OLO

If you attended the Charlotte show please post your review here and ONLY HERE!! If you did NOT ATTEND this show then do not post in this thread!!!

This thread is for reviews only!!!

This is not a debate the show thread, this thread is for REVIEWS!!!

If you did not attend this show you really have no business posting in this thread!! If you start shit or are just talking nonsense I WILL DELETE YOUR POST!!!



All complaints should be sent to Seenbad or Goo, they enjoy your hate mail.

__________________
((Just My Two Cents))
And thats about what its worth.

Reza

I'm back to my hotel from the Charlotte concert (drove over 500 miles from Florida to see this!) and let me tell you one thing: it was the best Van Halen concert I have ever seen!!! I have seen every VH tour since 1985 (with Sammy , Cherone and Dave solo) and this was by far the best! There is something about having Dave and Eddie on the same stage that you can't replace. It was magical! The set list was great, Wolfgang was almost perfect (more relax than I thought), Dave sang pretty well, Alex remained consistent all the way, and Eddie ruled, despite some sound issues and a small f'up on Ice Cream Man (he wasn't ready after Dave's solo, started playing without his guitar strap on and missed the beginning part...).

Go see the 07 tour!!

jrz1g8r

Overall thought it was very good. Few random thoughts:

- Almost too loud. Vocals often drowned out and distortion sometimes an issue. I'm sure the mixing will improve as the tour progresses.
- It is amazing to watch Eddie. He is the perfect entertainer. Awesome at his craft. Happy performing; always smiling. Truly enjoys being out there and you get the feel he'd be doing it even if he were getting paid minimum wage. He's absolutely ripped and in awesome shape. Damn, made me feel fat.
- Bass overshadowed in the mixing. Felt like they were keeping wolfgang's input muted to a certain extent. Bassline seemed missing in some songs. WG didn't seem comfortable out there yet. Eddie clearly was in heaven playing with his son and it seemed like he tried to get him pumped a few times. WG needs to get more dynamic and natural out there but what do you want from a 16 year old who is playing first time.
- DLE also seems in awesome shape for his age. Vocals pretty good but mixing lost him a bit occasionally.
- Occasional feedback problems will get worked out.
- Awesome mix of songs. All the old VH/DLR classics.
- Very interesting crowd. Bunch of 40 +/- year olds. Great people watching. VH was huge when I was in HS (graduated '84) and a lot of the women were dressing as if back in HS despite being 40+/- (sometimes good, sometimes not so good).
- Alex pounded drums pretty impressively. Drum beat way overshadowed bassline.
- Eddie awesome (have I said that already?).

Overall, very entertaining concert with some sound issues to be worked out. Fun to watch Eddie with his son but WG clearly a bit of a downgrade and my impression was they were covering for him a bit which is not surprising given how young he is.

buster65

highlights too many to mention....

low lights "i'll wait" and of course "jump"

sound....crystal clear...all vocals were great!

dave was great! eddie was great! wolfie was so-so.i was seated about 20 feet from wolfie,cannot imagine the pressure this kid was under,many times looked disinterested and many times looked like he was getting into it.

i honestly loved the show and i got a ticket at a rock bottom price of 80 bucks. tickets were plentiful,(don't think that will be the case from here on out)it was an awesome show and to me it beats anything they ever did with dave before!i am a sammy man,but would not hesitate to see this show again!as a matter of fact i will go to greensboro saturday and would not even blink to spend 200.00 on a ticket in the lower sections.

well worth the money. i feel so blessed that i got to go and you guys are in for a treat when you get the chance to see them.

the crowd was loud and ready to rock,the setlist was just what you already know.pretty woman was awesome with a lot of interaction between wolf and dave.

at one time it looked like maybe eddie was pissed at dave he kept whispering in his ear and looking at wolf,don't know what that was all about.

they did seem to put wolf in the spotlight a few times,they had him on top of the stage during RWTD, and had him go around the ring on another song..

George M

The setlist I believe was the same as the rehearsal. I wrote it all down so I will double-check, but a crew guy told me it was the same so I believe him.

But everyone who didn't know will be happy to hear that the show was fantastic! I went to the Greensboro debut in 2004 and the bands sounds much further along this time. Eddie in particular has his parts much more down than the last tour at this time. They had obviously been rehearsing for a long time.

Wolfie sounded good. A la the rehearsal reviews, he does a pretty good job on the background vocals as well. He seemed relieved when the show was over, but also not that nervous as people say he was at the LA rehearsal.

I liked the little Dave-esque touches during and before the show....2 inflatable VH blimps with spotlights following them in the arena during the set change after Marley. The already-infamous inflatable microphone during the finale. The top hat, the swinging pole. He was showman Dave without over-doing it, but I can also see the side to this band that was lost when he left.

I'm very thankful I had to chance to see this band with both Hall of Fame singers despite thinking, as of 2003, that they would never even play a show again.

People on the boards, your tour is here. The Dave edition of the band definitely has an intensity to it that most bands could only dream of. I can see why the CVH lineup made such an impression on people; I only imagine what it was like when they were in their 20's.

But do what you have to do to see this tour. Its freaking incredible.

halleen

I flew from LA today to see this show. I wanted to be completely blown away but something wasn't right.

It's not Wolf, I'm fine with him, I actually like the father/son thing going on, and I thought he hit his notes and marks just fine.

Maybe it was that I had pretty bad seats and the sound was bad way up top, but I couldn't get over the feeling that it was 10 years too late.

Maybe it was the expectations Dave set up at the press conference, he asked us to judge him harshly.

It was a nostalgia show, they are old, they made mistakes. Hopefully they'll get better as the show goes on, I'm seeing them in LA in two months.

And what they REALLY need to do is MAKE A NEW RECORD.

It was still a thrill to be there, but I had an uneasy feeling, can't quite nail it.

vh_pmb

I can understand that sentiment, but it was not one that I truly felt.

I loved every minute of it. I'v seen them everytime since '93. This was far and away better than 2004. For 3 people in their 50's, I think they put on a terrific show.

The adreniline from the start was there. The setlist was amazing. They came out swinging. Alex is on top of his game. I think he is consistently improving. Very impressed with Wolfgang. Sad not to have Mikey up there. It was a little weird, but you can't fault Wolfgang for that. Wolf did his job and he did it well. I think as the tour goes on he will really step up.

To hear Little Guitars was just amazing. Funny to see Eddie not ready for Ice Cream Man. Little Dreamer was dynamite. I thought the harmonies were dead on.

Eddie never came out on the ramp. That was a bummer.

Only disappointment . . . I wanted Secrets But So This Is Love was a great surprise. I did not look at the rehearsal setlist because I wanted a surprise.

Long story short, great show!

hiphopaddict

I think it sounds like one of you had a bad seat. I thought the sound was amazing. It was the loudest concert I have been to in years. I couldn't hear for about 30 minutes afterwards. I was about 30 feet from the stage in the lower level. We had amazing seats. THANK YOU STUB-HUB!

I drove over to Charlotte, from Nashville. I have to say that it was one of the most amazing concerts I've seen in my life. The energy was spectacular. Dave and Eddie seemed to jive off of each other very well. I thought Wolfie did a great job as well.

There were a couple of mistakes made, but hell, they haven't played a venue in 22 years. They'll get better.

Dave's voice was great, Eddie's licks were increadible, Alex played loud as hell, I didn't really hear a lot of bass from Wolf, but his background vocals were very good.

If anyone stole the show it was good ole' "Diamond Dave". It was his night to shine, and it's about damn time.

jimmyw

I'm Back.

Ok, I'm gonna try to cut to the quick here and share
with you guys without being too melodramatic or using
alot of hyperbole. So I'm gonna just start with a
suggestion:

Go see Van Halen.

If you've been a fan for thirty years or three months,
Go see Van Halen. If you've been disappointed and
disillusioned by all the incredible bullshit that's
gone on for the past, Go see Van Halen.

If you're irritated by high ticket prices and you're
convinced it can't be worth the money, Go see Van
Halen.

If you don't like it that Sammy, Gary, Mike or
Sherman the Dog aren't around anymore, If you don't
like it that Wolfgang *is* around, Go see Van Halen.

I'm not drunk. I'm sober as a judge. Or better put
this way: I've been sobered tonight. I went into the
show NOT to be impressed. I went to judge them
harshly, like Dave invited us all to do. I was blown
away.

Excellent concert. Excellent performance. Tight and
concise. They pulled out different endings on some
songs, some they ended the same, or near the same as
the original recordings. They embellished just enough.
You've probably already seen the setlist and heard
other reviews but I'm telling you, it was stunning how
they played the songs. I'm not gonna list them or be
specific in this because someone else will do it much
better. There were mistakes, there were a few nervous
moments, the sound was great, although it was a little
feedback-y toward the end, but it was all forgotten
when they played the songs. And they flat-out played
them.

Eddie Van Halen reclaimed his place as the greatest
guitarist in the world tonight. I was there, I saw it.
I was certain in 2004 that he was too far gone to
recapture any of his former greatness. I was wrong. I
saw people holding their heads in disbelief. In the
middle of the songs people would just be looking at
each other and smiling and shaking their heads,
mouthing the word "Wow". I know I was. I saw one guy
after the show, walking by me and he was shaking his
head. I looked at him and said "That was great, wasn't
it?" He replied "I can't even describe how good that
was."

Well, it seems that I've been melodramatic and I've
used some hyperbole in my description here, so I
probably need to stop so you guys can begin railing on
me and making fun of my report, but I really don't
care. I'm sure there will be some people who, for some
reason, didn't like what they saw, But I did. After 28
years as a fan, I saw my favorite band come back from
the dead, and they absolutely rocked the place.

Van Halen.

Go see them if you can. Wow.

jimmyw

hiphopaddict

I forgot. My favorites were Ice Cream Man, So This is Love, and Ain't Talkin' Bout Love.

Hack

I'm at the Hilton in downtown Charlotte. Still wired. Winding down. I guess I can finally stop worrying. I don't know if I really thought this show/tour would ever really happen. Before I even talk about the show, the scene around Charlotte; bars, hotels, streets was awesome. Met some cool people from all over the states. Van Halen fans are still intense. I'll try to keep it simple without too much emotion. They didn't miss many notes. Eddie looked and sounded like Eddie. He was honestly on top of his game. Dave was great. Al was Al, I wish he would have done some fire/gong shit. Wolfie impressed me. 16 yrs old; amazing. I found myself smiling alot after the show. I sense/feel that they are really gonna attack this tour. I feel good right now. They didn't do alot of the old theatrics, but they were honestly really solid. Great fucking show.

__________________
...AND ON THE SEVENTH DAY, GOD CREATED VAN HALEN

VAN HALEN IS A LIFESTYLE

Wolfpack1

My Review about Van Halen tonight in Charlotte

By – Wolfpack1

Charlotte (AP) – Holy smokes! Folks! What a show!!?!! I’m going to give almost aplay by play from the minute I left my house to go uptown. Met up with my brother, his buddy, and one of my brothers in law, around 5pm we all headed uptown shortly after 5 and arrived to our destination around 6pm Ran into a lot of hard core VH fans a long the way, including a HS buddy scalping a ticket right as I walked up on the corner of the street. Got into the arena and Marley was playing, (BTW they are only looking for metal, knives, etc…) No problem for anyone to get a camera, or cameras, in the house.

I’m in the house….bout 7:50pm now, Die hard VH fans everywhere! Getting multiple beers now, a trip to the bathroom, another trip to the beer stand. ALL OF A SUDDEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You hear the ‘famous ‘wail’ accompanied by the famous exploding drums to accompany it. I hear this, and I begin my ‘carl lewis’ sprint to the seats. I see a guy drop his iphone on the concourse in his hastness to get to his seat. I then notice as I’m uniformly heading to my seat, a bunch of metal heads stomping the iphone to shreds.

After a deluge of craziness, I ascend upon my seat while the euphoric growl of “YOU REALLY GOT ME…..” is belting out of EVH’s guitar. Get to my seat by the time Dave says….”girrrrlllll…….”

And here, everyone, really begins my review, as a fan, fair warning, hammered, but yet, coherent…

David Lee Roth….David Lee Roth….David Lee Roth…..

The man owned the night! Such command by a frontman ever before; I have not seen it!
From the belting of the verse of the first song….to the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th,…..hell it didn’t matter! I am happy to report that David Lee Roth is a better singer than he was 30 years ago. I am so impressed how handled himself nonetheless. The MAN CAN STILL SING! The guy controlled the entire night!

Wolfgang: As much as I love MA…..He wasn’t missed vocally or musically. His spirit was missed. Wolfgang Van Halen is something to behold! Carried the Bass lines ABOVE and BEYOND what we’re used too…AND HIS VOICE!!! Fits every song PERFECTLY! And now I’m pretty much sober (3 hours show removed) Fans….DO NOT worry the young man brings it, and he brings it with a FURRY!!!

Alex: He’s such the consummate professional at his craft…..Never a beat missed….always an EXPLOSION! in your ears!!!! He is sooooo fucking good!!!!

Edward, Ed, Eddie, my Goddddd! 04’ vs now? NO COMPARISON! Cleanly shaven, the guitar god, proved again, he his STILL the guitar player by which all others were/are/and will be measured by. I cannot say enough about what he brought to the table tonight! Roth was on top of things so much, that Eddie, SILENTLY, stole the show. I mean….people…Mean Street started, and you saw Ed’s commitment to shredding the fret board, and Dave right behind him, looking in awe (as any of us would), and the song roll right along…..Holy fuck!

Ladies and Gents….I’m not going to sit hear and try to present to you the liquidity of the enjoyment of being there to witness history (I CAN DIE NOW!) I am hear to tell you…atomic punk…runnin with the devil…to…dance the night away…because…this is mean street…jamies crying… the…ice cream man is here…and EVERYBODY WANTS SOME!!!!!!!!!!!!


GO SEE THIS SHOW!!!!! Worth every penny. VH with DLR didn’t have to finish what they started….


THEY GET IT RIGHT THE FIRST TIME!!!!

smashism

Thoughts on the Van Halen concert.

First I need to say how important it was for me to see this concert. Back in 1984 when I was in 8th grade at Catholic School all of my friends got to see Van Halen on the 1984 tour. I, however, was not ALLOWED to go to concerts by my ridiculously restrictive parents. So I've been waiting 23 years to see this. So, there's that.

23 years is a lot of years and a lot of things can change in that much time. Obviously people get older and slow down a bit.

Having said that, I'll say that for a bunch of old dudes the Mighty Van Halen rocked pretty damn hard. Eddie is on top of his game and Dave sounds better than he's ever sounded in a live setting. I'll chalk this up to the fact that he was probably 100% sober for this show. While being sober makes him a better singer, it makes him a somewhat less of a frontman.

Granted, this is 2007 not 1984. I shouldn't be expecting total decadence and wild abandon from a dude in his 50's. However, I did see Dave in solo performance (with Van Halen tribute-act hot-shot musicians backing him) a couple of years ago at House of Blues and it was fucking phenomenal. Dave was hamming it up and talking serious shit to everyone in the audience. Dave in full Dave mode, as it should be. I felt like tonight Dave was extremely restrained and I wonder how much of that was at Eddie's demand. There was no shit-talking at all. Just a few "how ya doin's" and "is everybody having a good time's". I expected more.

The playing was expectedly top notch and Dave hit all the notes and remembered all the words (which is kind of a new concept for him), but there was sort of a Walmart sheen over the whole thing that didn't sit quite right with me.

Don't read this to mean that I was down on the experience as a whole. The band tore shit up, no doubt. It's just that there was a certain element of craziness missing. There were no midgets in "tour security" t-shirts bringing out bottles of Jack Daniels for anyone, if you catch my drift.

OK. Let's talk about Wolfgang Van Halen. Part of me feels kind of sorry for the kid, but he has absolutely no business being in Van Halen. He had no charisma or stage presence whatsoever. I couldn't really tell if he was a decent bassist or not because his tone was so incredibly awful. You couldn't really make out anything that he was playing. He absolutely RUINED "Unchained" -- which WOULD HAVE BEEN the highlight of the night, except that when it got to the "come on Dave, gimme a break" line Wolfgang stepped to the microphone and in a cracky 16 year old's voice said "Come on Dave, uh, give whoever you're talking to a break." Serious WHAT THE FUCK epic fail moment. It was as if the entire stadium all looked around at each other with a look of "HUH?"

To make things even more what-the-fuck-ier, "Unchained" was followed by "I'll Wait".

Band press releases say that Wolfgang picked out the set list. "I'll Wait" would have been the ABSOLUTELY LAST SONG I would have picked out of 6 albums worth of VH material. What the fuck. "I'll" fucking "Wait" was the song they played after "Unchained".

More on Wolfgang... there was something definitely FUNKY with the backing vocals. Like, they were a little TOO GOOD. There was definitely some trickery going on. I was suspicious the whole night, but I definitely noticed one particular chorus where Eddie wasn't near a mic and Wolfgang was the only one at a mic -- yet there was definitely more than one voice singing backup. I feel like there was a definite cheat going on there. That bums me a little bit. Not sure if they were flying in samples or protoolzizing his vocals or having another singer backstage or what, but something was definitely fishy. Bummer. Or maybe I was just high.


Probably the best thing, for me, about the show was (and I don't know if this was genuine or fake), but seeing the comradery present between DLR and EVH. Every so often Dave would walk over to Eddie and they would goof on each other a bit and smile at each other and it really looked like they meant it and they were having fun. That could have been an act, but if it was I was sold. It was nice to see them with egos put aside and doing what they do best for their fans and seemingly having fun with it.

Nothing can change the fact that my parents kept me from seeing Van Halen in 1984, and there's no way that Van Halen in 2007 is going to live up to my expectations of what Van Halen was in 1984... but it was nonetheless a great show -- perhaps a little "too professional" if that makes sense -- but great nonetheless.

$70 great? I dunno. If I had been able to see them in 1984 it would have only cost me $8. That definitely would have been my money's worth.

jimmyw

I could see exactly what was happening from where I was. His fucking pants almost fell down and he couldn't get his guitar strap back over his head, so he used his guitar to hold his pants up and still played it! It was funny as hell. He finally got it straightened out.

smashism

An aside.

When the pre-recorded "1984" track came on I joked to my friend: "hey, they let Michael Anthony do his bass solo!"