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Van Halen Concert Review - February 18, 2008 - Tampa, FLLast night, I had the good fortune to attend the Van Halen mostly-reunion concert at the St. Pete Times Forum in Tampa, FL. I say "mostly-reunion" because, while Diamond David Lee Roth was finally back with the band, the bass guitar responsibilities fell on Wolfgang (aka "Wolfie") Van Halen, Eddie's son, rather than original bass player Michael Anthony. More on that later. Where to begin....Where to begin.....oh, yes... THE OPENING ACT WAS A FRAKIN' REGGAE BAND!!!!!!! Yes, Ky-Mani Marley, son of Bob Marley, was the opening act.For Van Halen.
.... Okay, I don't want to get too far off-base here, but anyone who knows me understands that there are two things you don't want to make me listen to: Reggae (which I can never even spell without looking it up), and Neil Diamond. Sorry, would've rather had ole Neil as the opening act. I mean, I guess Ky-Mani and his band played well....for reggae. And the guitarist was pretty good....for reggae. But c'mon!!!!
Okay, on to the main attraction. Once the lights went down, Eddie's trademark divebombing filled the arena, and all was good from there. The setlist was as follows:
Basically, it was like their greatest hits from 1978 through 1984. Sure, everyone probably has a favorite from that era that wasn't played (for me, it would be "In a Simple Rhyme", which I honestly didn't expect anyway), but it was incredibly cool to see them play so many great songs that got sidelined during the Hagar era. I was able to see VH twice during the Hagar days (5150 and OU812 tours), and this was much better than both. About halfway through the opening number, the music stopped while Eddie and Dave met mid-stage for a quick embrace and lots of grins. They definitely seemed to be having a great time together, and it was great to see. There were a number of other great moments throughout the show, such as a motorcycle-revving duel between Eddie (using his guitar) and Dave (using vocals), some brief segues into covers such as Mississippi Queen and Magic Bus, and the interplay between father (Eddie) and son (Wolfgang). On that note, I have to say I was impressed with Wolfie. I mean, okay, playing bass in Van Halen doesn't exactly require a degree from the Berklee School of Music, but I really don't want to see another Billy Sheehan up there - to me, it's more about establishing the solid rhythm and foundation for Eddie to work around, and he accomplished that in spades. He needs to build his stage confidence up some more so he can show his "performer" side (something Michael Anthony did very well), but I have no doubt he'll get there. And his harmony vocals were spot-on! All in all, I think he did an amazing job! Solo spots by Alex and Eddie were impressive, as always. Alex, who has always seemed to me (virtually a drum neophyte) to be an unsung hero, did a great solo, which included some synth pad hits toward the end (not sure if they were triggered from his kit or played off-stage). Eddie's solo was basically the extended version of Eruption that he's played nearly every tour (with the exception of the starting portion of "316", his tribute to Wolfgang from the Hagar-era "For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge" disc), but it's always great to see live and amazing to see how effortless he makes it look. Overall, I was very impressed with the band's performance, as was my good friend Ron Altman, who attended the show with me. The band sounded much tighter than I expected, and David Lee Roth was much more animated than I thought he would be after all this time. Everyone seemed to be in great shape, which Dave proved for himself through a number of effortless high kicks and jumps. The sound mix wasn't the best, the encore was a bit predictable ("Jump", to which I still say "meh"), and Dave's voice was definitely wearing down by the end of the night, but it was a tremendous show and a great experience seeing the band, which pretty much defined an entire sub-genre of rock, back at it after all these years. And they didn't play any reggae! Now if they would just get in the studio and record a new CD!! (Special thanks to http://vanhalentour2007.blogspot.com for the setlist refresher) |