The VH Trade Site Forums Archives

[VHLIVE]

Tue 10.16.07 Rosemont, IL Allstate Arena

[ron]

Seating Chart:

[ron]

Radio Promo: http://files.mailboxdrive.com/mp3s/.../557287.mp3

[hain23x]

Hey guys,
We'll be pre partying around the corner at the Best Western and then of course after the show as well :thumb:

[Scott55]

Approximately 13 hours (CT at the time of my post) until VH hits the stage!!!!

Taking my son too. He saw them in 2004 with Sammy and now he'll get the op to see them with Dave. Something I have waited for all my life!

Anyways, we'll be in section 214 row 1 seats 1-3.

Can't Wait!!!

[ron]

I checked yesterday for single seats to both this one and the United Center show and found the only thing available was behind the stage. Looks like these two shows are basically SOLD OUT!
:thumb:

[Viper]

AWESOME friggen show!!!!!! Those boys have not lost a step if anything, they sounded better and looked great. Wolfie definately held his own, maybe a little timid onstage but hell he is 16!
A great all around performance and well worth every penny I paid for the tix.

[unclehomey1]

Went to the show yesterday night - and noticed a lot of things - in no particular order:

Wolfie is great for his age - his intro on So This Is Love was cool. But he had the deer in the headlights look a couple of times.

The backing vocals were weak or non existent on a lot of songs - particularly Jamie's Crying, I'm the One, Little Dreamer. I think Ed must figure most people won't notice.

But their deluding themselves if they think that the backing vocals are as good as they were when MA was around. I've seen them on every tour they've ever done and I think that "classic" VH background vocal sound is gone.

Dave sounded winded - the absence of Michael Anthony and his voice is going to effect DLR the most. To be honest I can't see DLR making it the whole tour w/o blowing out his voice.

But Dave sings more now than he did back in the day and he sounds in key for the most part.

But I like the 82 California Rocker Dave more than the 07 Vegas Dave.

It's all about Edward now - back in the day it seemed like DLR was EVH's equal - at least on stage - now its definitely Ed's show. Everybody else is there to support him.

My friend - who saw them in the first time around too - said after the first two songs: "Nobody runs around anymore - they just stand there"

Ed uses his flanger - the EVH model - a lot!!! The concert was like a commercial for that sound. Especially loved When the Cradle Will Rock and the way he did some of the keyboard parts on the guitar.

Ed does almost all of his own switching w the pedalboard and triggers for the sequencers (on Jump, And the Cradle). I think he was even rocking a Whammy pedal a couple of times.

Jump was a lot different then when they played it w Sammy - Ed used to copy the keyboard riff on guitar but not this time - mostly noodled around.

The sunburst Wolfie is definitely his "main" guitar. The Charvels were only out for about five songs and I think those were songs w the guitar in different tuning.

Seeing him use the Frankenstrat on Hot For Teacher is so weird - after all these years to see that guitar in his hands (even if it is a copy) - too cool!!

I couldn't believe the tempo on Hot For Teacher - they were so FAST!!! Dave couldn't keep up on the vocals but everybody else was smoking!!! The ultimate boogie (as Ed used to say) indeed!!

The songs from 1984 got the best reception from the crowd.

I feel sorry for Wolfie - most of the women there were old enough to be his mother or grandmother. Poor kid is on tour and probably doesn't get to enjoy the whole teenage groupie thing. Or probably the decadent drug addled life - like a true rocker should :-)

Speaking of substances - I'll probably get hammered for this but......... - I think Ed is off the wagon - or was yesterday night. Just a couple of hints during the show that made me think - oh no!!

Like:

He walked up to Wolfie after one song and looked like he said "I'm so fucked up" Right after that is when Wolfie had that scared look.

During his guitar solo - when he was talking (and he shouldn't) he said: "I'm a fucking professional" and blathered about how 316 was written before Wolfie was born.

Of course I probably imagined all this.

Ed did a great job though introducing DLR.

Ed did the horsie about six times - not like back in the 80s w Hagar when for a while - he did it on every song it seemed.

Ed played Everybody Wants Some - a lot different then in 82, 83 - back then it was behind the nut stuff, feedback and chaos, now much more controlled.

Ed ripped off an amazing off the cuff riff during Running With the Devil - I was like "holy shit"

Ed doesn't do the mandolin picking thing a lot anymore ala Ain't Talkin'.... A shame cause I always thought he had the fastest right hand in the world.

And his hands look old!!!!!!

Most of his solos weren't even close to the recorded versions - something that I always liked about him - improv!!

And that's were he really shined - doing the unexpected within the confines of the song.

Speaking of solos he did the high slide thing solo on about four different songs. Check out Finish What you Started outro solo on the Right Now DVD to see what I'm talking about.

Diamond Dave seems humble now (if that's possible) compared to the over the top early 80s Dave.

Although Ed had I counted 16 heads and 16 bottoms (8 on each side of Alex) It looked like only three cabinets on his side were miked. The rest were props.

Alex looks really old - I know everybody does when your his age but man. But the audience was old too.

His drum solo was long enough for me to hit the john, and stand in line to get two beers and make it back to my seat w/o missing any songs! Way to go Alex!!!!! That's what drum solos are for :-)

I could keep going on but the bottom line for me was - yeah they were great but not like back in the day. But who is - 25 years later? I have to remind myself what a pleasure it was to hear Ed riff out on those classic songs that we haven't heard live in years.

They'll definitely get tighter as the tour goes on. Not that the weren't but you could tell it's still the beginning of the tour.

But I really think DLR is gonna have voice problems w/o better backups. Sorry but again, the absence of Michael Anthony hurts him the most.

And the lack of backups and scattered quality to them makes me think that there are no tapes or overdubs or singers lurking backstage.

I don't see them releasing any new stuff - why mess w your legacy.

Ed's interaction w Wolfie was great to see - he really loves playing w him and it shows.

Seeing Ed again is what it's all about for me. I still think he's the best ever and I'll always, always, go see him play live - no matter who's singing or playing bass.

We'll see what Thursday show at the United Center (a terrible sounding concrete hole - like the Rosemont Horizon - sorry Allstate Arena) is like.

MZ

[DigitalDremzProd]

All i am not going say anything but it was by far the best vh i have seen if you looking for perfection you are not going to get it but i guess some think you might be able to press play like ms spears . The only thing i didnt get was why the big scresen was black and white about 50% of the time .

[Scott55]

For just over 2 hours on Tuesday night, I was once again 18 years old watching my favorite band hosting a party with 16,000 of their closest friends. On a scale of 1 to 10, this was 9+.

The entire Chicagoland area was one big Van Halen party. My son and I tried going to the Ram in Rosemont to hook up with my brother and some friends for a pre-concert dinner and beers (a soda for my 17 year old son) and it was packed with a 1-2 hour wait at 5pm. All restaurants in the are were packed. We finally aint at an italian choke n puke.

The Allstate Arena was standing room only. (seats behind the stage in the 2nd balcony were being filled too)

The concert was great although the vocals were compressed at times. There were times (not many) I could barely hear DLR, but familiarity with the songs kept me in time with the music. Eddie's guitar playing was legendary and he sounded like a more matured version of his old self.

Alex's drums were thunderous all night. It is amazing to me that he can still maintain the intensity and rythmic precision for 2.5 hours during such a damanding show at his age.

Seeing Diamond Dave fronting VH for the first time was a dream come true. Dave had a great attitude and seemed to be enjoying himself, even with a little tongue in cheek self-parody. The vocals overall were solid, and Dave did in fact have a few dave-isms.

Wolf held his ground. He's no Michael Anthony, but he's also only 16. His backing vocals were more than adequate as the crowd lended their support (singing along) numerous times all night long. He also had a couple of solo riffs scattered thoughout the show. I give him credit he is a young rock star in the making.

We are tempted to try to get tickets for Thursday's show at the United Center but need to get the wife to approve.

Thank you, Eddie, Dave, Alex and Wolf! Keep up the great work and remember the smiles and attitudes that y'all are sharing together right now. This is the best nostalgia tour imaginable. Based off of the crowd's reaction all night long - VAN HALEN Rocked the phucking roof off of the All-State Arena!!!

Keep the cradle rockin!!! LQQKing forward to seeing ya again.

Scott

[DigitalDremzProd]

Scott said all you need to say right there agree 100%

[Warno]

I was off in sec 103 on the corner of the stage on Wolfie's side which is not the best place to hear a good mix in a place that's sonically challenged to begin with. I hope if there was a taper in the house that the whole thing sounded better from where they were.

Anyway...

I will admit that once the news of the tour started leaking out, I was pretty sure I was not going to go. Besides the Mikey issues, I was anticipating mega-high ticket prices which would've made the evening not financially possible. As the date drew closer and I read the reviews from the earlier shows and heard the Charlotte boot, I started to change my mind. Ticket prices turned out to be just at my affordable limit so I traded some emails with an old college roommate who I have gone to about a half dozen VH shows with and off we went.

Going in I was skeptical about Wolfie but was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt until I saw for myself. The kid held his own but the crappy mix from where I was sitting made it hard to hear the backup vocals. He obviously is still overwhelmed by this whole thing and did have a deer in the headlights look to him at times but I could tell he definitely enjoys playing with Dad and Uncle Al. I'd be interested to see a video from a show late in the tour to see if he's gotten any more relaxed on stage.

One thing that I think was raised here earlier was that there might be an official live release of some kind coming out of this tour. The fact that Dave didn't say the name of the city once during the show had me thinking the same thing. There were enough cameras there to do a DVD. Even without one flying around on a boom, 4 cameras is plenty. Considering Dave's not saying the city name and he's wearing the same stage clothes (as are the rest of the band it seems), getting the boom camera out for a couple of shows and editing it in with the rest of the stuff won't be a huge hurdle. The Who on their last couple of tours released DVDs of every show shot by the jumbotron cams. I've seen a few and liked them. While they're not the polished up version of a full-on commercial release, they have that kind of rough look to them that makes for a fine document of each night's performance and as fans who attended a given show, isn't that all we really want?

Dave and Ed seemed to be really enjoying themselves on stage again. It makes me wonder if they were having that good a time, what took so long to put this thing back together? I loved the Sammy era too but what suddenly changed to make this arrangement finally come to pass? Did the two of them finally let go of the egos and hate that had come out in pretty much every interview since the MTV debacle in '96? Time will tell if the feel good will last.

[hain23x]

I had friends come in from Nashville for the show. We all had a great time. The pre partying at Shoeless Joe's was fun.

As for the show--it wasn't as loud as it was being hyped to be by everyone. I was expecting to feel it rattle my bones like a Pantera show.

It really looks like they are having a fun time.

I do think they should maybe drop "Little Guitars" for a similar song like "Secrets"---LG is just too tough for Dave to sing.

Eddie was all over the place. If he didn't have that stupid chord Eddie he could really fly around.

He got pretty emotional at the start of his solo talking about loving his kid.

[ron]

Photos: http://www.973thebrew.com/...

[theshooter666]

Video:

http://stage6.divx.com/user/tommyf63/video/1749979/van-halen-rosemont

:thumb: