Right Now Sammy-Fronted Van
Halen Rock Cleveland Arena
But fans of David Lee Roth left wondering
where have all the good times gone.
Not many people know this, but in 1984
Eddie Van Halen was tabbed to contribute to the soundtrack for a sort of
follow-up to the mega-hit movie "Fast Times At Ridgemont High" called,
"The Wild Life." It starred clean-cut Eric Stoltz and Sean Penn's slovenly
brother, Chris, as sort of an 'Odd Couple' for the 80s generation. In that
same year that made radio staples out of "Jump" and "Panama," Eddie's contribution
to the aforementioned soundtrack is the laughably-titled song, "Donut City."
Even more surprising is what "Donut City"
became...which was "Right Now" released on "For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge"
seven years later in 1991. The keyboard riff fills out atmosphere in many
scenes of the movie and is unmistakable as the future Hagar-fronted hit
song/video.
Because of that amazing foresight, the
balance of this review will be written in the spirit of "Donut City"...er,
I mean, "Right Now."
Right Now Van Halen opened with "Jump"
Right Now Eddie Van Halen looks cut and
in the best shape of his cancer-free, hip-replaced life
Right Now Michael Anthony's vocals (especially
lead vocals on "Somebody Get Me A Doctor") is the straw that stirs the
Van Halen drink
Right Now, despite what is being circulated
in the press, Sammy's enthusiasm for performing Roth-era VH is sour
Right Now, Alex Van Halen lives in the
shadows of his younger brother, but is a tremendous drummer himself
Right Now Alex did rip-off Tommy Lee's
'Theater of Pain' drum solo for his own on this tour (chops only, not the
90-degree thing)
Right Now Van Halen did 5 songs from
"For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge" including "Judgement Day"
Right Now Van Halen didn't perform songs
from the following albums: "Diver Down", "Women And Children First", "Balance"
and "Van Halen III"
Right Now Eddie still maintains complete
mastery over his guitar...how could Rolling Stone rate Jack White ahead
of him!?!
Right Now I'm still outraged about that
Right Now Van Halen had a cool depth-charge
looking video screen in the back of their stage set-up
Right Now Eddie never once touched a
piano or keyboard live
Right Now "Humans Being," a great Sammy-era
song from the Twister Soundtrack doesn't come across well live
Right Now the concept of the bass solo
should be outlawed; sorry Michael
Right Now Eddie only played his vintage
red Kramer with black-and-white tape for one song
Right Now Sammy is struggling with the
high notes; but still performed great
Right Now seeing Eddie do the whole hammer-on/pull-off
thing is like watching Jordan play basketball
Right Now Wolfgang Van Halen did NOT
perform during Eddie's guitar solo; he has at other tour stops
Right Now Eddie, a tongue cancer survivor,
did smoke during his guitar solo
Right Now "Unchained" is the finest Van
Halen song known to mankind
Right Now Eddie did perform bits of "Eruption,"
"Cathedrals" "Mean Streets" and "Spanish Fly" during his solo portion
Right Now crowd excitement was, and probably
always will be, stronger for the Roth-era material
Right Now only 6 DLR songs were performed
out of a 20-song setlist
Right Now the 18,000+ seat arena was
filled almost to capacity
Right Now Van Halen performed all three
new tracks set to be included the new "Best Of Both Worlds" collection
Right Now none can hold a candle to either
Roth-era or Pre-VHIII Hagar-era Van Halen, though "It's About Time" comes
the closest
Right Now and interesting stage note:
Barely any light show during Roth-era songs; everything and the kitchen
sink lighting-wise for the new stuff
Right Now the song "Right Now" with it's
message-driven video in the background was even more poignant in this post-9/11
world
Right Now set-ender "When It's Love"
is a poor choice for that position; Why not "What Love Can Do" if you gotta
go with Sammy stuff?
Right Now a pretty safe show from a band
that was really never thought of as safe
Posted by mike:
why the F**k dont V.Halen tour the UK? We have been waiting for years.
Posted by Anthony Tsikouras:
Oh GOD!
Good call on the bass solo! I've never actually been to a VH concert, but I HAVE watched the released concerts on DVD. I can not stand those bass solos! What a waste of time to show absolutely no talent!
Posted by vicky:
i see u
Posted by Diesel:
I had 4-star seats for the VH in Tampa on Sept. 9th and have to agree with DJK: Eddie was really wasted here also. I've seen them live 8 times and he's never acted so drunk. He looked like he was going to fall over any second. And what was up with that guitar cable? I read that he didn't like using the wireless because he loses some of the tone. But it seemed like it was getting in the way. He kept monkeying around with it. At one point, he almost tripped over it. Because of this, he barely moved from his mike stand most of the night. His solo was quite uneventful, he went from noodling around at the front of the stage to walking back to his mic stand, shrugging his shoulders, and mumbling some unintelligable gibberish. He played the same boring, incoherent solo he's been doing for the past 18 years. Even the bass and drum solos were passe. They just need to quit playing solos altogether. I'd rather hear 3 or 4 more songs in the setlist and just let each member to mini-solos within select songs. Other than the solos, the rest of the show rocked. Highlights for me were Seventh Seal, Up For Breakfast and Sammy's acoustic versions of Tropic Of Capricorn/Hallelujah. I'd like to have heard them play Learning to See though. I'm tired of reading that Eddie looked "ripped and in the best shape of his life". What a crock! Eddie looks like he's got one foot in the grave already. These days he resembles Gollum from the Lord Of The Rings movies. I have never seen him look, act or play worse (and I've followed them since 1978). My father was an alcoholic and I know the mannerisms and body language that drunks have. Eddie needs to get back on the wagon, or I'm afraid he'll no longer be with us in the next 5 years. I felt embarrased for him. The rest of the band rocked, and Sammy's voice was perfect. He signed several autographs for the audience, whereas Eddie refused to. That's an outrage. Maybe his fingers were too drunk to hold a pen? Overall, the show was good and well worth my money. Definitely better than any other artist touring out there these days. It's great to see the world's greatest band on stage after a 9-year hiatus from Tampa. My parting shots... To erocker and Chuck G.: As for Roth, he didn't turn them down. They've tried to work with him again in the studio (after Gary Cherone split) and they couldn't make it work. As for this tour, they just didn't want anything more to do with his obnoxiousness any longer. Let's face it - DLR is a talentless clown. Speaking of clowns... this is to "Beavis": anybody that spouts BS like you did and signs off as "Skeletor" is a complete moron. 'nuff said!
Posted by dave:
sorry i meant the thought of ROTH trying to sing dreams not hagar, hagar can still do it although i must say he could barely reach it as it is probably their highest reaching song (how ironic to the lyrics) so i noticed they got michael anthony to sing the second "higher" i guess because michael anthony can sing high like its no ones business
Posted by dave:
i saw them in vancouver and they sounded sooo awsome. ive never heard them before (im only 17) but they played better than on the album so they must have done at the least good. eddie did not seem drunk and he played awsome, his solo was spectacular and i dont recall him making any mistakes, sure he is not as perfect as say steve vai, which makes him awsome, i hate steve vai, the guy totally just took what eddie created and tried to be the best, i swear hes a robot he NEVER MAKES A MISTAKE its lame, eddie has a little slop which makes him awsome cause he is human. as for DLR versus hagar, i must say i like the music equaly i wish they played the classics like running with the devil, hot for teacher, jamies cryin, and 5150( i still dont get why they dont play them?)but ya i like DLR's songs he did with VH but as for the person i HATE him hes a dick ahd although on the albums he could sing good, he couldnt sing nearly as high as he could when he left and didnt sound too good on the songs he once could sing and as for hagar, hes a WAY better singer mostly because he can sing sooo much higher and somehow has hardly lost his voice and his scream after all these years, also he actualy has respect and love for the fans ( wearing what they throw on stage and holding the mic down for the audience to sing), i think he was greatful for being with VH where as DLR took fame and fortune and being in a great band for granted. and ya for you who think DLR should come back, you can say good bye to VH playing ANY hagar tunes as there is no way he could reach the key hagar sings in or by now his own songs. the thought of hagar trying to sing dreams just makes me laugh. p.s can someone please give me any info on why VH stopped playing their big hits? is it because they dont want to feel like they are riding on the same old classics?
Posted by Carey1006:
Eddie did too play keyboards live keys on the 1984 tour on I'll Wait, 1984 and Jump. (jump has a keyboard solo if you can find any of the bootlegs) In MA, they played Seventh Seal.
Posted by DaRaven:
bevis $uks
Posted by DaRaven:
Whos better Hagar Or Ross? HAGAR!!! ;)
Posted by Beavis:
Van Halen. Are you f*cking serious. They are not worth the space on the information superhighway that this waste of an article pollutes our digital environment. Does anyone who likes Van Halen ever look at how stupid the bass player always looks, from day one he looked like a total a**hole and people still liked it. Shame on you people , Shame shame indeed. Their are goats dying out on the streets that need our help and you people pay $100 for a f*cking Van Halen ticket! You all should buy a $2 razor instead and slice your wrists because Van Halen is lame, so I sayeth , then thou shall be truth! Skeletor out!
Posted by Cassandra:
I just want to first say, Im a HUGE VH fan. I saw them on November 10 in hamilton also, I was 18 rows back on the floor, they sounded fine! By far my favorite concert yet. yeah yeah eddie did seem a little drunk on stage and screwed up a bit, other than those few times it was amazing! I also hope they keep eddie sober and playing at his best because Im going back to their tours next year. Most of the songs were pretty right on, and it was awesome for me to be there to see them. Roth who?! They should never get DLR back, I think they are better off without him. VH is back and they are getting some good tunes working. They've still got it, I hope they keep it together. And hopefully eddie stops drinking before shows. Great work guys!
Posted by DJK:
I caught VH in Hamilton on Nov. 10 and unfortunately for all of us Eddie was really wasted. His solo was pathetic, he kept trying to get something good going but failed. After noodling around for awhile he resorted to trying to play bits of Spanish Fly and Mean Streets but he just couldn't play them. It was like his fingers were drunk. After walking to the microphone and apologizing to the crowd on two occasions during his 25 minute solo, he finally just played the tapping part from Eruption and finished the solo. Eddie looked frustrated and embarassed after his solo. Throughout the concert he was late on a lot of his fills and solos, and hit some wrong notes. The rest of the band rocked, and Eddie did his best to keep the energy up by running around and playing to the crowd. He was handicapped by his disease, which unfortunately seems to have gone beyond his control. I haven't seen VH since the Balance tour and the difference in Eddie's playing was frightening. The set list was pretty good, but a few tunes really stopped the momentum of the show (Humans Being, Up for Breakfast, and Seventh Seal). I only hope that for the last few concerts of this tour somebody keeps Eddie sober and playing at his best.
Posted by BigDrewHalenite:
I saw them a couple of months ago in Salt Lake, and they rocked the house! They finally figured out that Mike's solo needs to be really short, and he kept it down to about 2 minutes, Alex's solo was tight, and Ed was amazing. We got the Ed/Wolfie duet, and it was a really touching moment. I thought they were dead-on, and the crowd went nuts with each song.
Shinedown opened, and were so-so until they did a spot-on cover of Lynerd Skynerd(?)'s Simple Man, and a searing live version of their hit single 45.
All in all, great concert! The mighty VH still has it!
Posted by shadow:
Just like any other band,they have great nad not so great shows.They are still rocking,but can show signs of aging,just like everyone else.Sammy has been tearing it up since the Montrose days, and continues to do so.He can wail on the guitar,sing great,and definitely keep the crowd on thier feet. Roth does not even deserved to be mentioned,his ego killed his career,and he is not half the talent Sammy is, and he knows it.
Posted by frree:
seventh seal was played. it came off of balance
Posted by Todd:
I saw Eddie and Co. last night.
They rocked and sounded great. We are not 22 any more, But they had good energy.
I luv EVH
Posted by Dave:
I have to say that I'm one of the biggest VH fans ever. That being said, I just saw them in Houston on September 23rd and they were the biggest disappointments EVER! I spent 220+ bones for two ticks and I've never been so pissed. This was my 11th VH concert since the DLR days and I've never seen anything like it. EVH was either drunk or hyped up on something else. He couldn't keep rythym and his solo's were pathetic. Again, this is coming from someone who's seen them live, bought the CD's, DVD's, etc. EVH was stumbling all over the stage and didn't make any sense when speaking during his solo. Maybe the past problems have something to do with it (cancer, Valerie leaving him, etc) but I was very disappointed. Want my $ back.
Posted by Dave:
I have to say that I'm one of the biggest VH fans ever. That being said, I just saw them in Houston on September 23rd and they were the biggest disappointments EVER! I spent 220+ bones for two ticks and I've never been so pissed. This was my 11th VH concert since the DLR days and I've never seen anything like it. EVH was either drunk or hyped up on something else. He couldn't keep rythym and his solo's were pathetic. Again, this is coming from someone who's seen them live, bought the CD's, DVD's, etc. EVH was stumbling all over the stage and didn't make any sense when speaking during his solo. Maybe the past problems have something to do with it (cancer, Valerie leaving him, etc) but I was very disappointed. Want my $ back.
Posted by Mike:
I saw the boys in Atlantic City at an outdoor venue. While they certainly do rock, the sound was a bit(dare I say...)too loud. What I mean by that is that the vocals were somewhat distorted as the band played and yes, Sammy was having trouble hitting a few of the high notes. Also, the solo stuff went on a bit too long(Eddie). But, having said this, it was a fun, energetic show that was a blast to see! Best of luck to them as they continue the tour. In closing, if Dave wasn't such an ass, he probably would be back at the mike, but Sammy is a far better audience rocker signing autographs and wearing shirts and banners around his waist while rocking! Excellent show!!
Posted by vamp:
Unimpressed. Sammy's voice was drowned out, and I couldn't tell one song from another. I was completely bored. And, the opening act? I think they fell off the back of a Circus truck.
Posted by 1BadBitch:
Saw them this tour, will see them this month on 9/21/04 and I ask you Roth WHO??
Posted by Andy Hill:
I too saw VH at the United Center 7/19/04 and they rocked....far better than the UK tour of Roth I witnessed, which was pitiful.
Posted by the only opinion that counts:
just saw them. christ, they suck the knob. nothing like they were in the early 80's.
Posted by Jay:
I agree with shadow, david thought that he WAS the band. Turns out sammy is a better singer, and Van Halen is doing better than ever WITHOUT Dave.
Posted by FInK:
I personally think the van halen concert was amazing. however, if DLR was there, it hands down could have been the best concert ever
Posted by shadow:
July 19th ,United Center,Chicago..Vh was better than ever, and tore up a packed house.. Sammy got talent, Roth is a has been hack..
Posted by RidahNY:
The old 5150 Kramer that Eddie has been playing again on this tour was not striped with tape. Masking tape was used when painting the stripes to layer the paint but the B&W stripes over the red-colored body were actually painted.
Posted by VHFreak:
Sorry dude, but I have to beg to differ with you on a few points. Being that I am a total VH freak, I must differ with you on a few points: Donut City did not become Right Now. Donut City something like Loverboy's Turn Me Loose. Right Now did come from a song in that movie, but it was not Donut City. I too was at the Cleveland show and they only performed two of the new songs on the new Best of CD.... Up for Breakfast and It's About Time. They did not play Learning to See. They did not play Judgement Day. They did play The Seventh Seal which is on the Balance album. To answer Music's post, the concert was fantastic! I had no voice for two days following the show! I yelled and screamed through the whole show. (I'm sure the people around me really loved me for that!)
Posted by erocker:
I saw VH twice - both with DLR. I saw the Sam & Dave show when it opened at Blossom. I saw Sammy solo in his early career. I never saw a Sammy VH (I was a purist... believing until Sam's departure that he was no DLR.) Thank God for that. I'm writing for a few reasons: 1). My son told me that the Cleveland Media said Sammy Stole the Show and Eddie Struggled to keep up. Was that true? (I was out of town); 2) Sammy, to me has always been more involved with the crowd - a little interaction - a little drink - which makes him overall more crowd friendly; and the final reason I write 3). I heard on a radio show about Van Halen - that Despite DLR's braggadocious swagger prior to the tour - claiming HE turned THEM down... He's packed up from California and headed to New York for EMT training. (YIKES!) How'd you like to be in a car wreck where your EMT who raced to the scene is a balding, middle aged, former stoner of a rookie? Tell me THAT ain't so!
Posted by Chuck G.:
Hey muisc, I think your question could be gleened by the title and subtitle...the show was good...but could've been great if DLR returned to the helm of VH. Don't read too hard, you'll give yourself a headache.
Posted by muisc:
So... Was the concert any good or not?
