Just got home. Lost my voice a bit but worth it. This is my one and only show so all I have to compare it to is the YouTube clips. The clips don't do it justice. I took my 17-year-old nephew and my wife. VH isn't my wife's thing but she had a good time. I had a great time. Smiling from ear to ear nearly the whole time.
Kymani Marley opened about 5-10 minutes before 8:00. I thought he was good. Enjoyed that more than I thought I would. He made a point of thanking David Lee Roth for the gig. He finished up about 8:15-8:20.
VH didn't come on until nearly 9:00. I thought the show was very solid overall and the crowd was into it.
Here's a few random thoughts:
- It didn't seem too loud. Sounded just right.
- I think Romeo Delight would be a great encore, but I know it's not a radio hit. Whatever.
- I'm not even going to get into the vocal/instrument enhancement thing because I couldn't tell. Looked and sounded good to me.
- Mean Street sounded good to me, but the intro was definitely not record-perfect. I'm glad it's in the set.
- Someone on another thread said Little Dreamer brought the energy down. I have to agree, but I did enjoy the song. It's an enigma. :-) Not sure what I'd do with it besides replace it.
- Dave said "Have you seen Junior's grades?". I'm glad he didn't say "Wolfie's grades".
- Dave told Wolfgang "that suit is you", which prompted Wolfgang to look himself up and down. Just then Dave switched to the guy in the Santa suit and commented on that. They then left the Santa suit guy on the video screen way too long. Way. Too. Long.
- Something about Jump was off, but not sure what. I liked it anyway.
Wolfgang: He'd fit in better with a band that has the bass player faded into the background. I only say that because everyone else is so high-energy. He cracked a smile frequently, but didn't move a whole lot. Whatever. Everyone has their style. My mind did wander to wonder what it'd be like with MA's energy up there but I let it go pretty quickly. No substantive complaints. Love the father/son thing. Looks like they're having a great time up there.
Alex: Super. Also smiling a lot. Sure seemed to be having a good time himself. He was pounding it out like a madman. During his solo he kept fiddling with his earpieces like they were wanting to fall out.
Dave: Wow. As others have been saying all along, David Lee Roth is bringing it. Part of his Ice Cream Man story was about being in Kenny's basement that was painted completely black. They'd play darts and the darts that missed and hit the wall would chip away the black paint revealing dots of the white paint underneath. He said that with the blacklight on and after smoking a little, they'd stare at these dots imagining they were on the USS Enterprise exploring space. Anyway, long description there, but that drew some laughs at the Star Trek reference from some people around me.
Eddie: I kept waiting for him to fall apart but he never did. His solo sounded like a bit of a mess to me, but I'm no artist. What do I know? He did the drumstick thing which is kinda weird. (I noticed Wolfgang using a drumstick on his bass later on briefly). He dropped it when he was going to throw it to the crowd. Picked it up and tossed it, giving a "oops" shrug. Familiar riffs kept popping up in his solo, but just as quickly they were gone. He finally returned to Eruption to close it out. It sounded like he came in wrong on one song but now I can't remember which one it was. If so, they were all back together pretty quickly. One song I couldn't tell what it was right away was Jamie's Crying. These are all minor things, and I really thought he was great. He really does look thin though. He's really having a good time with Wolfgang. Cool.
Summary:
It was a live show. Things happen. With that in mind, I had a great time. Everyone around me seemed to have a great time. All the masses of people moving like refugees on the long march to the parking garage seemed to have had a great time as well. I don't care who else goes or doesn't go. I'm glad I went.
This is my 3rd show and Eddie of 2004 is back. He wrote on his body again, this time 5150. This is the first time I have seen or heard of it on this tour.
Lets get right to the wrong
Ice Cream Man - Ed did not play one right note or chord during this song. He completely forgot how to play it. SERIOUS he look like someone who never picked up a guitar trying to play during this song.
Dance the night away, Little guitars, Little dreamer, Mean Street, Unchained, Jump, Aint Talk About Love (get the point?) He played wrong frets repeatedly. He was either playing DTNA on the 8th fret instead of the 7th or forgetting how to play the song and completely stopping in the middle and looking at Al like I am fucking lost. His solo was a train wreck and is an embarrassment. I am sorry but as a guitar player and seeing Ed since 1984 this is getting bad. He was great in Glendale but these 2 Vegas shows have me concerned about him continuing. Either he is drinking or he is mentally ill and needs help. At this point I think they need to cancel the 2nd leg and get him help.
Dave was pissed as was Al who was yelling at Ed.
DAVE and AL are amazing! They complete this band and right now are the only solid players.
Wolfie again was playing to another bass player. Dont believe me? Do see them and watch for yourself. His bass sound is distorted and trebly and the real bass player has a clean deep sound.
Just wanted to say as a follow up to my review of the Vegas show on the 28th, that Ed is 52 and has not been kind to his body over the years. He has been in rehab at least twice, graduated again in March, was it? Is recently divorced and STILL wearing his wedding ring, has had a hip replacement and recovered from cancer. That's a lot on your plate without a tour and trying not to screw it up for his kid. His hands look very arthritic (enlarged joints), with the alcoholism and hip replacement, arthritis is not exactly out of the question. How fast and accurately could most of us play with our hands painfully freezing up? I hope he is not drinking. Lets give the guy the benefit of the doubt and make sure he takes his Aleve before the next show. Mentally ill, I don't think so, cracking under the pressure, sure. Even the sun sets, try not to piss in his cornflakes too much.
I was at both Vegas shows , last night in the pit. I loved them both and everyone I spoke to at these shows and the one I saw at MSG loved them.
All the second guessing of EVH by amatuer guitar players on here is really maddening. If you guys know every thing about guitar playing , you would be where he is, not moaning and groaning about his playing here on this site.
People on here making alot of crazy accusations about him and the band, drugs, alcohol, Wolfie not playing bass, the band yelling at each other , etc, etc ,etc.
It is really ridiculous. I was in 5th row last night and next to stage on Friday, I didnt see any of what people are saying on this site. Now I am not a musician so I cant comment like someone who is , but the fact that the band is back together is awesome and I loved every minute of it.
I too left Sin City favoring celebrating the new year at home. Saw both the Friday & Sunday night shows.
Farside, chill dude. We're not going to get the Eddie of the 70's and he's not missing every note. Every 5th on complicated stuff? A big maybe. covhfan has the more fair? story. Besides, I see genious in how Eddie keeps to the tune. I was less than ecstatic with Lil guitars in both Vegas shows. However Friday he jumped around to make up for it and Sunday he gave it more of a go. In San Diego I was in the 3rd row and he was spot on.
Al - Solid as always. Friday's "Dance the Night Away" didn't get off immediately and Al had no choice but to give us a little more cowbell in the beginning than normal. I loved it! Ed & Dave are giving us these little improvs in between songs in these later performances than rigidly sticking to the playlist as they did in the beginning. Al... more cowbell please!
[quote=VegasVic;919997]Something about Jump was off, but not sure what. I liked it anyway.[quote]
Wife & I think the piped in organ has been out of sync with what the band is doing every show we've seen.
Overall Friday was perhaps better due to more energy by all members and Eddie played a royally long solo. Longest of all 4 shows I've seen this tour. Perhaps wore himself out, he reached for the the drumstick pretty quick Sunday. The Sunday show was more special. Dave pointed out it's the conclusion of the 1st leg of their first tour in 22 years, woot! (Everything else added after they proved themselves in the beginning of the tour if I'm correct). Should have broke Al's drumheads after the finale to end 2007 tour!
Not to start a rumor, but did I see Val watching her kid from at the entry to the 5 star circle for a couple songs friday?
My VH 2007 shows:
09/29 Greensboro, NC
11/25 San Diego
12/28 Vegas
12/30 Vegas
Last edited by FanSince70's : 12.31.07 at 11:00 PM.
One thing I didn't mention: I was on the floor in section G. Almost all the way back on the floor. Had some tall folks in front of me so I was split between watching the show on the screen and looking through the tree-men in front of me.
This must have kept me from seeing what Farside did. Because I didn't.
I don't play so I have no idea on where his fingers are supposed to be. Sounded right to me and those around me. Maybe the whole show was "piped in" to our section.
Ed did have some big knuckles. Hope it's just pronounced from being thin and he's not in pain. He seems like he just hasn't really played the guitar in a long time. Maybe he just doesn't enjoy it anymore, or he quit when he was fighting cancer and living with and then getting over substance abuse. He has raw talent, so he can get the basic tunes down. But maybe he's lost his chops from not playing very much for a decade. Anyway, just speculating. He projects a different persona now than he used to. For most of his active career, he came off as a fun-loving everyman with a smoking guitar talent and a gift for riff. Now he just seems like a quirky old stoner who plays guitar.
Not to start a rumor, but did I see Val watching her kid from at the entry to the 5 star circle for a couple songs friday?
She was at the board before the show, people were taking pics with their camera phones and she signed some stuff for about five minutes before the lights went down.
This is my 3rd show and Eddie of 2004 is back. He wrote on his body again, this time 5150. This is the first time I have seen or heard of it on this tour.
You are correct sir! OK sheep, lets all praise this as a great show, blah blah blah! I have seen VH 40+ times since 82, Ed was terrible on Sunday! Second half of the show for sure. Saw the Glendale AZ show, one of my favs of all time. This one, disappointing to say the least. 3/4 of the band was great, Ed, well, he frankly stunk up the joint! No BS. I hope video or audio surfaces of this mess. The guy was lost numerous times during the show. Listen to that great solo in Ill Wait, he ended too soon then looked around like "what happened?". Little Guitars, sucked.. Jamies Cryin, sucked.. Al had to stop him from starting too soon in Ice Cream Man. His solo?? A short bunch of crap! Terrible. He couldn't even do hammer ons, pathetic. He started, then quit & gave the throat slash. He aimlessy looked to Al's empty drum kit for help, no one was there. Al then came out, knowing this was a train wreck. Played a terrible version of Cathedral, then skipped a good part of Eruption & ended our torture early, thank god. He missed numerous backing vocals. Dave was great. Jump was a joke. Wolf screwed up vocals, Dave screwed up vocals, it was a mess to say the least. How can Ed play some shows flawlessly, AZ on the 23rd, & play others like a beginner??? I think I have some ideas, reminds me of 04' . My two least fav VH shows? Final show in Tucson 04', & this Vegas show. Very disappointed, & I think this will end badly down the road. Sorry...........
This is my 3rd show and Eddie of 2004 is back. He wrote on his body again, this time 5150. This is the first time I have seen or heard of it on this tour.
You are correct sir! OK sheep, lets all praise this as a great show, blah blah blah! I have seen VH 40+ times since 82, Ed was terrible on Sunday! Second half of the show for sure. Saw the Glendale AZ show, one of my favs of all time. This one, disappointing to say the least. 3/4 of the band was great, Ed, well, he frankly stunk up the joint! No BS. I hope video or audio surfaces of this mess. The guy was lost numerous times during the show. Listen to that great solo in Ill Wait, he ended too soon then looked around like "what happened?". Little Guitars, sucked.. Jamies Cryin, sucked.. Al had to stop him from starting too soon in Ice Cream Man. His solo?? A short bunch of crap! Terrible. He couldn't even do hammer ons, pathetic. He started, then quit & gave the throat slash. He aimlessy looked to Al's empty drum kit for help, no one was there. Al then came out, knowing this was a train wreck. Played a terrible version of Cathedral, then skipped a good part of Eruption & ended our torture early, thank god. He missed numerous backing vocals. Dave was great. Jump was a joke. Wolf screwed up vocals, Dave screwed up vocals, it was a mess to say the least. How can Ed play some shows flawlessly, AZ on the 23rd, & play others like a beginner??? I think I have some ideas, reminds me of 04' . My two least fav VH shows? Final show in Tucson 04', & this Vegas show. Very disappointed, & I think this will end badly down the road. Sorry...........
as sorry as i am to say it, this is a pretty accurate synopsis of the show sunday. i wouldn't go as far as to say it was as bad as the last tucson show in 04', but pretty bad. i went to this show for the same reason that i flew over to the last show in tucson 04', because it could be the last one we ever see. during this 3 week break they have before going back out, Ed better stop doing whatever it is he is back to doing, or they could be in trouble. i saw them at the friends/family show before the tour and both shows in LA. this was nowhere near any of those 3. sad.
So, I invited a former coworker from the past to our show Stomp Out Loud and after the show we talked about how things were going. I received 4 backstage stickers and we watched soundcheck for 15 minutes before we got kicked out(we were the only ones in the arena and we stood low key all the way up around the walkway separating the ist and 2nd floors)because Eddie threw a fit in the morning about people being there for soundcheck.
So we then went back to the green room(soundcheck was at 4:30) and the room wasn't set up yet so there wasn't any beers or anything yet.
For those of you who think they know that wolf is "PIPED IN" and Piped in this and that" you guys are frustrating. During soundcheck, Dave doesn't show up(I would think because of over doing it vocally)...so Wolf, Ed , Al, run through a few songs from the show and also sing the backup verses exactly perfect. Wolf is covering all the backups and so is Ed. So for those of you who think wolf is air guitaring and not singing, some of you have a vivid imagination.
Anyway, after soundcheck, we all met over at the yuri lounge and I had the pleasure of meeting Jeff again from 12 years ago and Beth!! Paul OzFatcat was there too!!.MOJODOJO !! What a histerical time. I am so glad to have met them there!!! I couldn't stop talking !!! I was in my glory.
The show was GREAT. I did find out about why the sound has been bad these past weeks......Ed hates the sound company and the sound company hates Ed. Period. So on the second leg of the tour they are hiring a new sound company that will do it the way it should sound. I myself didn't critique the show because I was there enjoying the wonderful feeling that brought us all there for a great time. I loved it....they are doing a TOUR !!!..For crissakes!!!! They made 2.5 million in Vegas. AND SHOULD HAVE. Proud to have been there.
After the show, I visited my friends at the lighting board and thanked him for a wonderful time for the guest passes(remember I also paid for my tickets to get in with the passes so there are no "COMPS" at all to the VAN HALEN show.)
See you in Dallas everyone!!!!!
Forrest
Glad to have been there
I have not posted in a long time but I read just about every day. I was at the show on the 30th and the unsavory remarks that have been posted about Eddie are pretty accurate unfortuneately. A little background on myself before I comment. I only say that because of the response from others that think others might not know what they are talking about.
- VH is and will always be my favorite band
- Eddie will always be my favorate player
- Have seen them 12 times live
- Been a musician my whole life, sometimes professionally( guitar, bass, drums)
- Been in live entertainment production for 20 years, currently Lighting Director for a major show here in Vegas
Things about the show
- Roth was a true Rock Star he made the show for me. Past all my expectations
- Wolfgang was ok, the piped in help I think might I say might be possible because I thought I saw something but forgot about it until I read reviews but I don't think vocals are. Even if there was a little bit he definately played most and a lot was really quite good for the kid.
- Alex did great
- With Eddie the first thing I noticed and commented to my brother was his hands. I would not be suprised if arthritis is a key factor. The show did start of KILLER especially Romeo D but later it did start going down. I am not going to go song for song but he struggled big time. Again this does not detract from his legacy to me but I think physical health reasons are a huge factor. I have seen all the you tube stuff and other than I think one of his solo spots he did the hammer ons for eruption kind of fast. I think the dexterity in his fingers and hands are gone. The rythem stuff was all pretty good at first and I dig his tone, was very crunchy and tight. But like was stated in other posts he got lost sometimes and played stuff that made no sense whatsoever. Not one solo in a song was very Eddie. His solo was ABSOLUTELY DISSMAL. HE started with 316 and could not finger pick it. I mean you could tell by watching the screen that he was just plain missing the strings. He tried multible signature riffs and could not do ONE. I am not making this up I love this guy. He did literally give up after trying different things. I could go on and on but I have written enough. I truly think the major reason is age and possible really bad arthritis. I am really glad I saw the show though and they all seemed to be having alot of fun.
- I did see Al yet more than once at Eddie giving a count to where they were.
- I think Eddie should lose the cable and go wireless
- He should drop the solo spot and I am sure he is sick of it
- If it is bad hands and fingers he is dealing with now I can see how that could make him a little tempted to drink cuz that was suspect to a little in my mind. And by the way there were COMPS cuz I had 4.
Just got home. Lost my voice a bit but worth it. This is my one and only show so all I have to compare it to is the YouTube clips. The clips don't do it justice. I took my 17-year-old nephew and my wife. VH isn't my wife's thing but she had a good time. I had a great time. Smiling from ear to ear nearly the whole time.
Kymani Marley opened about 5-10 minutes before 8:00. I thought he was good. Enjoyed that more than I thought I would. He made a point of thanking David Lee Roth for the gig. He finished up about 8:15-8:20.
VH didn't come on until nearly 9:00. I thought the show was very solid overall and the crowd was into it.
Here's a few random thoughts:
- It didn't seem too loud. Sounded just right.
- I think Romeo Delight would be a great encore, but I know it's not a radio hit. Whatever.
- I'm not even going to get into the vocal/instrument enhancement thing because I couldn't tell. Looked and sounded good to me.
- Mean Street sounded good to me, but the intro was definitely not record-perfect. I'm glad it's in the set.
- Someone on another thread said Little Dreamer brought the energy down. I have to agree, but I did enjoy the song. It's an enigma. :-) Not sure what I'd do with it besides replace it.
- Dave said "Have you seen Junior's grades?". I'm glad he didn't say "Wolfie's grades".
- Dave told Wolfgang "that suit is you", which prompted Wolfgang to look himself up and down. Just then Dave switched to the guy in the Santa suit and commented on that. They then left the Santa suit guy on the video screen way too long. Way. Too. Long.
- Something about Jump was off, but not sure what. I liked it anyway.
Wolfgang: He'd fit in better with a band that has the bass player faded into the background. I only say that because everyone else is so high-energy. He cracked a smile frequently, but didn't move a whole lot. Whatever. Everyone has their style. My mind did wander to wonder what it'd be like with MA's energy up there but I let it go pretty quickly. No substantive complaints. Love the father/son thing. Looks like they're having a great time up there.
Alex: Super. Also smiling a lot. Sure seemed to be having a good time himself. He was pounding it out like a madman. During his solo he kept fiddling with his earpieces like they were wanting to fall out.
Dave: Wow. As others have been saying all along, David Lee Roth is bringing it. Part of his Ice Cream Man story was about being in Kenny's basement that was painted completely black. They'd play darts and the darts that missed and hit the wall would chip away the black paint revealing dots of the white paint underneath. He said that with the blacklight on and after smoking a little, they'd stare at these dots imagining they were on the USS Enterprise exploring space. Anyway, long description there, but that drew some laughs at the Star Trek reference from some people around me.
Eddie: I kept waiting for him to fall apart but he never did. His solo sounded like a bit of a mess to me, but I'm no artist. What do I know? He did the drumstick thing which is kinda weird. (I noticed Wolfgang using a drumstick on his bass later on briefly). He dropped it when he was going to throw it to the crowd. Picked it up and tossed it, giving a "oops" shrug. Familiar riffs kept popping up in his solo, but just as quickly they were gone. He finally returned to Eruption to close it out. It sounded like he came in wrong on one song but now I can't remember which one it was. If so, they were all back together pretty quickly. One song I couldn't tell what it was right away was Jamie's Crying. These are all minor things, and I really thought he was great. He really does look thin though. He's really having a good time with Wolfgang. Cool.
Summary:
It was a live show. Things happen. With that in mind, I had a great time. Everyone around me seemed to have a great time. All the masses of people moving like refugees on the long march to the parking garage seemed to have had a great time as well. I don't care who else goes or doesn't go. I'm glad I went.
I was at the 12/30th performance and agree with most here that it wasn't Ed's best performance. He did seem as though he snuck alittle Smoking Loon into his Evian Water bottle. Nevertheless, The entire Band put on a GREAT SHOW! I also think these guys are tired as hell. They are in their 50's, performing every other night across the country, time zones, hotel rooms, etc. I give them credit for all they did.
The guy in the Santa Suit was Dave's bodyguard, "Animal". This explains why alittle more than a casual camera attention was on him.
VEGAS was great - Dave even added how he'd been fired from Vegas some years back with a laugh.
Hoping for the entire band's Health for the 2008 Tour....
***Las Vegas 12-30-07 Reviews ***
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