08.02.24 - Clarkston, MI - Pine Knob Music Theatre

[Bad to the Bone]

I went last night. had tons of issues with getting my tickets from stubhub. why they would have an app you could buy your tickets but not be able to see them on that app is ridiculous.

show was great, we had GREAT seats, 20 feet from the stage. everything sounded great, at times I thought joe's guitar was a little low in the mix but they fixed that. setlist was great. the place was packed, if it wasn't sold out it was really close. Sam sounded good, seems like he's getting his voice back, that was how it was live, if it doesn't show that in the video's I don't know what to say but live he sounded great. Mike was great, flashed the back of the WDFA bass after he sung ATBL. Joe was great, he plays the solo's as close to the studio versions as he can but he cut loose a few times (I think at the end of summer nights). Jason was really good. solid. Keyboard player added a lot to the sound, he plays rhythm guitar on a few songs, his backing vocals sounded good (from what I could tell).

I liked that they did Bigfoot and Helter Skelter, I didn't expect that.

sam explained that the first time he played with Aerosmith was when he was in Montrose, they (Montrose) closed a show with Helter Skeletor then Aerosmith came out and opened with the same song.

[CaboChris]

Helter makes sense now.

[CaboChris]

Bone, ain't gonna lie. I was ready to post. "Wtf you doing in Mississippi. I thought you were Michigan?"

[DiveBomb]

We had lawn seats on Mike's side. I second the frustration with StubHub. We triple checked the link beforehand to make sure we could access the tickets, but then at the gate, the link had suddenly vanished. Panic moment for sure. We finally found a workaround but wow, can we not find a better way to do digital tickets??

All that said - we had to leave halfway through the show because the baby got sick and we had a 2.5 hr drive home. SO BUMMED. But the show was great. I was so impressed with how Sam sounded. My husband, who only knows Van Halen through me, commented on what a good frontman he is, working the crowd, stage movement etc. I agree (and I favor CVH).

I thought Joe did a super job. I didn't love how he played TOTW, but that's my only (minor) complaint. To be honest (don't hate me) I've never really dug Summer Nights before other than the intro. But last night I was surprised to find it was a highlight for me. I think they played it a touch slow but that helped the groove really swing. Really makes me wish I had a chance to hear it live with Ed.

I could take or leave ATBL, but it was Mike's spotlight so I can't begrudge him that.

The place was PACKED and the crowd was so into the show. Really great night. If you can squash down that pit in your gut that it's not our Edward up there playing his songs, I give it a 9/10.

I can now say I've seen all the members of Van Halen, just not together (yeah, I don't really count Gary). So glad we went.

[CaboChris]

Question about Stub Hub. Is it a cheaper option? I've never had that issue with TicketMaster. They've never done me wrong. Does concert going society still hate them?

[edwardv]

I still hate Ticket Bastard from decades ago. How they fix ticket prices on the fly. Like if you go there first but don't buy then shop around and come back and look at the same seats 15 minutes later they go up another 50 bucks or more. In the old days we went to some department store on Saturday morning 10 am and no computers to screw you. Now sometimes you wait for the day of the show and it's not sold out the price comes down big. But who wants to play Russian roulette? Personally I think all online ticket brokers blow. I had a chick in Baltimore who actually sold discounted tickets somehow. Don't know how she did it. But always thought she either got them for free or stole them. She's dead now .

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[DiveBomb]

Duplicate post

[Brett]

Yeah, Joe needs to work on how he’s playing Top of the World. He doesn’t quite do it right. Not a big deal, but just something I’ve noticed.

[CaboChris]

Which is weird because the early shows sounded fine on that song.

[Kasi VH]

What a great concert. Sammy sounded awesome and Joe is killing it. He was playing a Frankie for a couple songs. If I didn't know how old Sammy is, I would have never believed it. He's in excellent shape. I was worried when I bought the tickets that by August Sam's voice would sound bad and they all would be worn out. I was so wrong! I enjoyed seeing Sammy and Mike playing around, I had really missed them. At moments it took me back to the good old days. Highlights for me was every single Van Halen song. I kinda would of liked something another than Judgement Day, but the guy next to me really dug it. Judgement Day must be his favorite song! I teared up during When It's Love, they showed a picture of Eddie from the video on the screen for around 15 seconds. Everyone in the crowd was happy, singing, dancing and yelling. It had been a long time since we heard those songs. It was so fucking great.

My husband never asked how much the tickets were. He took a lot of pictures and short videos. He said after the show that if he would of known it was going to be that much fun that he would of had me buy tickets for Tinley Park! (Chicago) He said it again to another fan we talked to.

I am forever grateful to Sammy and Mike for doing this tour. God bless them!

[leroy]

[rvk5150]

As I posted in error in the other thread we were there; fam and I. We bought our tickets during the Sammy fans pre-sale right from TM; we were about 35 rows back between center and Joe's side; paid $165 a ticket with fees which I thought was quite reasonable.

All in all great show...I have seen Sammy 5 - 6 times the past few years and this was the best one. My brother and I were chatting about Joe's playing walking out to the car. Basically he is in the vicinity of what Eddie did but then adds his flavor to it; fine as long as you know and expect that going in. I mean he is not a cover band guitarist and this is not a cover band so I believe that is perhaps part of the reason why.

For me..this is what we have left; I am going to go every time until it is all over!

[jimmy812]

I still hate Ticket Bastard from decades ago. How they fix ticket prices on the fly. Like if you go there first but don't buy then shop around and come back and look at the same seats 15 minutes later they go up another 50 bucks or more. In the old days we went to some department store on Saturday morning 10 am and no computers to screw you. Now sometimes you wait for the day of the show and it's not sold out the price comes down big. But who wants to play Russian roulette? Personally I think all online ticket brokers blow. I had a chick in Baltimore who actually sold discounted tickets somehow. Don't know how she did it. But always thought she either got them for free or stole them. She's dead now .

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For the Saratoga show, my wife had purchased lawn seats as a birthday present for me, figuring since we'd be on vacation with other people, if anyone else wanted to go they could buy their own and we could all sit together on the lawn. Only my buddy and I ended up going and when we got to the venue with the tix on my phone and me worrying about a glitch, my friend asked if I wanted to see if they had any seats left. I agreed and we got a couple seats about 20 rows from the stage. Actual tickets!! I've collected all my concert tickets over the years and haven't been able to add to the collection in a long time.

The whole phone scan thing also slows things down. People were not holding their phone correctly or having issues with the scan--the paper tickets were much more efficient. Take that, technology! lol

[CaboChris]

Dinosaurs.

[edwardv]

I used to have all my ticket stubs from 73 to 2010 on a collage . But I got rid of them one night guess it was menopause.

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