VAN HALEN 2015 TOUR DATES

S.D. wrote:

In his prime Roth was the ultimate US hard rock frontman.  He was never the most gifted singer, but he had the personality and attitude to spare.  I don't think any of the 80s Sunset Strip bands ever got within 5000 miles of being as badass as Van Halen was in their late 70s/early 80s glory.  

Maybe not a popular opinion...but I don't really give a shit so it doesn't matter.  

P.S. - Roth on his own...never did much for me however.  Neither did Van Hagar.  To me, they only really functioned together.

I agree with this opinion all the way around.

And I'll add this:

I have a lot of Sammy Hagar solo albums and enjoy them.  You know how many Van Hagar albums I own?  Zero.

The only album I still have with Hagar is the debut Montrose album. Haven't owned any Hagar solo records since the 1980s and I've never missed them for a second.

They are pretty generic hard rock but I still enjoy them now and then.  

But I still think Hagar solo is a lot more interesting than anything he did with Van Hagar.   I think the songs from the Van Hagar albums are just about interchangeable.   They all have that same Van Halen "percussion" behind them.  Sammy's solo albums are also pretty interchangeable but at least they don't sound like Van Hagar IMO.

Anyway, back on topic...

The only reason I even chimed in on this thread was because of how horrible I thought those VH performances on Kimmel were and to warn anyone thinking about shelling out hundreds to see this tour just what they'd be seeing.

Honestly, if I had the money to blow I'd still go just to see Eddie play. Same thing with going to see Sabbath now, don't really care about Ozzy, but any chance to see Tony & Geezer play together would be worth it (to me).

Yeah, Eddie still sounds great in those clips.

TWIST!

It looks like Dave is out for the Ellen performance thanks to that busted nose and they'll be using a stand in. I'd post a picture but I'm on mobile. He's about Wolfie's size.

For the record I too hate Sammie. His voice is poison to my ears.

Suddenly wondering if my news bite there was sourced from an April Fools Day joke. I really hate this day.

Okay I am an idiot. It was an April Fools joke. No more social media on April 1 for me...

Yeah, Dave was pretty damn pathetic on that Jimmy Kimmel live stuff. I checked out two tracks and decided that was sufficient. At this point Dave just seems like he really doesn't give a shit, beyond phoning-it-in, hell, he isn't even dialing. It's sad to see. With Roth putting in the absolute minimum effort the loss of Michael Anthony on backing vocals becomes even more apparent. On the plus side Eddie still sounds damn good and looks healthy.

I saw the Jimmy Kimmel performance also, while not his best performance it was not that bad. I have rarely heard him not sound pitchy live, even in his heyday He has always been a showman, and Roth is a vocalist who is either miss in the live setting.

When I saw them, two years it was a blast, he sounded great, if a bit pitchy. He did not attempt to do splits but he was a lot of fun, and the audience made up of teens, twenties, up to 60 years old had a great time

Any chance DLR is phoning it in because dealing with Eddie is getting insufferable?

I have no real attachment to the band one way or the other, but there was that article Hagar wrote for Rolling Stone a few years back about what a trainwreck his last album and tour with the band had been due to EVH's drinking among other things.

If Eddie's drinking again, it's because Dave is getting insufferable.

I was surprised how the band looked like it was their first time up on a stage. Wow, sh!t happens live, yet the whole band was lost. Why didn't they just roll with it and break into some jam and entertain the crowd. Dave has clearly "off", I guess getting wacked in the face messed him up. Why didn't the rest of the guys jump in and save the day.

journeyman wrote:

I was surprised how the band looked like it was their first time up on a stage. Wow, sh!t happens live, yet the whole band was lost. Why didn't they just roll with it and break into some jam and entertain the crowd. Dave has clearly "off", I guess getting wacked in the face messed him up. Why didn't the rest of the guys jump in and save the day.

I dunno. They seemed to handle it ok to me. Eddie just rolled with it and jammed a little till Dave came back out. It's not like he just threw down his guitar and walked off stage. It certainly could have gone much worse.

Here's their Ellen Show appearance...


Dave hamming it up for an audience of bored housewives and soccer moms. Oh how the mighty have fallen. And whats with that goofy-ass smile of his?

I know 'Jump' was a big hit, but it seems like an odd choice to perform such a keyboard-prominent song when noone onstage is playing keyboards.

Quote :

I know 'Jump' was a big hit, but it seems like an odd choice to perform such a keyboard-prominent song when noone onstage is playing keyboards.

"Jump" is probably the only VH song those "bored houswives and soccer moms" that make up the "Ellen" audience know.

Fat Freddy wrote:

Quote :

I know 'Jump' was a big hit, but it seems like an odd choice to perform such a keyboard-prominent song when noone onstage is playing keyboards.

"Jump" is probably the only VH song those "bored houswives and soccer moms" that make up the "Ellen" audience know.

C'mon. You know that some of them got down in the backseat of a Camaro to 'Dirty Movies' or 'Unchained' back in the day!

Dave didn't sound any worse on Kimmel or Ellen than he did at US Fest 1983.

Dave got away with that shit back then because he was young and reckless. He made it all look and sound cool. Now he's old and stiff. It looks and sounds absurd and unnatural. It's like the dad trying to be cool for his teenage daughter's friends.

MetalGuy71 wrote:

Here's their Ellen Show appearance...


Dave hamming it up for an audience of bored housewives and soccer moms. Oh how the mighty have fallen. And whats with that goofy-ass smile of his?

I know 'Jump' was a big hit, but it seems like an odd choice to perform such a keyboard-prominent song when noone onstage is playing keyboards.

  I honestly thought that he was going to start tap dancing at one point!  It was like a Jim Carey performance 

When they did the 5150 tour Eddie played keyboards on several songs, but on Jump they used a background tape so he could play the guitar parts. So they've been doing this song the same way for decades.

I think if I just *heard* the performance it wouldn't be that bad, but that friggin' smile on Roth's face is just insane. NO drugs in existence can cause a smile like that...only being a complete idiot.

The smile is uncannily similar to Nicholson's as Joker. I can vividly imagine Dave going up to Ed, squeezing his shoulder, saying "and Ed...yooooou...are my number onnnne...ah-guuuuuuuuy."

Shawn Of Fire wrote:

Dave didn't sound any worse on Kimmel or Ellen than he did at US Fest 1983.

100%, the only difference is he is older and bald. If you wanted to hear spot on vocals live from Van Halen then you would have to stick to the Hagar era.

Roth always had a big goofy grin on his face, because the guy loves what he does, even in the early days, he would sound flat, off key forget lyrics, but who cares? People act like he has not been doing this his entire career.

At 60 years old David Lee Roth is not suddenly going to morph into Cali-metal's answer to Freddie Mercury

manny wrote:

Roth always had a big goofy grin on his face, because the guy loves what he does, even in the early days, he would sound flat, off key forget lyrics, but who cares?  People act like he has not been doing this his entire career.

At 60 years old David Lee Roth is not suddenly going to morph into Cali-metal's answer to Freddie Mercury

THIS.