The VH Trade Site Forums Archives

[Metal Marc]

Hey, all. Just in case you don't go to VHForums.com I've posted my review here for your you.

My wife bought us the 5 star packages when I was in Iraq. She told me we had upper level seats about halfway to the back of the arena. The day I got home she tells me she has a surprise for me: "We have 5 star tickets!". I flipped out! So first I need to thank my wife Virginia for hookin' us up.

The whole thing started at 4:00 PM. Hilary, the "tour guide" from Iloveallaccess.com, was pretty cool. She hooked us up with our stuff and gave us the rundown of the whole thing. I met Don - a.k.a. vhdon from VHForums.com - and his wife and my wife and I hung out with them until the show. A great couple of people.

Soundcheck was very cool. I was suprised at how mellow we were but I understand why: most of us were almost speechless because we were at Van Halen's soundcheck. Eddie was somewhat social. He came out with a bottle of merlot and immediately started goofing with us. Al came out next and just sat down and started pounding away. Mikey came out last. He had a pretty strong showing: it seemed like more people were happy to see Mikey than anyone else.

The boys were just noodling around, levels were being checked, and they were joking with us. Wolfie went up to the bottom of the big monitor and was sitting there. After a bit the keyboards for "Jump" kicked in and the guys played the whole song minus lead vocals. After that there was more Edandmikefoolery and they started "Runnin' With The Devil" a couple times but would stop. We were being teased! Finally, Ed did the first notes of "Purple Haze" and everyone went nuts. Mikey came in on bass. When Al kicked in, it turned into "RWTD". We were freakin' out! Mike sang it. Eddie was doing Roth's screams during the chorus. It was cool.

After that there was more jokin' and pick tossin'. Eddie says, "What do you wanna hear: 'I'm The One' or...". Another tease! We were all waiting to see or hear what was next. Wolfie, on a scooter, said something to dad. Eddie said something like, "Too bad. Wolfie picked it!", and he launched into "I'm The One". Mike sang this one as well and we helped with the backup vocals during the vocal breakdown before the big ending. Classic! It was worth every penny to see and hear this.

Only Mike signed stuff. Eddie, Mike, and Wolfgang threw picks. Soundcheck lasted about 25 minutes. There seemed to be a time crunch for one reason or another.

There was no visit to the merchandise stand before the doors opened to the public. That was lame.

The show started at 8:30. It was your standard setlist so far on this tour. Some general notes about the concert:
- The Ford center was 80% full. There were some bare spots on the upper level.
- The fellas seem to be having a GREAT time. I don't think this tour's their last.
- The band looks GREAT! Any of us should be so lucky to look like them at 50...and Sammy's kickin' ass at 60 years! He performed like someone at least 20 years younger.
- Al is a rock. He's like a fookin' metronome and didn't let the tempos get out of control...not even once. His sticking is incredible! When I was looking at him tonight I kept thinking that this is what Bonzo might be like if he had a double bass setup and didn't choke on his one puke.
- We were front row on Eddie's side. I could hardly hear Mike. Al's bass drums were hittin' so hard. The volume coulda been turned down a little on the guitar. That woulda made my day.
- Sammy picks up the tambourine during the solo for "Humans Being". Eddie duffed the solo on that one.
- "Up For Breakfast" was great. My wife was shakin' it like...well, 'nuff said.
- Sammy sang the first chorus of "SGMAD": he pointed at Mike and sang, "Somebody get him a doctor!" Good interplay with Sammy & Mikey during this one.
- Eddie had a hard time tonight. Granted, he did have some guitar problems but he made some mistakes...quite a few of them, to be exact. He didn't bend notes to pitch very well, he duffed a lot of notes, and appeared to be having a difficult time following what was going on. This wasn't Eddie's night. I'd say he was "on" about 70% of the time. I've seen VH 10 times now and Eddie's never played like this. Great rhythms but the lead playing just wasn't there.
- Before "Top Of The World" Ed got a new guitar. He played the intro and when the whole band came in the D-tuna was flipped on his guitar. He flipped it back but it was still out of tune. He spent a lot of time during the first verse tuning it. Before he started tuning he looked like he wanted to stop the song but it was too late. Eddie tuned it up and played the rest of the song like nothing ever happened. The show must go on.
- Sammy did "Eagles Fly" for his solo. The reaction was very positive: the crowd really seemed to be into it. "EF" ended and Sammy kicked on the distortion and did a very cool, mellow solo with some light keyboards in the background. I loved it. After that he brought out a friend who was supposed to be in Boston tonight but was chased out by the DNC. Sammy started playing and singing and you could see a big ol' cowboy comin' on stage. Turns out it was Toby Keith and they both played Toby's song, "I Love This Bar". They kicked ass!
- Eddie's solo was pretty hit-and-miss, but more hit than miss...slightly. He did a lot of noodling and played a couple good riffs that might make some good songs. I was stoked when he played the intro to "Little Guitars" and when Wolfie came out during "3 16". Did some interesting things in there, like kicking off the distortion for the last 20-30 seconds of "Spanish Fly" and putting in some really strange, dissonant notes. He started off the tapping part on "Eruption" two frets too high and then made an "Oops!" face and fixed it. That was great.
- Very cool video footage during the concert. I was very impressed with the video crew.
- Lighting was great.
- There was this one guy in the ring on Eddie's side that was just blown out of his friggin' mind. He mumbled the words here and there but his mouth kept opening and closing like a fish. During the last verse of "ATBL" Sammy held the mic to that guy's mouth and the guy sang a couple of words from the chorus. It sounded like this:
Sammy: "You got to..."
Loser: "...'BOUT LOVE!"
Sammy started laughting. I hope that guy had fun wasting space.
- After the first chorus of "When It's Love" Alex was playing 16th notes on the hi-hats with one hand. That guy's gotta have arms of steel.
- The concert ended at 10:35.

This wasn't Eddie's best show, not by a longshot. I think he had too much to drink and that's why his playing was sloppy. Heck, even at soundcheck he seemed to be buzzin'. In Ed's defense, I will say that he did have quite a few technical problems. There was some simple stuff that could have been taken care of right away. I was chompin' at the bit to go back there and work on Ed's rig. Ed was even having some technical problems during the soundcheck.

I'm not impressed with his guitar tech (or techs). I understand Ed accidentally flipping this D-Tuna before the start of "Top Of The World" but that string wasn't even in tune when Ed switched it back: it was still about a half-step too low. That was a fresh guitar, too. You can't knock it out of tune a half-step when the string is locked by the nut (the end of the neck). No excuse for that.

Eddie wasn't too impressed with his tech, either. At the end of the show Eddie tossed his guitar to the tech. It wasn't one of those friendly lobs; the guitar did a half-flip and a twist and almost clocked the guy in the head. The tech wasn't happy about that.

Despite the aforementioned problems and shortcomings, it was worth every penny.

Thanks, Virginia. I love you.

Lost in OKC,
Metal Marc

[Metal Marc]

By the way, anyone know if this show was recorded?

[Anonymous]

:dance:

Hello! This is my first post. Glad to be here! Cant wait to start some live cd trading! Anyway, my girlfriend and three of my friends went to Van Halen in Ok City Sunday nite. I will make this as brief (meaning long) as possible with as few (meaning tons) details that I can remember.
I purchased the 5 star seats for myself and my girlfriend so we could go backstage, watch the soundcheck, and then sit up close. Well, I have met Van Hagar twice and while this was not quite as cool as chatting with them up close, it was quite amazing. At 4 pm we signed in and went to the backstage area and we had some great food and drinks to eat all free. You could purchase certain alcoholic drinks if you wanted. They had the red on black striped van halen sacks filled with our vh goodies. Shirts, hats, and, our 'backstage passes', and our raffel tickets for the prize drawings that would come later.
No one seemed to want to touch the bags, so I tried to help and called out the names on the bags of goodies. Everyone seemed most interested in the alcohol! hehe It was cool because I spoke with several van halen fans who were all in a good mood! There were many people who had brought their kids with them. It was great.
We then went to watch the band do their soundcheck. There was no real security presence so we were all right up front right next to the stage. Everyone rushed over to Eddies side of the stage (the right side) and the band wasnt ever there yet! So, I told my girlfriend to come stand with me by the left side so we could see Mikey clearly. And it was the better idea.
Forgive me if I get little things wrong, but I think it was Mikey who I saw first. Everyone freaked and screamed and cheered. Mikey was in a great mood! He is always in a good mood and very fan oriented. I will skip anything negative but I am sure you will hear about some of Edwards personal problems. Anyway, Eddie and Al came out and Wolfgang was also there plucking on his guitar like his Dad. Wolfgang was up on the stairway-top part of the stage and Eddie was motioning for him to come down but he shook his head and sat down with his feet dangling!
They played Jump, Running with the Devil, Im the One, and Eddie was having some serious tech difficulties during warm up, and when they played Top of the World later in the concert Eddies effects were not working and he was yelling at his guitar tech who looked like he was turning green with worry!
Anyway, Eddie chatted a bit with the fans and thanked us and such. I screamed to Michael Anthony that he was "THE GREATEST!" and he said thanks. A little later I screamed to Eddie that he was "THE GREATEST!" and he gave me a thumbs up, but Mikey came over and said 'wait a minute, you said I was the greatest! What is that about!" It was funny, and my girlfriend loved it.
Then someone handed Mikey a blue cup with something else and I asked him if it was Jack. He said it was too early for that. Then I asked if he would share and he said he would! Wolfgang then asked Mikey to play Running with the Devil and that was one of the two times I actually heard Wolfgangs voice. After about an hour the band was being rushed off and they were polite and thanked us. I asked Mikey if he could sign my girlfriends backstage pass and he came over and did. Then he signed mine and a few others. I shook his hand and told him "God Bless you and thanks." He was great and really was kind to us.
Wolfgang was throwing huge clumps of guitar picks at us and we couldnt get one. People were begging him for one. I just asked when people were quiet, "Wolfgang, can my girlfriend please have a guitar pick," and he actually softly said 'yeah' and gave her one. I said thanks and he didnt smile, but actually softly said "no biggie." My girlfriend laughed and wispered to me that that was AWESOME!
So we went backstage and toured the whole area and learned about the video screen and the lighting and the speakers and how the stage was a to scale model of the van halen symbol where the fans were INSIDE the golden ring section. Those tickets were charity auction tickets.
They also gave away in a raffel some shirts, a jacket, some nick nacks, and a alex van halen used-drum head signed by the entire band! My girlfriend won a sweet blue tye dyed shirt. I won jack squat. But I did get a few email addresses from people who snuck cameras in and hope to get photos from them (or anyone!). We then went to watch Shinedown perform and they were fine and actually cool. The lead singer tried to get a nice reaction from the crowd and kept thanking us and thanking van halen and really tried in a positive way to get the crowd into their performance. After they were done, I walked over to the left side where I saw him backstage and he autographed my ticket. (We were on the Eddie left side of the stage on the 2nd row)
By the way, the Ford Center was beautiful and Clean! I was told it is new, and that this was the first hard rock show there. The security that I dealt with were very hands off and seemed to be laid back. In Arkansas where we are, they are MUCH more hands on and on edge. So I will give a HUGE thumbs up to OK City Ford Center people!
So Eddie comes out and the lights are OFF. He starts playing around and the crowd is going crazy. Here is my theory though. I think he was testing out his guitar stuff and seeing what was what. I could totally be wrong, but I was wondering if he has been doing this at every show. Playing his guitar with the lights off before any songs or anything. So the lights go up, and they are all there. This is one of my favorite parts!!!!!!!! Mikey points at me and says "Drink" and makes a drinking gesture with his hand and mouth. I freaked! My girlfriend was like "you rock!"
They opened with Jump, which was awesome. Eddie was jumping around and played well, but he did have tech trouble the entire show. Sammy was ON FREAKING TOP of his game. I have seen Van Halen and Sammy solo many many times. This was the best show I have ever seen. Alex did some great work! Seeing Somebody get me a doctor where Mikey and Sammy traded lyrics ruled!
I will get the order wrong, but they played Unchained and Sammy ruled, they played Humans Being, Seventh Seal, Aint Talkin Bout Love, Best of Both Worlds, Why Cant This Be Love, You Really Got Me, the new ones Its About Time, and Up for Breakfast. There were more, but I am going blank! I was just blown away. Eddie did a LOT of one handed playing where he would take his pick hand and do nothing and just be up and down the neck with his fret hand. It was cool. He seemed to have some new tricks here and there, but I am just BARELY learning how to play so I have no idea what the names are for his tricks.
Mikey was just the best too! He was hyper and jumping around and in a great mood and signing autographs just like sammy here and there. Wolfgang was on the right side of the stage watching Dad and company most of the show. There were several teen age kids in front of us, and they were on the front row and sat down most of the show, so I had like the best view ever. I felt like Eddie was grooving with us a few times. I KNOW Mikey was. Sammy was into everyone. I couldnt see Alex face that well because of a cymbol! hehe
Mikeys solo was freaking awesome. Sammys was too. Country singer Toby Keith came out making the Van Halen symbol with his hands and he and Sammy sang his hit "I Love This Bar" and Toby joking changed some of the words saying he took out Sammys woman and wined n dined her! Eddies solo was awesome. I have several bootlegs and was expecting something really different. I have seen them and pretty much knew what to expect from Eddie.
WRONG! Most of the solo was unfamiliar which was SOOOOOO much better! Eddie got on his knees and did all kinds of stuff. During the actual '316' song section Wolfgang came out and played with his father. Watching Edward and Wolfgang Van Halen play guitar together was amazing and was one of the highlights of my entire Van Halen experience! Eddie took his sons hand, and went to the mic and said to us "Thanks for putting up with my shit." I love my son." And was very emotional and teary eyed! I couldnt believe it! It rocked! It was incredible!
They played TWO yes TWO encores! The 2nd was When Its Love. I was very suprised they closed with this. OH! During Sammys solo, right before Sammy started Eddie walked out wispered something to him and gave him a big hug and kiss. I thought that was very cool! Anyway, it was PERFECT that they closed with When Its Love. I dont know how to explain it, but it was perfect. They took their bows with Wolfgang Van Halen and then this is the BESTTTTTTTTTTTTTT part for me and my girlfriend.
Michael Anthony walks over and get a blue cup, fills it with Jack Daniels and walks over to me. Points and me, and drinks half the cup. Then hands me the cup and I downed it! ( I dont drink, so I almost imploded! ) I gave him five and told him I loved him! He smiled and they all left the stage. My girlfriend was like "OH MY GAWD! He said like 4 hours ago that he would share a drink with you! 17,000 fans and he shares a drink with you!" I was floored! :thumb: It made my day, and was part of the reason that I feel this was the GREATEST Van Halen concert ever. I hope and pray that I can get TONS of photos of the concert. Maybe a bootleg or two as well.
Well, needless to say I was happy with my Van Halen show. Tody Keith, Van Hagar, Wolfgang Van Halen, sharing a drink with Michael Anthony! Who could complain!!!!!!???

Well, thanks for your time. Sorry it was so long. Hope I can meet all you guys and girls and get some live Van Halen cds! Feel free to email me about live cds, or if you were at the Ok City show!

God Bless!

:D

Chuck

redrockerjr5150@hotmail.com