The FIRST Van Halen gig

[FamilyMan]

Going to this...

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/ ... y-20120102

Will let you all know what it's like.

[No Surprize]

Going to this...

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/ ... y-20120102

Will let you all know what it's like.

Your one lucky motherfucker. And I mean that in a good way!

[mrsromek]

I'll second that one. Enjoy.

[FamilyMan]

Ok here’s my review…

When the invite said “intimate performance” I was psyched. Seeing arena-monsters of rock of this caliber in a club setting was definitely appealing. But having never been to Café Wha? before, I had no idea that intimate would mean cramped and claustrophobic. I mean this place was TINY. It was a basement bar and they had us packed in like sardines. All I kept thinking about was that tragic Great White club fire that killed all those people. If this place went up, we were all dead. There was no getting out. The one up side to all this was that surely everyone in the club felt as though they could outstretch their arms and touch a sweaty band member. Van Halen took to the matchbook-sized stage at about 8:20pm with an abbreviated version of “Eruption,” followed expectedly by “You Really Got Me.” Everyone’s in fine shape, especially Diamond Dave, who wore a black work-out shirt under beige overalls and a newsboy cap. Eddie’s let the hair grow out again, and his son Wolfgang has finally lost the baby fat. With his shorter cropped hair and slimmer stature, Wolfie finally resembles his dad more than his mom. Missing from Alex’s drum kit was the trademark gong and double-bass. In fact, he played a set more characteristic of Max Weinberg than Neal Peart. Only during “Hot for Teacher” did you notice Alex was probably feeling a little restricted by such few drums. But he smiled wide through most of the 45 minute set and seemed (as best you could tell behind his black shades) to be enjoying himself.

Though I will always miss Michael Anthony’s soaring backing vocals, it is really compelling seeing the father and son Van Halens. Wolfgang, who I think is truly a better bass player, would look over at his dad throughout the show for signs of approval. Eddie would gladly oblige and the two would laugh with one another. This is clearly such a trip for Eddie, leaving no doubt: Michael Anthony will never return to the fold.

The big disappointment was the mix. As good as he is, Wolfgang’s bass drowned everything. I remember the same frustrations on the last tour … no one could hear Dave’s voice. Clearly, the same bozo’s working the board. Dave himself asked the sound engineer on more than one occasion to “turn me up so I can hear myself a little more.” Makes me wonder if Dave’s voice has hit the skids and they’re trying to protect him. He made an interesting comment that only Journey fans familiar with “tapegate” would appreciate. At one point between songs, Dave said “this is a live raw show. No fake vocals here.”

I sensed no tension between Dave and his bandmates, with only one minor exception. Three songs in, Dave took to the mic for an interlude about becoming a New York City EMT. The story went on too long and as Dave began to ramble, Wolfie began to play under him (the way the orchestra would hint to an Oscar winner to wrap up an acceptance speech). Dave turned to his 20 year-old bass player and said “hang on there kiddoe.” But Dave got the point. "They giving me cues up here," he told the audience. The story was obviously intended to be a segue for “Somebody Get Me a Doctor,” and once he screamed those words to open the song, the crowd (and the rest of the band) seemed won over again.

One other disappointment: only one new song was played… “She’s the Woman,” which is actually a repurposed demo from the late 70’s… leaving us all to wonder exactly what the band has been doing all these years, pining away in Eddie’s Malibu studio. I actually thought the chorus was "She's the Wombat" at first.

Whether or not Dave can still jump is a question left unanswered (the ceiling was so low it barely allowed the band to stand up straight, no less leap). “Jump,” the song, is one that still befuddles me. Just as they were on the 2007 tour, the pre-recorded opening keyboards are still seemingly in a different key than the one the band joins in with. Why is this so hard to fix? Are they stepping down a few bars so Dave can hit the high notes? Just askin’…

Here’s what else is curious. The set-list taped to Alex’s kit listed two encores: “Unchained” and “Beautiful Girls.” But once the band left the stage after “Jump”, they were ushered out a back door and never returned. OK – who was pissed??

Buckle up. It’s going to be a bumpy ride.