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January 21, 2008
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The close-to-original Van Halen lineup is back.
The band, comprised of Van Halen brothers Alex and Eddie, plus the new addition of Eddie's 16 year-old son Wolfgang Van Halen on bass, and David Lee Roth back on the mic, are kicking ass across America.
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The revived lineup put the juice back into the bands' timeless tunes, and their "we love bad girls who love to party" attitude, as they cranked out a truly rockin' live show. The audience ranged from diehard mullet-bearing Hessians and assorted old school rockers, to yuppies, surfers, college kids, cougar MILFs, punks, drunks, and even groms. The common thread being that the capacity crowd was amping out to every classic tune the band played. Formed in 1974, Van Halen first played shows under the name "Mammoth" (they played a stag dance in my High School gym back in the day) before changing their name to coincide with the first VH demo tape, which was produced by Gene Simmons of KISS. It's been 30 years since their self-titled first album, (one of the best-selling debut LPs of all time) which came out in 1978, but you wouldn't know it by their kick-ass high-energy live show still today. David Lee "I Can Barely See The Road" Roth, despite not touring with the band since 1985, was having a blast and delivered the showmanship that made him famous, complete with stories of how the band sowed their oats in OC: "We're from So Cal., and I know Orange County like the back of my hand. A lot of our songs came from the beaches around here, where we hung out while we were supposed to be at High School." Then he told a tale of a gal he was in love with once, how they used to smoke weed, and that he wrote this song for her...and launched into "Ice Cream Man", for which he donned an acoustic guitar to start the tune before the band joined him and went nuts. With rock moves and spinning high-kicks, Dave was a spectacle--fit, zany as ever, and proved he's still pretty damn limber for a man in his 50s. If you're interested in catching VH on this 74-show tour, which will span through this April, here's a hot tip: try the scalpers in the parking lot. You could be treated to classics like, "Beautiful Girls", "Light Up The Sky", "Dance The Night Away", "Jamie's Crying", "Hot For Teacher", "Jump", "Panama", and an insane drum solo by Alex, the maestro, with such power and finesse that it would more appropriately be called a clinic. But the guitar solo by Eddie was worth the price of admission alone--a combo of "Spanish Fly" into "Eruption". Eddie uses the high frets on his guitar like most people use a knife and fork. He covered the whole spectrum, from his signature finger-tapping, to playing strings with a drum stick, an array of heavy distortion, whammy, tremolo, sustain, and speed--down and dirty, the way rock should be. A master of guitar with the whammy bar, and volume knob, Eddie covers every technique from pull-offs and hammer-on's, ultra-melodic harmonics and feedback thru his wall of amps, with both hands on the neck, filling the giant hall with sound--a rock symphony. And of course that led into, "Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love." Killer. The only part of the show that topped this was Eddie sharing a mic with his boy Wolfy on the encore choruses, which has to be a beautiful sensation for both father and son. After a successful (maybe drunken) run through the west coast, Van Halen may be coming soon to an arena near you. Here are the currently scheduled remaining shows: Tue 1.22.08 Oklahoma City, OK Ford Center Thu 1.24.08 San Antonio, TX AT&T Center Sat 1.26.08 Dallas, TX American Airlines Center Mon 1.28.08 Houston, TX Toyota Center Wed 1.30.08 Little Rock, AR Alltel Arena Fri 2.01.08 Denver, CO Pepsi Center Mon 2.04.08 Omaha, NE Qwest Events Center NEW 2.06.08 Des Moines, IA Wells Fargo Arena Fri 2.08.08 New Orleans, LA New Orleans Arena Sun 2.10.08 Atlanta, GA Philips Arena Tue 2.12.08 Ft. Lauderdale, FL Bank Atlantic Center Thu 2.14.08 Orlando, FL Amway Arena Sat 2.16.08 Jacksonville, FL Veterans Memorial Arena Mon 2.18.08 Tampa, FL St. Pete Times Forum Wed 2.20.08 Ft. Lauderdale, FL Bank Atlantic Center Fri 2.22.08 Charlottesville, VA John Paul Jones Arena NEW 2.25.08 Duluth, GA Gwinnett Arena Mon 3.03.08 Dallas, TX American Airlines Center Wed 3.05.08 Cincinnati, OH US Bank Arena Fri 3.07.08 Raleigh, NC RBC Center Sun 3.09.08 Baltimore, MD 1st Mariner Arena Tue 3.11.08 Manchester, NH Versions Wireless Arena Thu 3.13.08 East Rutherford, NJ Izod Center Mon 3.17.08 New York, NY Madison Square Garden Wed 3.19.08 Hershey, PA Giant Center Fri 3.21.08 Pittsburgh, PA Mellon Arena Mon 3.24.08 Providence, RI Dunkin Donuts Center Wed 3.26.08 Uncasville, CT Mohegan Sun Arena Fri 3.28.08 Atlantic City, NJ Boardwalk Hall Sun 3.30.08 St. Louis, MO Scottrade Center Tue 4.01.08 Columbus, OH Value City Arena Thu 4.03.08 Chicago, IL Allstate Arena Sat 4.05.08 Grand Rapids, MI Van Andel Arena Mon 4.07.08 Milwaukee, WI Bradley Center With a large handful of platinum-selling albums, VH is one of the premier California rock bands, and one of the most entertaining, delinquent groups of all time. And yes, they were selling Van Halen red laced panties at the tee-shirt booth. More info: van-halen.com. MORE SURF NEWS SURFLINE HOME PAGE |