Okay. Yes, it's Van Squalen, actually. Before wadded panties come forthwith, no, I'm not aliasing, as I've announced my original identity with my first post, nor will I continue to use this tag, I'm not intending an unsanctioned return - I'll post in the review thread and the discussion thread, just to cover bases, I'm sure SD will be one of the less reviewed gigs. (BTW, the tag is an ode to the six million dollar man, not the wrestlemania dude).
I promised several pals after continued harassment (you lovely bastards) that I would make the attempt to post a review on the San Diego show. Many offered to post my review under their account names, but I'm loathe to have friends incur any enmity from the mods by posting an exile's take on the tour via proxy.
First, however, I wanted to personally thank those former compadres, be they dear friends, passing acquaintances, and even former combatants turned friendly associates, for the touching sentiments expressed in one or two threads regarding my departure some time back.
As to the consensus of the behavior of the 'rich yuppies up front who don't deserve to be there like the real fans who can't afford it.' Forty year old men who bash around in mosh pits look like fucking idiots. It's okay to rock hard without throwing elbows or drinking a dozen plastic cups of flat beer and subsequently via your obnoxious behavior ruin the show for the ten people surrounding you. Some of us have paid our dues for decades, with blood, sweat, puke, and tears, and we've earned the right to pay for not having to suck down clouds of your Mexican brick spliff or smell your Bacardi-drenched stank. Shut your cakeholes and accept that which you cannot change. If the dudes up front wanna stand and watch without giving themselves whiplash or getting arrested, they can. They paid for the privilege. They are no less entitled to it than you.
That said, the ramp section rawked out, no beans about it. At least, in our vicinity, which was front row pit Eddie's side. (some of you may remember, it's been a banner year for yours truly in terms of arena rock, one I expect I'll never match again - I've had front row in 2007 for the Police, Rush, the Scorpions, and now Van Halen 4).
Cox arena. What a hole. The loge rears up nearly 90 degrees. The whole floor is literally one giant pit. And the venue staff fucked up the seating...seats that were promised inside the ramp turned out to be just outside of it....several couples and families were split up on alternate sides of the ramp. Some folks got screwed on that big time. The ramp - total waste of floor real estate. Dave went out 2-3 times, Wolfgang twice....not worth the extra hassle. Coulda sold more up front seats. A useless stage apparatus.
It was a great show. The return of the mighty Van Halen? Hardly. Better than they were pre-85? Not remotely. DLR owning the stage? You betcha. EVH ripping it up for the most part? Ayup. Worth the price of front row and the effort in traversing to San Diego and back? Absolutely.
It's all about Dave, I certainly will concur with the majority of reviewers on that. He is enjoying himself, there is no denying it.
Even so, Edward, as always, held my attention over all else, just as he has for twenty odd years, at every show, no matter the frontman or setlist. In fact, he and I had a couple bonding moments.
I'll tit for tat my reflections...
Far and away, highlights of the evening hands down were Little Guitars and the three Women and Children First songs. EASILY the best tracks of the night. LG is still a crowd pleaser, and it was our favorite of the entire set. The WACF tracks were superb...Cradle surprisingly excellent, EWS a wonder to behold, and they NAILED Romeo. Awesome boogie-oogie-woogie stuff.
The little 'impromptu' jams and grooves Ed and Dave riffed on...the bluesy segues were very cool, even if they're rehearsed. I'm unsure if it's been mentioned in other reviews, but surely that 'motorcycle' bit they do has been discussed? Where Dave 'starts' up a crotch rocket sound vocally, then Ed matches it with the axe? Totally bitchin'.
We were less enamored with the VH 1 material, particularly Jamie's Cryin. They skipped the acapella part of I'm the One. We liked Atomic Punk and Little Dreamer mostly 'cause they're deeper cuts. Funny thing is, the two tracks we most wanted to hear off the first album - Feel Your Love Tonight and On Fire - are the only two VH1 tracks they don't play.
Beautiful Girls was fun, but interestingly, not a crowd booster.
SGMAD was standard. DTNA was great.
So This is Love - Utterly awesome.
As many reviews have noted, though, the other Warning tracks Unchained and Mean Street definitely sounded off-kilter. And not simply 'cause Ed's playing 'em differently...Dave was off on 'em too. Both songs sounded wonky.
Pretty Woman a complete waste of time.
I'll Wait not too bad at all, particulary the crunchy part Ed added in the intro with the axe. A bit 'harder' I'll Wait.
HFT sounded fine, but it seemed to lack the punch that song usually provides.
Ice Cream Man was kewl, but that story schtick should change night to night. It's not like Dave doesn't have the brains or improv skills.
Panama a crowd pleaser, but here's where, I think, an unscripted snafu occurred. Dave's riffin' away, after his 'ease the seat back' schtick, and he kinda segues into repeated bellows of the bridge chorus for ATBL (
Mmm, got to got to bleed baby) while Ed's riffin'....he lost track of which song they were on, I suppose. Wolfgang walks over to him and whispers in his ear, then Ed leans into his mike and asks Dave 'Hey man....what the fuck are you doing,' starts cracking up. Dave starts bustin' up too, tells the crowd 'What the fuck do you expect, motherfuckers, it's been 23 years!' Pretty funny. Certainly signs of ye olde Van Halen wackery, for sure.
Lots of reviews stating Ed's solo lackluster. Not so last night, to my ears, not at all. An extended version of Cathedral sounded great, Women in Love intro suh-weet, and extraneous picking and wailing crisp and bluesy.
Big mistake encoring with Jump, of course.
I'm not gonna say much about the kid. Or the Mike Anthony thing. Most know how I feel about that. To be honest, we barely paid attention to him. Though I gotta ask bass players, what's with that strumming shit he does? I'm no musician, but most bassists seems to have a plucking style rather than a strumming style. Backing vocals may have been piped in on a few tracks. The sound is too fucking loud. Lots of vocals washed out in the mix. Granted, we were right in front of a main speaker in front row, it was BEYOND loud, I wore earplugs for the first time ever at a concert the whole way through, and I'm glad I did. Christ, turn it down some, boys. You're losing some of the quality of tone. Yeah, it's a Van Halen type show, it should be loud by nature, but not so much that it loses cohesion and flow.
Overall, songs were shortened dramatically...outros or intros skipped, several bridges and choruses here and there, a couple songs (STIL notably) had whole stanzas of lyrics passed over.
It all comes back to Ed, every time. At one point in the show I catch Ed's eye, I point at him thumbs up, he points at me and winks. He's got the goofy ne'er do well happy-go-lucky onstage persona down pat. I've been close to stage for the last several Van Halen type tours. Maybe he remembers me as a fan he's seen before. Maybe, fucked if I know. They're doing their final bows after Jump, he walks over to me, gives me a thumbs-up, points right at me and flicks a pick straight to me. It bounces off my ear and into the mounds of ticker tape confetti at our feet. Goddamn it! He only threw out two picks previous the whole night. Fuck a duck. I scramble for it as the band leaves the stage. Lights come up, the red-jacketed Cox security staff are hustling everyone outta the ramp immediately. I ask for some leeway to find my keepsake, but they're heartless bastards who wanna go home on a Sunday night. So the first time in all my years of VH attendance, Ed tosses a pick directly intended for me, and I miss the souvenir chance because of a Jump encore punctuated with ticker tape confetti piled thick on the floor and the chairs. No way was anyone gonna find it, a tiny pick among all the shredded tape, like a needle in a haystack. Fuck! Ah well.
I've been alternately hard and glowing about Ed over the years...just like all of you, he's like the brother you never met, ain't he. Goddamn if that motherfucker doesn't still have the juju to turn my cynical 39 year old ass into a 15 year old fanboy just by connecting with me, however brief and transcendent, during a gig. I love ya Ed, you putz.
Brantley, in the off chance you've read the longwinded preceding, check out one of the December LA gigs. It's worth it simply for LG and the WACF trax. Yet as of now I'm taking Dave's advice and plan on 'meeting them in the future, not the pasture.' I dunno how so many of you see multiple gigs on the same tour with the same set. They'll have to cut a new album for me to to check them out again, no matter the singer or circumstance.
Sentimentality is a powerful thing though. Fully entertaining concert.
Wanna see what Dave looks like from the front row three feet from you when he's fully diggin' the limelight?
Wanna see what Ed looks like from the front row three feet from you ripping it up?
Wanna see what Ed looks like from the front row when he's coming over to give you a guitar pick?
All righty then. Van Squalen out.
*** REVIEWS - San Diego, CA - 11.25.07 ***
501 Darts
GTA
Bowling Master
Linear Mode
