never saw him perform live until this show. My wife and our friends had to leave. It just looked really really bad on stage.

The way he acts in this vid is just frickin weird...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_jIdmNPv8Q

Disclaimer: I have no idea if Gary is gay and I could care less if he is. He just looked and acted a bit too fem to play the lead role in a band like Van Halen.

Yes, only the most masculine of men should front VH.

The one time I saw Van Halen live (82), Dave did a header right into the mic stand and fucked up his voice for the rest of the show.

texafana wrote:I thought the audio was ok on the cd, but when I saw them live in Dallas I could not believe what I was seeing. It honestly looked like a gay man fronting Van Halen. I was a fan of Extreme and Gary's vocal abilities but other than some mtv videos I never saw him perform live until this show. My wife and our friends had to leave. It just looked really really bad on stage.

The way he acts in this vid is just frickin weird...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_jIdmNPv8Q

Disclaimer: I have no idea if Gary is gay and I could care less if he is. He just looked and acted a bit too fem to play the lead role in a band like Van Halen.

Whoa, I'd never seen that before. It IS friggin' weird.

JrnySuxBalls wrote:

texafana wrote:I thought the audio was ok on the cd, but when I saw them live in Dallas I could not believe what I was seeing. It honestly looked like a gay man fronting Van Halen. I was a fan of Extreme and Gary's vocal abilities but other than some mtv videos I never saw him perform live until this show. My wife and our friends had to leave. It just looked really really bad on stage.

The way he acts in this vid is just frickin weird...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_jIdmNPv8Q

Disclaimer: I have no idea if Gary is gay and I could care less if he is. He just looked and acted a bit too fem to play the lead role in a band like Van Halen.

Whoa, I'd never seen that before. It IS friggin' weird.

Wow, uber-gay. He should have joined Queen.

Dude has pipes to burn even IF his exhaust pipe is compromised.[/quote]

I thought Cherone was an excellent front man. I kind of knew what to expect as I had seen Extreme once or twice before this.

Irwin M Fletcher wrote:was just wondering if there were any other fans of the Van Halen lineup featuring Gary Cherone? i seen the band live in Toronto in Aug 1998 and i must say it was a great show, my first and thus far only VH show! anyone?

I thought it sucked royal. I might have liked the guitar work in it IF Van Halen had never recorded anything with David Lee Roth or Sammy Hagar, but I couldn't handle Gary's vocals trying to follow either one of those guys.

Tito wrote:I thought Cherone was an excellent front man. I kind of knew what to expect as I had seen Extreme once or twice before this.

That was probably what salvaged it for you.

Since Extreme has been mentioned in passing I'd like to say that More than words is one of those great songs when you're drinking outside and someone has a guitar. Nothing akin to Van Halen but a great simple tune none the less.

Gunbot wrote:Since Extreme has been mentioned in passing I'd like to say that More than words is one of those great songs when you're drinking outside and someone has a guitar. Nothing akin to Van Halen but a great simple tune none the less.

A great song that killed a good band.

jrnyman28 wrote:

Gunbot wrote:Since Extreme has been mentioned in passing I'd like to say that More than words is one of those great songs when you're drinking outside and someone has a guitar. Nothing akin to Van Halen but a great simple tune none the less.

A great song that killed a good band.

A thinning of the herd.

Cherone is a great singer. i think he gets a lot of stick cause EXTREME are perceived as a ballad band, which is not really the case! i remember some guy reviewing VHIII saying that cherone was a wuss who wore a leotard in extreme! wtf? rock bands have never been known for their good taste in clothes,lol.

Irwin M Fletcher wrote:Cherone is a great singer. i think he gets a lot of stick cause EXTREME are perceived as a ballad band, which is not really the case! i remember some guy reviewing VHIII saying that cherone was a wuss who wore a leotard in extreme! wtf? rock bands have never been known for their good taste in clothes,lol.

Wellll...he DID wear a leotard at leat once.

you mean like right now

I have never really been a fan of Extreme, or Cherone for that matter, but I do like some of VH III. Not saying I listen to it daily, or monthly, but there are some good songs on there. I saw them live in Chicago on that tour, and I will say that he sang the Dave-era songs quite well. One I Want is a great song, and Josephina is good too.

Hi Everybody.
Ill back track to 1998 Sydney,Australia.Vh had never been to oz before and with a huge fan base they brought out Gary Cherone.
The in-store appearance was huge,even bigger than what Metallica had the previous few weeks and i got to meet the whole band which was great.
At the time i thought the vh 3 cd was "ok"although it was doing well on the oz charts.
The show itself at the syd ent cent was basically packed to the rafters and Cherone and co put on a great show in front of a good 11000 people.
2nights later i saw them at the Newcastle ent cent,which holds about3,500 people but it poured down that night and there would've been probably 1000 -1200 people,but the show was even better than the sydney show and i thought, well they seem to be getting better.
That was april 98,In nov 98 i managed to secure a job in tokyo,japan.I arrived on the 1st of november and halen were playing yokohama arena on the 2nd,it was the last show of the tour and let me tell you they blew everybody away,Cherone was totally different to what i saw in sydney and the rest of the band were on fire,Easily one of the best gigs i have ever seen.The japanese crowd were going bananas and the set list had gems like,romeo delight,jamies cryin and they even played you really got me in the encore,they were brilliant.So 2 thumbs up for gary cherone and vh that night.
Sorry for the long story.

NealIsGod wrote:

texafana wrote:I thought the audio was ok on the cd, but when I saw them live in Dallas I could not believe what I was seeing. It honestly looked like a gay man fronting Van Halen. I was a fan of Extreme and Gary's vocal abilities but other than some mtv videos I never saw him perform live until this show. My wife and our friends had to leave. It just looked really really bad on stage.

The way he acts in this vid is just frickin weird...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_jIdmNPv8Q

Disclaimer: I have no idea if Gary is gay and I could care less if he is. He just looked and acted a bit too fem to play the lead role in a band like Van Halen.

Yes, only the most masculine of men should front VH.

OH!!!! MY EYES!!!!! Oh my God!