vhin04

Sunday night was great, this show was even better. Eddie sounded terrific all night long despite a couple of technical issues. He had to switch guitars in the break of I'm The One, trading his tobacco burst Wolf for the black. He also had some issues at the beginning of Dance the Night Away. Al started with the cowbell beat and had to keep playing it for an extended time while Eddie was off to the side of the stage screaming at his tech to get him a guitar. Then during Cathedral he was again screaming at his tech and even yelled into his mic something like UP, like turn this thing up. Well, somebody did turn him up, a little late though, but there was some shit he played right after Cathedral, I've never heard a guitar that loud in all my life. He played some licks during that solo that were so loud I had to check to see if I was still in my shoes. But Eddie was great though, really on all night and his tone and playing had a kind of aggressive Fair Warning vibe to it. He was also happy, apart from being pissed at his tech, and was bouncing around a lot last night.

Wolfgang was noticeably better tonight than the first show on Sunday. He was very strong all night, played really well, sang really well, and seemed to be a bit more relaxed tonight and into the show. He even went to the mic and yelled, "ladies and gentleman, David Lee Roth" right after Ice Cream Man. That was very cool. He's really coming around and I think he will get even better still.

Alex really beat the shit out of his kit. His solo was terrific and he seemed to put a little extra into it. An outstanding performance.

Dave too is sounding better and better. He really does sound great and really close to the recordings. It would be good if he addressed each city a little more personally, even just "how ya doin Toronto" or something like that. His performance was very strong last night though, so I can't really complain.

One of the best parts of the night happened during the solo break of Somebody Get Me A Doctor. Eddie started doing the Spoonful riff and Dave joined in a sang a bit of Spoonful. Then Dave says to Eddie, where the hell did that come from? That's going way back. Everybody, that was Cream from Disreali Gears or some fucking thing and we used to do that song way back when...and you're Edward Van Halen! It was a genuine moment and it sounded great.

All the songs were amazing and very well done. Like someone else said, Hot For Teacher was not up to the standard of the other songs. It wasn't bad, but the other songs are so strong that HFT didn't sound quite as good, like the timing was off just a bit. I think they need a few more shows for this song to come around to the high standard of the others...Beautiful Girls is absolutely astounding as was So This Is Love. HFT isn't quite there yet.

Shit, I miss these guys already. I hope they come back later in the tour...I'll be there for sure.

dr.bullet

well, i saw both toronto shows and thought the sunday show was the best concert i had ever seen, and last night i had even better seats, side stage, 10 rows up on eddie's side. just as good a show as the first toronto show.....absolutely amazing. a highlight is "i'll wait". it really sticks out because i love how they don't fuck with the keyboard sound, it's got that great 80s analog synth sound goin' on, plus the groove is completely different than anything else in the set, very much a hagar era groove to it.

special thanks to the dude behind me who kept passing me his doobies.....after 9 beers and a couple of joints, i remember watching "and the cradle will rock" into "hot for teacher" and thinking to myself...."my mind is being blown wide open right now."

of note, dave mixed up the wardrobe last night, wore a tight black t-shirt for a majority of the show.

by the way, was it just me or did dave get choked up during the intro of ice cream man? looked to me like he said something about the great memories and then he got choked up for a bit.

wicked show. now time for a new album!

Brian

MF5150

The Cream of the crop you Are Eddie van Halen....

Great show from Toronto 2nd night....Women in Love during Ed's solo....the band had more energy that the first night....but the sound was almost better on the floors for Sunday...but I was in the stands last night and the sound was very good but my ears were ringing after the show.....

Eddie was having some guitar problems at first....kept switching back and forth between Wolfies....played the Frankie for one or 2 songs.....

Dave was GREAT all night! Talked a little bit more than on Sunday...the Spoonful jam during Somebody Get Me a Doctor was PRICELESS....their probably gonna do that for the rest of the tour now...but it was totally spontaneous last night!

Ed's solo was good...I've been saying it was brilliance...but thinking about it...if he's only playing for like 6 minutes....1 minutes of that is feedback? and another minute of that is him doing tricks before cathedral.....I'd just like to see him do some straight SOLOing for 2-3 minutes non-stop like before 2004.....but whatever.....the man is still BRILLIANT

And...Wolfie was Wolfie...he didn't replace Mikey at all....but...he held his own on the bass....and that was good....but Michael Anthony deserves to be there...!

__________________
EvH_316_5150 06/06/04 - 09/11/09

RevolutionMan

LMAOOOO so true! It is so digusting when women do this, and then they dance at the shows so old, awkward and white style. oh god save our souls!!!!

So Hard Done by

Fantastic show. Van Halen has never really strayed too far from the record on their live arrangements, but the vibe was heavy during this show. I read a lot of reviews before I went criticizing "I'll wait" being in the set list and in theory I agreed with that, but then at the show I thought that song worked really well.

I know the thirst for a record of new material but I'm glad they didn't do that prior to touring. Just a concert of all killer no filler.

When I was looking at early clips on the internet from this tour like ' running with the devil' and 'ain't talkin about love' that aren't hard songs to play that had issues with crispness, timing and tuning it bugged me that on these boards we give Eddie a pass on some things where if it was DLR playing with his solo band we'd crucify his guitarist as a hack if he had the same issues. But yet you know, I went live and I just got swept away in it. It didn't really matter and you just embrace them.

Fantastic that there was no bass solo, and I wish they'd just do some extended breaks on songs rather than have standalone guitar and drum solos, that to me take down the energy level in the room, but no biggie. I'm sure there are people that look forward to those solos.

miles

The first show in Toronto was solid.
Last night's show was absolutely incredible.
I'm still buzzing from it 24 hrs later.

Roth was ferocious. He attacked the songs.
Full screams, bigger kicks and he was finally singing with bite again.
There was just the right amount of vaudeville last night
and a whole lot more rock god spilling out.

Eddie was amazing.
It's easy to just get lost in awe watching him play.
During his solo he seemed to channel the frustration of the ongoing tech problems
into creating vicious sounds that were so loud
you could feel them in your chest.
Someone backstage is sure to get throttled for last night's problems though.
(did anyone else see eddie pound his floor board with his fist during one track?)

I can't say enough good things about Wolfie.
He's not running around like MA used to,
but so what?
His bass playing and singing are both top notch
and it's obvious his presence on the stage is lifting eddie.
In some strange way his presence seems to be what's holding all this madness together.

If there's one complaint
it's that they aren't nailing unchained for some reason.
It's one of the most powerful tracks in their catalogue
and yet something just isn't clicking on that one.

oh well
it really didn't make any difference

last night's show was spectacular
start to finish.

MRDC

Well to all my buds in Vancouver GET TIX ! i'm on the hunt for some. We had ok seats 1st row balcony center stage. I noticed several technical problems with Ed's gear, at one point he was on his kness punching the shit out of one of his pedals, this was right before dance the night away. He yelled "FUCK" in the middle of cathedral, because of a delay problem, but I have to say what a pro, he handled it very well, and it was an absolute joy to watch him and Wolfgang interact. My friend and I were absolutley in awe the whole show, we went to the bear garden after and it was like "what the fuck just happened"? We have to see this again. I noticed Ed uses the new wah quite a bit , but he uses it for more of a sweeping affect, Runnin with the Devil, Ain't talkin about Love, Mean Street were some camera shots of his foot useing it. I also noticed an auto wah quite a bit. The opening riff of And the Cradle Will Rock is piped in, this was obvious when Ed was away from his pedal board after the riff, and then went into a solo wile staying on Wolfgangs side and his guitar had no Flange on it, look for that, and see if you think I'm right. Overall this was a mature, first class Van Halen that rocked the way only they can. I hope to God I get to see this again.

jetguy5150

I'd be wondering what the fuck just happened too if I walked into a garden surrounded by a bunch of bears!!!!

We need an expert on this one but I am pretty sure the techs can trigger the effects from off stage as well. Ed prefers to do 99% on his own. What I definitely noticed from Ed's side was that there were numerous times that he was off the stage changing a guitar mid-song yet he was still singing nice, rich, clear back-up vocals.

__________________
Signature not currently available. You aren't missing much.

MRDC

Ha you got me ! BEER garden, got bear on the brain as one got into my shed wile I was in T.O. Did you also notice all other times the riff played the lights were out except for the green lazers. Not tryin to chuck shit here, but I think it was piped in with the keys. I noticed the vocal thing too but also noticed Roth was singing them this time as well. Also the the sound guys were really pissing Ed off, his mike was too loud many times and he was always fuckin with it I wouldn't doubt it if he fired his teck after that show, loads of screw ups with his rig.

MF5150

Just wanted to point that out

__________________
EvH_316_5150 06/06/04 - 09/11/09

jetguy5150

LMFAO!!!!! Good catch sir!

__________________
Signature not currently available. You aren't missing much.