Donne Tempo - For Art's Sake - Van Halen
Van Halen’s Triumphant Return
by Joe Scopin, Special to Donne Tempo
Washington, DC —November, 1 — Hard rockers Van Halen — featuring Eddie Van Halen, Alex Van Halen, Wolfgang Van Halen and David Lee Roth — wasted no time in setting the tone for the evening during their DC tour stop at the Verizon Center with a blistering rendition of the Kinks "You Really Got Me."
And then pretty much held that level of drive throughout a two-hour rocking set that proved the boys can still play, and have fun.
Shirtless guitarist Eddie Van Halen was in fine physical form. He and singer David Lee Roth both were looking very buff and stayed very active. Eddie's chops were in excellent form, however his guitar work got lost in the sound mix much too often, leaving you straining to hear the lead work.
What you could not hear, you could see on the mega-screen behind them and a lot of those screen images were of Eddie’s fingerwork.
For fans, this allowed a close up view of his playing and providing a real feel for how unique his style is, or was, using much more of the guitars sound range, particularly with his right hand blending various techniques.
He developed a lot of the clichés with his early recordings and his playing and showmanship carried the show. David Lee Roth tried to match him and succeeded pretty well, but his vocal instrument couldn't compete. Sadly, his voice also got lost in the mix and it was hard to hear a lot of what he was putting out. What you did hear fom Roth sounded good, but what you heard from Eddie sounded great. .
Which was the disappointing part of the show. This was a chance to see and hear a great band, and missing some of the vocal and guitar sound subtleties was second-rate. However, this live show was anything but subtle.
The overall effect was powerful, with a very young (age 15) Wolfgang Van Halen keeping up on the bass, driving every song at a similar level as the veterans he shared the stage with. It is must be hard to compete with dad, Eddie, and rock jester David on stage and, wisely, he doesn't try. At times it seemed hard to tell if he was enjoying being in the position of one-fourth of a group whose heyday was well before his birth, then, at other times he seemed to truly enjoy the performance he was a part of.
“Wolfie” actually gets forced into a little bit of the limelight when Eddie or Dave happen to approach him during their traveling on the stage engaging him in a bit of mugging.
Drummer AlexVan Halen is fun to watch and propels the sound at a constant and relentless level for over two hours, including a drum solo that certainly kept my interest more than most I have heard. He bottoms a sound you feel throughout the show and makes you want to smile and move. He established a drive that reinforced the feeling that all the guys up on stage were having fun and enjoying the fact that they were putting on a good show and that they were going to make sure you had a good time too.
It was an intense two-hour show and I think everybody got some.
by Joe Scopin, Special to Donne Tempo
Washington, DC —November, 1 — Hard rockers Van Halen — featuring Eddie Van Halen, Alex Van Halen, Wolfgang Van Halen and David Lee Roth — wasted no time in setting the tone for the evening during their DC tour stop at the Verizon Center with a blistering rendition of the Kinks "You Really Got Me."
And then pretty much held that level of drive throughout a two-hour rocking set that proved the boys can still play, and have fun.
Shirtless guitarist Eddie Van Halen was in fine physical form. He and singer David Lee Roth both were looking very buff and stayed very active. Eddie's chops were in excellent form, however his guitar work got lost in the sound mix much too often, leaving you straining to hear the lead work.
What you could not hear, you could see on the mega-screen behind them and a lot of those screen images were of Eddie’s fingerwork.
For fans, this allowed a close up view of his playing and providing a real feel for how unique his style is, or was, using much more of the guitars sound range, particularly with his right hand blending various techniques.
He developed a lot of the clichés with his early recordings and his playing and showmanship carried the show. David Lee Roth tried to match him and succeeded pretty well, but his vocal instrument couldn't compete. Sadly, his voice also got lost in the mix and it was hard to hear a lot of what he was putting out. What you did hear fom Roth sounded good, but what you heard from Eddie sounded great. .
Which was the disappointing part of the show. This was a chance to see and hear a great band, and missing some of the vocal and guitar sound subtleties was second-rate. However, this live show was anything but subtle.
The overall effect was powerful, with a very young (age 15) Wolfgang Van Halen keeping up on the bass, driving every song at a similar level as the veterans he shared the stage with. It is must be hard to compete with dad, Eddie, and rock jester David on stage and, wisely, he doesn't try. At times it seemed hard to tell if he was enjoying being in the position of one-fourth of a group whose heyday was well before his birth, then, at other times he seemed to truly enjoy the performance he was a part of.
“Wolfie” actually gets forced into a little bit of the limelight when Eddie or Dave happen to approach him during their traveling on the stage engaging him in a bit of mugging.
Drummer AlexVan Halen is fun to watch and propels the sound at a constant and relentless level for over two hours, including a drum solo that certainly kept my interest more than most I have heard. He bottoms a sound you feel throughout the show and makes you want to smile and move. He established a drive that reinforced the feeling that all the guys up on stage were having fun and enjoying the fact that they were putting on a good show and that they were going to make sure you had a good time too.
It was an intense two-hour show and I think everybody got some.
She Says about Van Halen concert
Van Halen – A Feminist View
by Jacquie Kubin
Washington, D.C.-December 1, 2007 - OK, I admit it. I know who Van Halen was and is, but in their heyday I was busy doing something … else.
Van Halen was never much of a girl band. I think that can be admitted. At least in my circles, which was proved out as I stood amongst a very male audience who seemed to regress to a state of mentality best left behind.
The adolescent whiffs of testosterone, and the occasional aroma of pot, were as overpowering as the snippets of conversation “wow, I was so wasted when I saw them in …” “yeah, will we were incredibly gone when they toured through my home town in….”
These were adults speaking. Possibly your accountant. You get the picture.
But I have always known who Van Halen was. I have always been totally amazed by Eddie Van Halen and do not scoff at his status amongst many as a guitar God.
I have watched with interest over the last thirty years as Eddie married Valerie Bertinelli (he still wears his wedding band, which is sweet), David left, Sammy Lee Hagar joined, Eddies trials and tribulations with cancer and drugs and most recently how Wolfgang Van Halen has continued the family rock n’ roll tradition taking the bass over from Michael Anthony. I even went and saw the David Lee Roth vs. Sammy Hagar concert sometime in the mid-1990s.
I can sing along to Maxwell Jumps, Running with the Devil and a handful of other Van Halen tunes. But I never considered my self a Fan Halen, by any means.
Why?
It was Dave, Diamond Dave. The ultimate Rock n’
Roll misogynist that kept me off the Van Halen
Rocket. What has always amazed me about good
ole’ Dave is that even when being photographed
in his EMT days, with hair shorn short and
receding hairline prominent or as a radio DJ on
Boston’s WBCN-FM (104.1), he still had that
same swaggering, shit-eating grin we saw the
other night.
Somethings never change. Which is good.
Take Eddie’s guitar work. Wow. He is amazing. There are very few guitarists that can take stage, alone and keep me entertained as they just play. Eddie can. Eddie is, I repeat, a guitar God. And he looks great. Healthier than in recent photos. Even with hair shorn short he is cute as can be. Rock n’ Roll cute.
He still smiles broadly, seems slightly amused by Dave’s antics, the hats, dropping the girls I-phone (she was taking pictures, something done to distraction all night long) down his pants – I mean, gross.
As a side note, this might have been cute when he was a fresh young 20 something, but man the guy is 52. Most of the ladies know what I am talking about. I wonder how she felt?
The music was fun. The stage show admirable, if sparse, but not that it needed much more than Eddie and his guitar. Wolfgang tried to strut out a bit. Running up the ramps, taking center spotlight now and then. I think he would have been happy just playing. But that is not what stage shows are about. Just ask Gene Simmons.
It was basically Dave and Eddie onstage, very much aware of the “history beyond the hostility” that they were making. Alex played well. I like drummers and he is good. Very, very good. Its been a long time since I saw a really good, big arena drum solo.
Beyond watching Eddie, the fun part of the evening, for me, was Wolfgang. He held his own. Hard to believe considering he is only 15 and was playing with over 150 years of combined rock n’ roll history on the stage with him.
But then he grew up with Eddie and there is little doubt that his first rattle wasn’t a replica of Eddie’s Frankenstrat guitar. Now there is a Peavey Wolfgang Guitar line. Will the question eventually become, which came first Wolfgang or the Peavey?
So the show was good. We took our 8-year-old son to see some Rock n’ Roll history being made. He enjoyed it. Though he did not understand, any better than his mother, the guys standing around, screaming and waving their fingers in the air in that classic “horn” fashion. He tried to get into it, with a few woo-hoos and some arm thrusts…but he said he felt silly. He would have liked to watch Eddie play more, but it was difficult even though our seats were good.
You see, your accountant, banker and real estate agent where in front of us, regressing before our very eyes as they danced around in their little seat areas and they often blocked his view. Except when they huddled down to share a pipe. Which was often.
We had fun. Running with the devil….hmmm, hmmm. Running with the devil….
by Jacquie Kubin
Washington, D.C.-December 1, 2007 - OK, I admit it. I know who Van Halen was and is, but in their heyday I was busy doing something … else.
Van Halen was never much of a girl band. I think that can be admitted. At least in my circles, which was proved out as I stood amongst a very male audience who seemed to regress to a state of mentality best left behind.
The adolescent whiffs of testosterone, and the occasional aroma of pot, were as overpowering as the snippets of conversation “wow, I was so wasted when I saw them in …” “yeah, will we were incredibly gone when they toured through my home town in….”
These were adults speaking. Possibly your accountant. You get the picture.
But I have always known who Van Halen was. I have always been totally amazed by Eddie Van Halen and do not scoff at his status amongst many as a guitar God.
I have watched with interest over the last thirty years as Eddie married Valerie Bertinelli (he still wears his wedding band, which is sweet), David left, Sammy Lee Hagar joined, Eddies trials and tribulations with cancer and drugs and most recently how Wolfgang Van Halen has continued the family rock n’ roll tradition taking the bass over from Michael Anthony. I even went and saw the David Lee Roth vs. Sammy Hagar concert sometime in the mid-1990s.
I can sing along to Maxwell Jumps, Running with the Devil and a handful of other Van Halen tunes. But I never considered my self a Fan Halen, by any means.
Somethings never change. Which is good.
Take Eddie’s guitar work. Wow. He is amazing. There are very few guitarists that can take stage, alone and keep me entertained as they just play. Eddie can. Eddie is, I repeat, a guitar God. And he looks great. Healthier than in recent photos. Even with hair shorn short he is cute as can be. Rock n’ Roll cute.
He still smiles broadly, seems slightly amused by Dave’s antics, the hats, dropping the girls I-phone (she was taking pictures, something done to distraction all night long) down his pants – I mean, gross.
As a side note, this might have been cute when he was a fresh young 20 something, but man the guy is 52. Most of the ladies know what I am talking about. I wonder how she felt?
The music was fun. The stage show admirable, if sparse, but not that it needed much more than Eddie and his guitar. Wolfgang tried to strut out a bit. Running up the ramps, taking center spotlight now and then. I think he would have been happy just playing. But that is not what stage shows are about. Just ask Gene Simmons.
It was basically Dave and Eddie onstage, very much aware of the “history beyond the hostility” that they were making. Alex played well. I like drummers and he is good. Very, very good. Its been a long time since I saw a really good, big arena drum solo.
Beyond watching Eddie, the fun part of the evening, for me, was Wolfgang. He held his own. Hard to believe considering he is only 15 and was playing with over 150 years of combined rock n’ roll history on the stage with him.
But then he grew up with Eddie and there is little doubt that his first rattle wasn’t a replica of Eddie’s Frankenstrat guitar. Now there is a Peavey Wolfgang Guitar line. Will the question eventually become, which came first Wolfgang or the Peavey?
So the show was good. We took our 8-year-old son to see some Rock n’ Roll history being made. He enjoyed it. Though he did not understand, any better than his mother, the guys standing around, screaming and waving their fingers in the air in that classic “horn” fashion. He tried to get into it, with a few woo-hoos and some arm thrusts…but he said he felt silly. He would have liked to watch Eddie play more, but it was difficult even though our seats were good.
You see, your accountant, banker and real estate agent where in front of us, regressing before our very eyes as they danced around in their little seat areas and they often blocked his view. Except when they huddled down to share a pipe. Which was often.
We had fun. Running with the devil….hmmm, hmmm. Running with the devil….