Van Halen!!!

They owe a lot to Ted Templeman (sp?) who produced a lot of their albums.

cfs

Well, only one more day until Van Halen. I have read the reviews for last night's Charlotte show and they all seem pretty good. Im very much anxious about going to this show. This will be my 1st MAJOR concert in about 15 years.

However, Im pretty sick as I write this. My oldest son caught a cold over the weekend and my entire family came down with it. Me and my wife ended up taking off today. We are both in pretty bad shape. Being tomorrow we will be traveling most of the day. We need to try and get a bit better before tomorrow night's show.

Pretty soon Im going to hop back into bed. That is why the background of the day was late going up this morning. I usually do it before I go to bed at night. But I never did come on here last night. I fell out on the couch and slept there all night.

I really need to feel better before tomorrow nights show. Its really putting a damper on this right now.

Well, the show is done and over. It came and went. And I should be sleeping right now but the Satellite man came way early. We are getting Satellite receivers today because cable down here sucks! Anyway, Im groggy as hell from getting home at 4am and Im still sick and my throat is very sore from being both sick and screaming my head off. Which should represent a bit about the show.

The show...well. 1st off, the drive wasnt bad. We got to Greensboro about 4pm which was 4 hrs before the show. Deciding we needed a good meal before the show started. I dont want to offend any fans or residents of Greensboro, but the town is less than impressive. Big enough to be a mid sized down but looking slightly past its prime. Also the residents were not the most friendly by any means. We had trouble finding anywhere we wanted to eat. We tried Hooter's twice, but couldnt find a parking spot. We opted to try Ruby Tuesday at the local mall, it was booked solid with at least 50 people waiting. Finally settled on Sbarro in the mall, which had the crappiest pizza I ever had there.

Finally got to the show and went inside about 7pm. Had to get someone we knew and I got one as well a souvenir t-shirt. $35 each. But hey...had to have it.

Got into our seats. I had awesome seats. Other than the fact I was on the left side of the stage. We were 5th row in the lower level. Could see everything perfectly.

Finally Kamani Marley came out. What an odd matchup for a Van Halen show. A reggae band with one of Bob Marley's sons. I dont know if he was meant to keep the crowd mello as everyone sat down or if he was just someone meant for them to blow away. In any event, it worked for both. Actually, they werent bad. I actually dug like 2 or 3 songs. They did an admirable job and even thanked David Lee Roth for the tremendous opportunity. As decent as they were and they were, they only served as a band you couldnt wait to finish so the main event would hurry up and come.

Finally it was time and immediately the crowd went into a fever pitch that it never let go of for the whole show. The band looked great and acted like the partnership was pleasing everyone involved. After the opening song of "You Really got me" And standing for the opening onslaught of screaming fans, Roth acted like it almost brought tears to his eyes. "Although Im thinking it was rehearsed". He made it look real and genuine. Eddie smiled and hugging DLR. After that a quote of "This is the most serious Im going to get the whole show, its an honor to be here and Im not going to waste any time". The show was back on and the boys were rocking! Hit after onslaught hit took place. I only sat down twice and both time for solos. Alex's and Eddies. Other than that, I stood up the whole show as I think everyone else did as well.

The obvious stars of the show was DLR and Eddie, naturally.

David was the complete showman. Delightfully entertaining and completely on his game. Belting out songs and not just skipping words. In top form. The man looked like he was in tip top shape for someone in their 50s. But, you didnt get the old jumping off of stage setups as before. Mainly some roundhouse kicks and plenty of tricks with hats and microphones. He entertained and please the audience throughout. It was classic Dave without all the BS. He was on his game.

Likewise, Eddie was just shredding. Ive seen clips where Eddie where he was sloppy and missing notes and stuff. Not here, he attacked each song with precision. Eddie is still a modern god of guitar and deserves the praise. Unlike recent pictures Ive seen where he looked totally destroyed. Eddie looked fit and in shape. Although a bit skinny, he also appeared to be as fit as could be. This wasnt Eddie standing in 1 spot. He moved around the stage, danced and threw himself around with wild abandon.

Alex doesnt get the praise he deserves but he just adds the perfect compliment to Van Halen. Ive heard him drum solo described as a bit long and maybe it was. But, i think it was just about right. Hes the perfect stick man for this band.

Wolfgang. I gotta hand it to him. He did an awesome job. Since I tinker with bass, I will be the 1st to admit that I absolutely think it is a crime Michael Anthony isnt there. Both Wolfgang filled in without a problem. The only mistake I think he made is he messed up saying "Cmon Dave, give me a break" during Unchained. Otherwise, his playing and vocals were there. You hardly noticed the absence of Michael. But where it was most present was Micheal may have added bass notes that Wolfgang didnt. Wolfgang just seemed to hit the right notes with nothing more. Also, what was missing was Michaels amazing bass solos. None here from Wolfgang, which had to be a major disappointment for me. Because I always remember Michael blowing me away during his solos. Otherwise...I give the kid major props. I had heard he appeared nervous in previous performances. I didnt see it. What he did appear was in awe of his new found stardom. Often looking at the crowd (which we was on his side) in amazement. The more the crowd accepted him the wider his smile got.

All in all, it was a great show. Very entertaining and one where just about all the hits were touched. No one seemed to leave disappointed as the crowd cheered all the way to their cars after the show.

A few songs sounded a bit flat. To me Dance the night away and Mean Streets (which disappointed me) were a few that didnt live up.

Atomic Punk, Unchained, Aint Talkin Bout Love and many others were just perfect. A few were inbetween, but most was dazzling.

Another disappointment was the keyboard tracks of I'll Wait and the finale of Jump. Disturbed in credibility of the songs. I remember very well seeing Eddie play keyboards in concert and he did an awesome job. This time we just had prerecorded tracks and it just didnt feel authentic. It also made for a poor choice of encore. Instead of full fledge Van Halen to go home to. You had a piecework version of the song. I would have preferred something authentic like Where have all the good times gone or some other valuable missing song that didnt make the cut.

All in all though. The show was great! Im so glad I went even if it did cost me a fortune. My family loved it and so did I. When I asked my son what he thought. He said "Awesome!" He never uses the word awesome about anything. Usually I can ask him how he feels about anything, even things I know he is liking...its always...."Its alright". He said "awesome" without hesitation. I dont think Ive ever heard him say that.

In short, if you are more than a casual fan. Its worth it to go. If you need convincing. Maybe you should stay away. But if you already like them. Then you wont be disappointed.

I agree with my son. It was awesome!

Yeah...I let my emotions over rule my better sense when it came to these tickets. I paid STUPID money for these tickets. I knew it right after I did it. I could paid much less and still enjoyed the show a great deal. But....I had great seats. I mean, I could practically spit on Wolfgang. Im not joking. And David came over to our side a ton of times. I mean it....Dave just works every part of a crowd. I mean I could have spit on him too. Eddie did a bunch of running around. But the only time I could have spit on him was after the show was over and they were walking off stage. Then I could have spit on him too.

Me and my wife had more than a few arguments over how much I spent on those tickets over the past few weeks. I heard the old "You can spend THAT much on tickets but cant spend THAT much on blah...." It sucked. We had it out a few times. But you know what....she had a blast. It was her 1st concert and she danced the whole show.

I wish I didnt pay that much. But...hey....I could have spit on 1/2 of Van Halen throughout the show.

It was pretty f'ing cool. ;D