Van Halen (Concert Review)

They still got it! Wow, do they got it!

By they, I mean Alex & Eddie of course. They are incredible. As always, the high point of the show was when Eddie came out and noodled for ten minutes. Six minutes or so were devoted to riffing on Cathedral. Everything he does looks so effortless. I remember trying to learn part of the guitar break in Running With The Devil. It was a very simple A-chord arpeggiation. After two weeks I gave up. That riff is so far down from the kinds of stuff he does without trying hard. Not to mention his incredible right hand. Between two-hand tapping, working the volume knob and the whammy bar it’s a whole second guitarist.

Wolfgang is competent. I don’t see the point of firing your bassist of twenty five years and replacing him with your kid unless your kid is significantly better in some way.

The background vocals were excellent. Eddie & Wolfang harmonize very well together. Normally I don’t review the background vocals but here they stand in contrast.

…To Diamond Dave. I wanted to like him. I could not. His day has come and gone. Every bit of music was great except him. Maybe he was good at the beginning of the tour. Last night he was a poor karoake singer. He really seemed like some crazy uncle crashing the family jam session at the annual picnic. Grabs a mic, knows half the words, doesn’t sing on pitch, refuses to phrase anything the same way twice in a row, keeps making goofy faces at everyone through his drunken slurring, and points to himself a lot. It was painful to watch. He wouldn’t sing the lyrics. He knew everyone in the audience knew all the words so he would sing just enough of them to suggest that he could darn well sing them all if he really wanted to, he just didn’t want to. Yeah right.

Speaking of singing guitar players, I did like Dave’s guitar playing. He did a flatpicking demo which led into Ice Cream Man. I had always assumed that was Eddie on the acoustic, it was him? Maybe he’s the second guitar on Could This be Magic also.

I suppose my review is the same as every other time I see them (this was my third and a halfth time). Eddie is God. Alex is Godlike. There are allegedly some other people in the band but why would you pay attention to them?

Update: Here’s a quote from Fargo Rock City reinforcing my view of ol’ Daimond Dave.

At every wedding dance, there is always one uncle who drinks too much, dances too much, and tells the most ridiculous stoiries over and over and over again. He’s the hero or the goat of every story he tells, and you can never quite tell if he’s the most boorish jackass in your family or the most charming fellow you’ve ever met. David Lee Roth is that uncle