08.19.24 - Inglewood, CA - Kia Forum

[Brett]

This thread is for all discussion on the 8/19/24 show. Set list is below. Videos can be found in the posts below.

1. Good Enough
2. Poundcake
3. Runaround
4. There's Only One Way To Rock
5. Judgement Day
6. Panama
7. "5150"
8. Summer Nights
9. Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love
10. Top Of The World
11. Best Of Both Worlds/Celebration
12. Satch Boogie
13. The Seventh Seal
14. Right Now
15. Why Can't This Be Love?
16. Eagles Fly
17. Mas Tequila
18. Heavy Metal
19. I Can't Drive 55
20. Space Station #5/Big Foot/Jump
21. When It's Love

[Brett]

Entire Show


1. Good Enough


2. Poundcake


3. Runaround


4. There’s Only Way To Rock


5. Judgement Day


6. Panama


7. “5150”

[Brett]

8. Summer Nights


9. Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love


10. Top Of The World


11. Best Of Both Worlds/Celebration


12. Satch Boogie


13. The Seventh Seal


14. Right Now

[Brett]

15. Why Can’t This Be Love?


16. Eagles Fly


17. Mas Tequila


18. Heavy Metal


19. I Can’t Drive 55


20. Space Station #5/Big Foot/Jump


21. When It’s Love

[leroy]

Any chance of a guest at this one? Wolfgang has some spare days.

[I Coulda Hada VH]

Great show so far.

[Little Dreamer]

Any chance of a guest at this one? Wolfgang has some spare days.

After seeing the show, I'm not sure how Wolf would have fit in the show. The show is really based on the songs. So unless they'd do something off Adkot, it's kinda weird to bring out WVH to play on music created mostly before he was even born.

[Brett]

So here are my thoughts. First off, as has been said no special guests. Not that anybody really expected any. And like LD said I don’t know how Wolfgang would even fit in there anyway. Those are songs that just have nothing to do with him.

I don’t know if it was completely sold out, but it looked pretty damn close to being sold out. There were just a few seats I saw in the top sections open. But I’m pretty sure it was sold out.

Musically, I mean, you can’t ask for much more if you want to hear Van Halen now. The band sounded great, their energy was great. The audience was great. It was just a really fun show to be a part of, and it was fun to sing those songs one more time.

The only issues I really heard was they only did one verse on Judgement Day. I don’t know if that’s been going on for a while, or if they just forgot to do the second verse, but it was pretty seamless. So maybe they planned to do that. Weird. I think The Seventh Seal was shortened a little bit too.

Speaking of The Seventh Seal. It’s a great song, but it’s just kind of out of place where they have it. It’s probably out of place completely at this show. I just don’t know that it really works. It’s kind of a lull. And Right Now really misses all those cool little nuances that Ed added to it.

Sam’s voice was really great. I think he went flat a couple times, but big fucking deal. He was pretty much dead on the entire night. And he had a ton of energy tonight. Satch is the man and the crowd really appreciated what he is doing up there to make those songs work. Mike is Mike, he’s just always happy and never fucks up. And Bonham and Rai were solid all night. Just a really great performance.

I thought the songs that got the biggest applause were Panama, 5150, Summer Nights, ATBL, WCTBL, and Heavy Metal. People really seem to dig HM, which I think is probably Sam’s best solo song.

My daughter, who knows all the songs anyway, had a blast. Lots of old fuckers there, but I did see some young people too. We’re fucking old what can we do? Pretty much a sea of people wearing Van Halen shirts.

If you’re on the fence about going, obviously you should go. It’s a great way to get to hear these songs live one more time with the guys who created them. I didn’t get very emotional. Seeing the 5150 album cover on the screen was cool, and then when they did WIL, they used part of the real video in the background, and before the song really kicked in, they froze the screen on Ed playing the keyboards which was a nice touch.

That’s all I’ve got for now. It’s late.

[Van Squalen]

Well, it turned out to be a bit more emotional than I thought during certain parts.

Good Enough, Joe banged it out super, but in our section, the mix was muddy. On a couple-three tracks in the show, actually.

Dunno if that was a soundboard issue or if it was the Forum acoustics in our loge section.

Joe with the drill on Poundcake? Chills down the spine.

Runaround was one of the cleanest songs of the night. By a long shot. Joe's solo slayed on Runaround.

LOL, as Brett said, they skipped a verse in Judgment Day. Still a blast to watch Joe play it.

One Way to Rock. The redheads around me and the wifey were RABID. Many gonzo wasted. And SB was right, there was overweight white Boomers and Gen X'ers wall to wall there across the Forum. Dunno how many Van Hagaritas were risking coronaries with their drunken antics, but I'm thinkin' a lot.

Want to see a mass action of impulse action? Go to this tour if you haven't and wait for Sam and Mike to play one of the Dave songs, and watch 15,000 people simultaneously pull out their phones to record it. Panama, our section lit up like a copter spotlight, all the goddamn phones out recording.

5150 might've been the cleanest song of the night, apart from Sam's best solo song. Mean and clean. I think Joe probably rehearsed that one more than any other. Wicked precision.

In my section, Summer Nights' lead vox were muddy and washed out. So that was a bummer. And Joe's riffs also sounded off rhythm....not out of key, but again...a muddy mix.

ATBL, for once, was absolutely one of the highlights of the night, no contest. Mike sang the whole song. And it's the first time I've ever seen him lower his octave range to a mid-range, 'normal' baritone, and I'm here to tell you, girls and boys, that those of you who think Mike couldn't handle lead vox are absolutely mistaken. How strange it was, listening to Mike sing the lead verses between the higher choruses, all the while Joe SLAYING the songs, and thinking "well, for fuck's sake, if he can harmonize those lower ranges, why the F did we bother with Gary at all in '98, if Mike can sing??" What the fuck, right? Seriously. He really can. And yeah, on a number of songs, Mike carried the high bridges for Sammy. Still...Sam was in top form. Top. For a 77 year old, he was a freak of nature, really.

7th Seal didn't land. Maybe nobody can truly reproduce a fair approximation of Ed's wet tone on Balance. Vic didn't. And Satch tonight didn't. Not that I wanted a replica, but again, within the ballpark, like 5150 and Runaround clearly were.

And yup, we were singing our brains out during Good Enough, Runaround, Jason's little Country Road bit, Mas Tequila, ATBL. Loads of fun. Me and the other linkers were texting our thoughts throughout the show. Coulda especially enjoyed the crowd's reaction to his favorite Van Hagar song WCTBL. (the crowd went absolutely bonkers for it).

So the 4 times I got teary eyed thinking of Ed were 5150, when they flashed the album cover on the screens behind them. And then again during BOBW, when they did the 5150 walk. While I understand and respect why Joe stays out of it, and Rai was great and all stepping in for Ed, and I know it's Sam's thing, I'd maybe have dropped that. Too reminiscent of Ed for me. But maybe that's just me. And the third time was when they projected the red stripes during the SS5/Bigfoot/Jump medley. The 4th, weirdly enough, was Satch Boogie, Joe's spot. Just the solo spot itself. Made me miss Ed. Joe's solo was friggin' awesome, as expected.

At no time did Joe come close to replicating/emulating Ed's tone. In no way could you close your eyes and mistake it for a Van Halen show. It was its own thing, and Joe paid most excellent homage to Ed, in his own way. And that's the way it should've happened, and it did.

Eagles Fly? Eh. But I've never been a fan. 55 and Mas Tequila? Fun, but again, the redheads going nuts and that time, even drunker and louder cause it was later in the show. And yeah, as Brett said, Right Now was sorta whatever without Ed's flourishes. But Rai is a solid player, and singer.

The other highlight, along with Runaround and 5150, was Heavy Metal. Not only is it Sam's best solo song, but Joe playing it, made it even more wicked. But the best part? Sam SHREDDING the HM solo. The old man can still play something fierce. Me and my gal thought Heavy Metal was the peak of the night, along with Mike's ATBL, 5150, and Runaround.

My gal and I left 1/2 through WIL to beat the traffic, we had a longer drive home than the other guys (though I'm still up from Randy's Donuts and coffee), and I'm no fan of WIL.

Go, if you can. This is the last of Van Halen you'll ever see played proper. Was a blast.

[Wolfgang Bob]

Glad you guy's really enjoyed the show as much as I did! (In Saratoga) Ed is smiling down at Joe saying good job man, good job

[Brett]

I’ve got videos up for this entire show now. I didn’t video anything myself. I just really wanted to enjoy the show and there were like a zillion cameras out there anyway, and I knew a bunch would show up online.

[Little Dreamer]

I’ve got videos up for this entire show now. I didn’t video anything myself. I just really wanted to enjoy the show and there were like a zillion cameras out there anyway, and I knew a bunch would show up online.

The number of people filming was insane, considering the demographic. It's really weird leaving a VH-adjacent show without even breaking a sweat.

[Van Squalen]

Recording really has ramped up exponentially. Some folks are content to record the whole show. We had many around us. It’s a real shame. Live music is live for a reason.

[Brett]

Recording really has ramped up exponentially. Some folks are content to record the whole show. We had many around us. It’s a real shame. Live music is live for a reason.

You can’t bring a tripod in there that means these people are holding their cameras for two hours straight some of them.

[Little Dreamer]

You can’t bring a tripod in there that means these people are holding their cameras for two hours straight some of them.

It also means you can't sing every lyric at the top of your lungs, if you're filming. And that's the number one reason to go to a VH show!

And how can you give the devil's horns sign if you're holding a phone?!?! Wtf?!?!