Last night I attended the Van Halen concert at the Allstate Arena. Van Halen has united for a grand tour that did not disappoint. As a four member band, they played incredible music. As the king of camp, lead singer David Lee Roth put it, the band is now "3 quarters original and 1 quarter inevitable".
Along with Roth, original guitarist and founder Eddie Van Halen was joined on stage with his drummer brother Alex. The new bassist is none other then Eddie's 16 year old son Wolfgang, who was looking a lot like his mom, Valerie Bertinelli. (He replaces original bassist Michael Anthony).
They played all of their classics and rocked the house! One downside was the sometimes poor sound quality on vocals. Also, the highly anticipated "Jump" finale wasn't as fire charged as it could have been. But the rest of the show was great. Highlighted songs that I enjoyed tremendiously were "Jamie's Crying" ,"Running with the Devil" and "Panama".
The best part was watching (thanks to the huge TV screen behind the stage because our seats were waaaay far from the stage) and listening to Eddie Van Halen play the guitar. He is a legend and I am so glad I finally got to see him play. The sounds he made were fantastic, and his extended solo was one that I'll never forget. He said he wrote it for his son before he was even born, and told how amazed he is that his son was in the band, and how he felt "blessed".
Oh sure, they're getting older like the the rest of us. Diamond Dave's kicks aren't as high as they used to be and he no longer has his long blond hair, the band has been through a lot of ups and down, and Eddie is out of rehab for hopefully the last time. But a new generation of fans were certainly present at the concert, more youngsters than I expected with their parents, sharing together the enjoyment of classic rock that will live on through the ages.
1 comment:
I bet they were great to see!
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