Reply To: 2015-07-26 Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre, St. Louis, MO

Jon Gitchoff: Worse, there was next to no chemistry or significant interaction between the Van Halens and Roth. They did their show; he did his.

The implication in this is that there is something very different about the interaction that takes place between the three Van Halens. To which I reply that Al is pretty much in his own little world for the entire show (which to be fair, is normal for a non-singing drummer). And other than a very occasional trip by Wolf over to Ed’s side of the stage, all of which looks and feels very scripted, I don’t see a whole lot of interaction between the Van Halens.

The only one who pushes for any type of unscripted interaction is Dave. It’s not a lot, but at least he does initiate interaction with the other three. Sometimes his shtick falls on its face, and other times it takes you back to the days of early VH. But at least he tries. If it were up to the three Van Halens performing as a trio, I’m afraid you’d get a carbon copy performance night after night and it wouldn’t involve much in the way of Ed and Wolf laying down some serious improvisational grooves or some tasty one-liners. The only one who makes any of that happen is Dave.