 jroundy | |
 ks34vh | |
 Mink | |
 mrmojohalen | |
 ron | http://seattlemusicinsider.com/2015/07/07/van-halen-launch-summer-tour-at-white-river-amphitheater/ Van Halen Launch Summer Tour at White River Amphitheater http://seattlemusicinsider.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Van-Halen-150705-219-21.jpg Place your bets. . . .that was what many in the crowd were saying in the moments leading up to VAN HALEN’s performance at White River Amphitheater on July 5. With a disastrous performance on Jimmy Kimmel earlier this year, and a statement recently by Eddie Van Halen that he and vocalist David Lee Roth will never be friends, many wondered if the kick-off concert of the tour would be a one and done train-wreck of a show or if the band would get along and perform a true Van Halen concert. Opening for Van Halen on this tour, the band looked to someone they had on their tour over 17 years ago, blues guitarist, Kenny Wayne Shepherd. Shepherd and his band opened the tour during Van Halen’s 1997/98 tour and was just as impressive this go around as he was back then. For guitar enthusiasts, it was a real treat to get both the rock icon Eddie Van Halen and the blues stylings of Shepherd on the same night. Shepherd and his band of seasoned musicians performed many of the guitarist’s hits as well as several covers, including the Jimi Hendrix classic “Voodoo Child” with the flair of Stevie Ray Vaughan. As Van Halen took the stage, many wondered if they would dig deep in their catalog for some un-performed material or focus on the hits. Thankfully, Eddie’s son and current bassist, Wolfgang Van Halen was responsible for scripting the show and pulled out some rarely played deep cuts from the band’s catalog. The band started the show with “Light Up The Sky,” a track that hasn’t been played live in 35 years, from their 1979 sophomore album. During the evening several deep cuts were played live for the first time, including “Drop Dead Legs” from 1984, and “Dirty Movies” from Fair Warning. Also included in the setlist was the rarely performed “In A Simple Rhyme” from their 1980 album, Women And Children First. The most glaring difference between Sunday’s gig and Van Halen’s 2007 reunion tour was the return of Roth as the showman centerpiece. Almost a decade ago, he was hesitant about deploying the old shtick, opting to focus on his vocals rather than his stage persona and ceding the spotlight to reinvigorated guitar legend Eddie Van Halen. Of course that was then, this is now and vintage concert Roth is back. No, there wasn’t any Jack Daniel’s swilling, midair leg splits or (sadly) those trademark wailing vocal frills. Roth’s onstage gymnastics mostly have been replaced by soft shoe dancing, twirling scarves and swinging his mic stand like a bat. What the crowd got instead was good ol’ Chatty Dave. He told stories, made jokes, tossed in comments mid-song and generally seemed to enjoy himself. Roth’s old antics turned off plenty of people back in the day, but that was part of the classic act. Sunday night’s most throwback moment was the resurrection of “Randy Dave,” making sexual innuendos during “Dirty Movies” and referring to himself as “50 Shades of Dave.” Call it compensation: All the showmanship helped turn the focus away from Roth’s obvious vocal limitations, which was by far the roughest aspect of this show. He basically talked his way through the songs — for those who’d counter with, “Well, that’s what he always did,” there’s no comparison — though he occasionally reached back for a little extra. An example of that came during “Everybody Wants Some” and “In a Simple Rhyme,” which featured probably Roth’s best singing of the night. Whether any in the crowd were truly bothered or surprised by Roth’s lack of range is debatable. They lapped up his ad-libs, well rehearsed or not. It wasn’t just the singer who leapt into the wayback machine. Brothers Eddie and Alex Van Halen don’t seem to have lost a step: the guitarist as the epitome of sheer effortless virtuosity and the drummer a study in steadiness. Thankfully Eddie looks healthy and sober and has allowed his gray hair to take over giving him a more elderly statesman appearance that suits him surprisingly well. The only replaced link in the chain is Wolfgang, Eddie’s 24-year-old son, who took over for Michael Anthony on bass in 2006. As on the previous two tours, he mostly kept to himself, adding thick licks and impressively strong backing vocals. Nearing the end of the main set was Eddie’s knob-twistin’, whammy-barrin’, jaw-dropping nine-minute guitar solo. It was bookended by elements of “Eruption.” Cell phones illuminated the amphitheater as fans taped a live rendering of perhaps the most famous studio-recorded guitar solo in rock history. “I’m still not used to this,” Roth said midway through the show. But Van Halen’s fans are, which begs a question: Where does the band go from here? Do they attempt another record? Just keep touring? Call it quits? Hold their breath for the predictable meltdown? Maybe a hint came as they played “You Really Got Me,” the Kinks classic that became Van Halen’s first single. Roth and Eddie stood for quite a while absolutely nose to nose, separated only by their smiles. Perhaps it was just acting, or maybe these two have finally figured out that the sum of their parts is more important than their individual contributions. Setlist “Light Up the Sky”
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 Chris UK | |
| ron |
Interesting to note now that I’ve sifted through the shots… About 1 in every 6 shots wasn’t blurry. Dave was the hardest to shoot, as he just doesn’t stop moving. He’s like a greased up snake up there. Anyway, even though it’s blurry, I thought this was an important moment during the show. |
 mjk2112 | |
| ron | http://www.northwestmusicscene.com/2015/07/van-halen-kicks-off-2015-tour-with-a-monster-25-song-set/ Van Halen Kicks Off 2015 Tour With a Monster 2-Hour, 25-Song Set The first album I ever bought with my own money was Van Halen’s self-titled debut at Cellophane Square in Bellingham; we’ll just say in the late 70′s. I’d heard parts of the album in a friend’s car and was blown away by the noises the band was making. These noises were somewhat new to me though as I’d been raised on a steady diet of Elvis Presley, traditional country and a little bit of blues. At that point in my life, if a hard rock band like Van Halen wasn’t being played on AM radio and didn’t have top 40 hits, I likely didn’t know about them. Sure, I lived a few doors down from Randy Bachman at the time and everyone loved BTO, but even then, all I’d really heard from them was what was on the radio. But when I discovered Van Halen, I instantly fell in love with the electric guitar and literally could not get enough of it; still can’t. That’s not to say I don’t like or love other music (even some with no guitar at all… gasp) but my first love will always be the electric guitar and I have Edward Van Halen to thank for that. Much has been said about Van Halen recently as the hype was building in preparation for the now current tour. Sam and Dave took pot shots at each other in the national media, Eddie and Sam blasted each other with well-crafted PR articles in Loudwire….etc. I tried to ignore that stuff, because it was taking away some of the fun for me, although I understand the media game and, well, the show and tour was pretty well-hyped, right? So it worked. Sunday night, out in the middle of a bunch of cow pastures, nestled on a plateau above Auburn, Washington, Van Halen took the stage at White River Amphitheater for the first show of the North American leg of the 2015 tour. The energy inside the venue was at a crazy level as the show-goers were anticipating a monster show, and that’s what they got. Kenny Wayne Shephard blew the roof off and some minds in the process with a blistering set, but we’ll be talking about him in a different review. I was fortunate enough to be standing in the photo pit when the house lights went down, signifying that it was show time. Alex Van Halen waltzed out on stage first, followed by the rest of the band, Alex’s brother Eddie Van Halen, David Lee Roth and Eddie’s son Wolfgang Van Halen, who replaces Michael Anthony on the bass and backing vocals. I’ve read many things on the internet that said Wolfie could never replace Michael Anthony, but I’d greatly beg to differ about that. Now, I love Michael and his contributions to Van Halen — I’ve even interviewed him and he’s a really great guy to talk to — but people have to remember that Wolfie has been listening to and jamming with his dad and uncle for a long, long time. He likely knows these songs as well as anyone on the planet (including Mike), and he totally proved that in Auburn on July 5, 2015. I can’t think of one time when he missed a note on the bass and the harmonies with his pops were spot on. In fact, if someone didn’t see who was on the bass and backing vocals I’d bet they couldn’t even tell the difference. In my opinion, the only people that “think” they can tell the difference are Van Halen purists. And let’s be clear: Wolfie is not coming to Van Halen from the “rent-a-bassist” program. His uncle and dad are in the band and as far as I’m concerned he is the guy and should be from now on. The beginning of the set let the sun-drenched crowd know what to expect as they flew into “Light Up the Sky”, which they haven’t played live for over 35 years, and the tone was set. Now, I know a lot of people were expecting this to be an absolute trainwreck after some of the recent TV appearances, but you have to understand that Dave is Dave, he always has been and always will be like this. Van Halen is not the kind of band that you go to see to hear every song exactly as it is appears on the album, at least from Dave’s angle. That said, he did a great job on the vocals proving that, and I’ve been saying this for a long, long time, he can sing when he wants to. During that first number, Eddie was sharp and immediately on his game; with him and his son and brother all on the same page, they killed that song and the crowd was in a frenzy just minutes into the gig. Then came the sirens and “Running With the Devil” and Dave once again delivered the goods and, haters be damned, sang that as good as he ever has live. I don’t think any of us have the time to run through a play-by-play of each and every song (they played 25 songs in a two hour set) and this review would be several thousand words long, but the highlights of the night certainly were the first two, but then add songs like “Drop Dead Legs” and “Dirty Movies” that they’ve never performed live and you get the sense that this was a special night. After a spirited version of “I’ll Wait” from the band’s ’1984′ album, Ed’s brother Alex got the stage all to himself and once a gain proved that he is a force to be reckoned with on the kit. He tortured the skins as he sat back with his trademark mirrored shades on and double-bass drum set up with the prominent VH logo to either side and when he was done, stood up as the raucous crowd screamed, clapped and threw up their arms in loving approval of his mad skills. It’s hard to find the right amount of the right superlatives that describe Eddie Van Halen on the guitar live. He’s one of those rare guitarists that is so in tune with his instrument that it almost plays him instead of vice versa. His playing was incredibly tight and, of course, his unmistakable monster tone was top-notch. Eddie also looked very, very healthy and, with a smile on his face all night long, he was having a blast. During his trademark guitar solo that gives the rest of the band a break, he proved he is a guitar god, unlike anyone else on the planet. These seven-plus minutes of absolute guitar nirvana had the audience in an awestruck trance that everybody there would’ve been fine with being stuck in for the rest of their lives. About four or five songs in, Ed and Dave fist bumped and that feel-good moment made the crowd happy. We all know about their history, so to see them once again connect like this on stage was special. Later on in the night after a “heavily improvised” version of “You Really Got Me”, the two shook hands, which was another awesome sight. Photo Gallery: |
 VOODOO | I don’t recall seeing it posted anywhere, but they played “On Fire” along with all of the other newly added tunes (as well as RWTD, Chinatown and I’ll Wait) at sound check on opening night. We may see that one pop up along the way as well. |
 PT5150 | |
| jroundy |
On Fire???? How could Dave possibly pull that off? |
| mrmojohalen |
Who initiated the handshake ? |
| PT5150 | Is there a DVD in the works of this great opening night gig? |
 animal |
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