**Reviews ONLY!! Anaheim, CA December 20th ***

OLO · 12.20.07, 09:02 PM

Reviews of the Dec 20th show.

Reviews only!!

I Coulda Hada VH · 12.20.07, 11:17 PM

Just got home from The Honda Center about 10 minutes ago. I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to hang out in a luxury suite with the boss tonight! Great show, just like 11/20 at Staples. I hope they come back around in 2008. It would be awesome if they would go into the studio and cut a new album.

Long live The Mighty Van Halen with Diamond Dave!!!

eddievh28 · 12.21.07, 08:16 AM

Number 5 for me on this tour was a solid show, like Tuesday they did little things here and there that was different which was good, a little more natural. This was the worst perfomance for Eddie that I have seen, he's just not smooth on a lot of stuff, he foot pedals aot. Little Guitars is one of my favorite all time songs and Eddie just can't play it very well. Again though, I have seen them a lot and Eddie is so good that the average fan will not hae noticed. My wife went with me for the second time and she loved it. There are some songs that just sound fantastic especially Romeo delight. Eddie went longer and did some different and interesting things on his solo, he was frustrated with his guitar or the sound, he went to the mic twice and said something about it(you can never fully understand him) DLR was really good, Wolfgang also was good and Alex is someone I appreciate more and more.
I hate the blared keyboards on I'll wait and Jump, and the one lick in Cradle will Rock. Best songs--Romeo, Im the one, Mean Streets, Atomic Punk, Runnin with the Devil. Worst songs--jump, I'll wait, pretty woman, jamies cryin, (all songs my wife loved)

Time for new music. Next stop Hagar, the other half and Michael Anthony this summer. Thanks for the tour, 5 shows were awesome!!

MOJODOJO · 12.21.07, 09:31 AM

Fourth show for me.

This was my second show where I was up against the "S" (10th row) so I had really good seats and could see all the action!

Before the show as you walk around the arena you see nothing but smiling faces wearing their "VH" shirts proudly! A lot of parents brining their kids to see what was once the greatest rock band ever. You realize it's not just a rock concert but rather a celebration. I know it could have (should have) been even more of a celebration if Mikey were a part of it but in life sometimes you have take what you get.

To me it's analogous with my favorite sports team going to the Super Bowl. Growing up in Southern California my football team has always been the Rams. As most of you know in the '80s the Rams were the laughing stock of the NFL and were typically called the "Lambs." In 2000 the Rams suddenly became the "greatest game on turf" and beat the Tennessee Titans in the Superbowl by a score of 23-16. Suddenly it was ok to tell everyone I'm a Rams fan and wear a Kurt Warner jersey. That's how I feel about my favorite band. Suddenly it's very cool to wear a VH shirt and tell people what a fan you are. Being in a VH tribute band I was wearing a black and yellow zebra jacket just like Ed did on the 1984 tour and people were coming up to me all night to tell me how cool it was.

Now about that show last night. I'll only mention some of the things that were different from Tuesday...

Again, I play guitar in a VH tribute so I was mainly focusing on Ed. Like my review of Tuesday night Eddie was sweating a lot and it was getting in his eyes and really bothering him. Even to the point where he would take his hands off the guitar in the middle of a song to wipe them. He finally decided to ask for a headband from his guitar tech. When I say ask I'm being kind because it was more like demanding a headband. His guitar tech handed him a black cloth, which Ed through down as if to say this is not what I asked for. He kept yelling to the side of the stage that he needed a headband. Finally his (poor) tech fashioned another headband out of the same cloth but this time he (frantically) put it on Ed's head. The good news is it seamed to work because the sweat was no longer an issue...way to save the day tech!

Then there's the guitar chord. As many have written in their reviews this thing gets tangled up almost every song and is a complete nuisance to Ed. He constantly has to struggle with it. I could see Ed was not in a good mood because of the sweat going in his eyes and when he changed over guitars after "Little Guitars" the chord got all wrapped up in his strap and around his white EVH Wolfgang. The poor tech struggled to get it fixed but Ed was getting really pissed and literally threw the "Little Franky" guitar down on to the stage (I think it even bounced a few times). To Ed's credit he did apologize to the his tech after Ain't Talkin when he hands the guitar over to him so he can go take a bow.

Ed's solo was typical with a very long and drawn out Cathedral. After the Cathedral section Ed went to the mic and said, "if that's too long for you, you can go buy a hot dog!" I guess he's heard or read that people are saying the Cathedral section of his solo is too long, which it really is. He also said into the mic during his solo, "I'm just fucking off!" Exactly what he would say during the 2004 solo.

Ed again used a drum stick for part of his solo, which is basically Ed playing hammer-ons all over the neck as he beats the strings with the stick, not good. He then tosses the stick into the crowd, which I expect to see on eBay sometime today.

The blues tune they're playing during SGMAD is "That Spoon" written by Willie Dixon, very cool!

Like I saw in one of the San Diego YouTube videos Dave asked some girl for her camera phone and then stuck it down his pants and did a little dance and then took it out and said, 'here's a picture for you." Speaking of girls, there were a LOT of hot girls in the crowd last night! The camera guys obviously noticed because they were constantly on jumbo screen during Beautiful Girls and Pretty Woman, nice work boys!

Like Tuesday night, they have some black guy dressed up as Santa Clause during the "that suit is you" part of Unchained. Not sure what that's all about but I thought it was funny when Dave said I thought Santa was Jewish on Tuesday night.

Wolfy was in a interesting mood as he kept "scooting" away from both his dad and Dave. I'm sure he's just having fun but I observed this most the night. For example, Ed came over to sing with Wolf and Wolf would then run away to Ed's mic. Or Dave would come over to Wolf and he would take a few steps away as if to say, don't stand next to me.

All-in-all another great show as I couldn't wipe the smile from my face all night! One more to go, Las Vegas 12/30.

Jackedup · 12.21.07, 10:24 AM

Thrid and final show of the tour for me.

Dave: He's amazing! He has proved on this tour why VH sucked the last 22 years without him.Great showman,great performance and his singing is up to par with the 1984 boots i've heard.He dosent need all the props or that goofy joker smile.He would be just as great without all the 'ham and cheese' but it still works.A+

Alex: Solid as a rock!He just delivers the goods night after night and IMO is the greatest drummer out there.He just never seems to miss a beat and is the backbone of the band.His drum solo is the only one i've ever seen where people stick around and watch.A+

Ed: Ive seen him 3 times now and had a chance to evaluate his playing each time.I hate to say it,but he's just not up to par.Nothing seems to flow.He struggles with the cord constantly.He misses cues,he butchers some songs and his solo is just lame and uninspired.He also seems to have a very short temper up there and when something goes awry he really loses it.D+

Wolfie: He's very talented for his age,but i'm not totally convinced he's that thrilled to be up there.He's looked bored at both anaheim shows,and he seems to have climbed back into his shell.No smiles,or real interaction with the crowd or Dave and Ed.I wonder if this kid has started to lose intrest?It will be real intresting to see if this kid holds up until April.He looks burned out to me.C-

Rocket · 12.22.07, 07:42 AM

Actual show looks awesome!
http://youtube.com/watch?v=OGnijE853TU

osolomeo · 12.22.07, 09:07 AM

I cannot comprehend why anyone would post anything remotely negative about Thursday nights show, it completely blew the roof off the joint and there was not one person not smiling and thinking they had just seen one of the most awesome shows ever. There were blacks, whites, Asians, Europeans, shit...I even met a Russkie there, and they all had something in common if only just for one night, watching one of the most ass kicking bands of all time. I loved every second of the show and was so utterly impressed with all of them but mostly Alex. He is the only one in the band that I would say has gotten even better, that solo was off the hook and thouroughly enjoyable.
Christmas came on 12/20 for me this year and I couldn't be happier about the gift I received. Thank you Van Halen for not letting your legacy die in 2004.

jonsey36 · 01.01.08, 06:30 PM

Was it just me or were the piped in keyboards too loud on Jump? my only complaint...Romeo Delight gave me CHILLS!!!!

What can I say... better, better and better than I could of expected...and some photog from the OC register snapped a pic of my son and I in our Eddie and Wolf shirts....EVH and WVH...

Will post on Vegas soon, in Arizona right now!