Van Halen in Chicago - Dave was pissed!

[Tito]

I'll write a detailed review in a bit, but just for a quick post. Mic and sound issues throughout show and Roth vocals not 100% didn't help. Roth had to ditch the headset after Tattoo, goes to wireless and that didn't work at all. Had to go old school and use the mic WITH chord rest of the night. Definitely, took him off his game. Like a wild animal on a leash. Got pissed at road crew, big time. Not US Festival mad, real anger. I was starting to fear he was going to walk off stage. Didn't sing 2nd verse of China Town.

[LtVanish]

I was there, it wouldn't of mattered if everything was working, Dave's voice is already shot and the tour just started.

[Tito]

Copied setlist below from another website.

YRGM for the most part was good, I did detect some headset popping noise. Same thing in RWTD. After RWTD, Dave makes first (of many) requests to stage crew - to turn the AC off. Blowing cold air and ruining their vocals. Roadie tries fixing something with Dave's backpack (I call it that, whatever all the ear monitors or headset is plug into) on stage as STW starts and tells roadie to get the fuck out of here. Again, not US Festival-like either.

Now, by the third song, I could tell Dave's voice was in trouble tonight. I believe he has a cold as he was coughing and hacking all night. The mic and sound problems early on did not help matters. I think Dave was a little cranky to begin with and mic picked a bad night to take the night off. I was hoping the mic issues were the main problem and things did seem a little better after the change a couple songs later but still below average.

Back to the show, after RD, Dave a little more forcefully tells road crew to wake up and shut the AC off. I'm thinking maybe the AC is fuckin' with sound a little as it does seem to go bad in certain parts of the stage. They play Tattoo and that's when Dave rips of the mic and goes to the wireless, only problem that doesn't work at all. He goes to front of stage and goes old school grabbing the mic WITH the chord. He ain't happy with it. He has problems walking around Ed with it, Ed tries to help at one point...I thought he was going to play guitar with it at one point. Dave kept trying to get the wireless, to no avail, and was plugging different mics in and out for many songs. At some point he tried kicking the wireless out of a roadie's hand. He didn't sing the 2nd verse to China Town screwing around with mics and yelling at crew.

I should note at this point, I was not enjoying the show...not because it was bad per se, but because of volatile nature of VH, I was worried Dave was going to walk off at some point and again, you don't know when the next show will be the last show with this band. Although I understand Dave's frustrations, it took away from the show and it was a distraction. I was watching him to see what was going to happen next. Let me remind people, I am a huge Dave fan. I get a kick out of him, think he's one of the greatest, if not greatest frontman of all time, I think he gets a bad rap for his voice, and he's probably my favorite Jew in the world overall. So, I'm not bashing him, but I got to call it like I see it. If he didn't make a scene out of some of the stuff, I wouldn't have noticed as much and probably enjoyed myself more. In fairness, people around me, including people that never saw them, thought it was great. So, for a first timer or non-nit picking prick like ourselves on the internet, one would enjoy themselves tonight. But, because I've seen them 7 times between this show and last tour, I've become a critic in my own mind. I was probably more uncomfortable than anything else.

After China Town, things seem to settle down. Dave never did get comfortable with the chord and although his voice seemed better at first, it did remain inconsistent - some good points, some off. No banter from Dave at all. So, that may have taken away too. Dave was a wild animal on a leash...literally. He was off his game, which is understandable for many reasons. Also, it sounded like they really cranked up the backing vocals midway through the show...I would assume to help Dave. Also, I don't how much shit/wires Dave is hooked up to, but he kept ripping stuff off him throughout the show. Every time I thought he was done, something else would come off later on.

Finally, when Hot For Teacher was played, it seemed like everything hit it's stride. Dave sounded good and the crowd was jumping. People enjoyed WIL and GGB. It really took off again with Beautiful Girls. I know that's when I finally got into it during this stretch.

They go right into the encore. No jerking around - go off the stage/come back on. Towards the end of Jump, Dave handed the mic off to the roadie on the side and did one of his trademark spin kicks. Maybe to make up for the bad night. I haven't seen any of the spin kicks this tour on video. So, I'm thinking he may have busted that out to make up for the night. At the end of the song, he threw the mic down in front of the stage. He picked it up again, unhooked it, and then threw it down again...all while looking off to the side of the stage staring at the crew. Dave did not enjoy the night.

I would be remiss if I didn't say, another thing that may have hurt their grade - they had big shoes to fill walking on the stage. Kool and the Gang tore the house down. Phenomenal. One of the greatest openers I've ever witness...no bullshit either. The crowd liked it.

Overall, I suppose it was an ok show, but I was distracted with Dave's mic/voice problems and reaction to it. Understandable but distracting. Again, others around me loved it. But, out of the 7 times I've seen this lineup, this one is at the bottom. Fans may get their wish as this may be the end of the headset, we'll see. They also got rid of the walkway. That screwed me, as I just bought my tickets last night. I was debating about gambling and waiting until day of show to get them, hoping something would open up. It look like it did...what are you going to do.

Setlist:

1. You Really Got Me
2. Runnin' With The Devil
3. She's The Woman
4. Romeo Delight
5. Tattoo
6. Everybody Wants Some!!
7. Somebody Get Me A Doctor
8. China Town
9. Mean Street
10. (Oh!) Pretty Woman
11. Alex's Drum Solo
12. Unchained
13. The Trouble With Never
14. Dance The Night Away
15. I'll Wait
16. Hot For Teacher
17. Women In Love
18. Girl Gone Bad
19. Beautiful Girls
20. Ice Cream Man
21. Panama
22. Eddie's Guitar Solo
23. Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love
24. Jump

[Tito]

One more quick detail, Dave had to sing ICM on Ed's mic. That was probably his best sounding song.

[The_Noble_Cause]

Footage of the show is up on YT. It's pretty ugly. Hopefully, it's just a cold.

[JTRock]

Check out how Dave treats the tech at the beginning of the song:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wN4J_ubhdY

[RumTumJM]

Thank God the next show is Tuesday night. That will give them a total of 3 days to work things out (the biggest break since the tour began). They sure as hell NEED to work things out, too, because the next pair of shows are at Madison Square Garden in NYC!

[Red13JoePa]

Abbreviating song titles in posts really aggravates me.

[Tito]

Abbreviating song titles in posts really aggravates me.

Sorry, i was trying to keep it short.

[cittadeeno23]

"you don't know when the next show will be the last show with this band".


I think they will be OK for this tour. The key is probably Ed. I honestly don't know if he's really sober, but if he can keep it under control and not drink before any show AND Stay away from Dave as much as possible off stage, they should be able to get through this tour.
I really hope he's totally sober. Even though I'm a bigger fan of Sammy and Mikey, I still think Ed is the best guitarist on the planet and I wish nothing but the best for the VH Brothers. Ed needs to take care of himself and be a good influence on Wolfie.
They're playing 2 shows here near me and I may go see one of them.
I've seen Van Hagar about 25 times and I've only seen Van Halen with Dave once.

[NealIsGod]

Abbreviating song titles in posts really aggravates me.

Yeah, it took me a year to figure out what WITS was in the Journey forum.

[FamilyMan]

What is with Dave and this Madonna/Michael Jackson headset? Grab a microphone, Mr. Yankee Rose, and give us a show......

[jestor92]

Wolf sounds like he's straining to hit those high notes. If his balls ever drop they're in trouble

[Abitaman]

Abbreviating song titles in posts really aggravates me.

Yeah, it took me a year to figure out what WITS was in the Journey forum.

I still don't know....what is it?

[tater1977]

Abbreviating song titles in posts really aggravates me.

Yeah, it took me a year to figure out what WITS was in the Journey forum.

I still don't know....what is it?

Wheel in the Sky...

[Tito]

I have to make an amendment to this review. After reading reviews to many of the shows that followed this one, it seems Dave has been complaining about turning off the blowers at most of the shows...to the point, people are starting to think it's a part of his shtick now. He's a smart man, he took some criticism from the UC show and turned it into an asset to cover for his (understandable) behavior that night. All I know, if I was at the show that started his next "I forgot the fuckin' words" tag line ("Turn the blowers off") then this show gets upgraded. Also, like my friend said, it doesn't hurt to see a clunker (term is too extreme as the show wasn't that bad) once and awhile.