By: jhs5150
“In Sickness…and In Health…” and “for better and for worse” – two phrases most of us are familiar with when we think of two parties from different families becoming one big family. Personally, my 35-plus year love affair with this band has been a roller coaster ride for sure and no one is more surprised than I am that this band has continued on for so long when it seemed they had disappeared for years at a time. I never thought that seeing them first at age 20 I would still be going to see them 30-plus years later, or that they would even be around that long. Heck, my marriage didn’t last that long. Through breakups, separations, fights and eventual reunions this band has mirrored a marriage in more ways than one, yet despite this and contrary to what people think, these rock and roll stalwarts, in their own dysfunctional way, love and respect each other. They may not always see eye-to-eye but when it comes right down to it, these guys will be a part of each other’s lives until they leave this earth. As I saw them this past Thursday at the Susquehanna Bank Center in Camden, NJ that feeling was reinforced and it seems the bands’ relationship between each other and their fans is as vital and alive as any other band out there, for better and for worse. A lot was made of Van Halen’s cancellation of their Hershey, PA show on August 23, 2015. Being that we, as Van Halen fans are part of a large family (sometimes as dysfunctional as the band themselves), we don’t always see eye to eye with decisions the band has made. The fact that Dave was sick didn’t exactly garner as much sympathy as perhaps it should have from fans that had paid for their tickets well in advance. But when one of your family members is down, you support them and that’s exactly what the band did and they did for Ed on the last tour (and the tour before that, lest we forget.) The band, sensing their fans frustration, offered free lawn seats to ticket holders of the Hershey show. So, would Dave’s battle with the flu result in a less than stellar performance when they resumed? I would soon find out.
It was a gorgeous day for a Van Halen show – sunny and in the 80s with none of the oppressive heat and humidity (not to mention rain) of my last venture there back in May. I got there early and managed to find my seat when there were few others in the arena. I waited with much anticipation as the warm up act – The Kenny Wayne Shepherd Band made their way through a seven song set of mostly blues tunes I was familiar with but wasn’t all that interested in. True to form, Van Halen chose an opening act that would build anticipation for their own appearance simply by not giving the people what they wanted and then delivering the goods themselves. From the opening notes of “Light up the Sky” the band was firing on all cylinders. This up-tempo rocker surprised everyone and got them going and set the tone for what was to come. Dave, showing little if any signs of the flu sounded good and hung right with Eddie’s wall of sound. All parts of the band were audible; the bass, drums, guitar and vocals all sounded great as they cruised into “Runnin’ With the Devil.” From there, they launched into “Romeo Delight” and then a funny thing happened. Roth, not wanting to give any inkling to the fans that there were problems with his voice, stopped the song and said to the audience “We’re going to give the fans what they deserve, we’re going to give them the best” and walked over to the right of the stage where the sound mixing console was and gave directions to the engineer to adjust the sound so that the vocals could be heard or at least he could hear himself. They started the song over from the beginning and played it completely through, winning points with the audience, I’m sure. Was it a little bit of showmanship or more of Dave’s schtick? Perhaps, perhaps not but the end result was he had the fans eating out of his hand from that point on.
Fan favorite “Everybody Wants Some” was next. Always a crowd pleaser, Roth did little of the banter with the audience he has done in the past prior his asking “Do you know what I like?” leading up to the “I like the way the lines run up the back of the stockings” line. I got the feeling between the short interactions with the audience, except when someone threw beer up on the stage and the lack of his dancing and doing jumps and kicks that he was trying to conserve energy and not overdo it so the flu didn’t take him down for the count again. The band then wielded some deep cuts – “Drop Dead Legs” followed by “Feel Your Love Tonight.” Judging from the fans reception it was good that the band (probably Wolfgang) had decided to resurrect these songs from the annals and play them again. I had never heard “DDL” live before so this was an added treat for me. Roth was right with the band, hitting the notes and using his baritone range, rather than singing in his upper register which never seems to come off the way it was intended. The harmonies were there, every bit as good as the pre-Wolfgang days. Family or not, Wolf has earned his place in this band and has worked hard on every aspect, and it shows. Following “Somebody Get Me a Doctor” the band launched into two newer songs from “A Different Kind of Truth” – “She’s the Woman” and “China Town.” Ed’s solo in “She’s the Woman” was great and showed his melodic side. “China Town” was just a rip-roaring kick in the pants! I loved hearing these two songs and it was great that the band didn’t rely on all classic cuts from the past. Leave the greatest hits show for The Who, I say. The band then followed with “I’ll Wait” which is a good song but I’m not sure how well it fits in a live situation. Ed did play his new “Star” guitar during it which sounded good and was a nice change-up curve to the fastball of his Wolfgang guitar.
Al’s drum solo was next. There’s something about playing to pre-recorded music that bugs me and I realize Neal Peart of Rush does the same thing but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a good thing. I would have preferred to hear him trade licks back and forth with Ed as they had done during the early 80s. I think the fans got a kick out of that back then too. Al was a monster as always and the new backdrop display did a nice job with pseudo flames appearing to come out of his large Oriental cymbal but why not use the real thing? After Al’s solo, “Little Guitars” was next and a nice treat. I probably haven’t heard that live since the “Diver Down” tour of ’82. Ed played the mini-Wolfgang made for him by Peavey back in the 90s. It sounded great and the band did a nice job with the song. Wolf did a good job mixing in songs that the band hadn’t played live in a long time. I’m still waiting for “Hang ‘Em High” and “House of Pain” but hopefully we’ll get them on the next tour, which I fully expect there to be. Three songs from “Van Halen II” were next – “Dance the Night Away”, “Beautiful Girls” and the surprise “Women in Love”. Hearing “Women in Love” live was a great throwback. I’m sure they hadn’t played that song live since at least the early 80s and it was great to hear. It proves Van Halen can do both; be melodic and in-your-face, sometimes in the same song. Fan favorite and NFL staple “Hot for Teacher” was next. I never get tired of hearing this song. It was an instant classic the minute it was recorded and from Al’s kick-ass drum beat through Edward’s Bach-inspired intro to the crunch of the opening chords, it just grabs you in the appropriate spot and doesn’t let you go until both you and the song are exhausted — live it’s even better. So how was Dave two-thirds of the way into the set? Hanging tough, better than I thought he might be for a sexagenarian battling the flu.
And then a funny thing happened on the way to watch “Dirty Movies.” After playing “In a Simple Rhyme” and “Growth” (you know, that crunchy little outro after the aforementioned song) they were about to launch into “Dirty Movies” when someone threw a beer on to the stage. Here’s what happened next – in a true Dave moment, proving he still knows how to take advantage of a situation:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVSGBhJdXfA
“Ice Cream Man” was next and in it Dave does his usual storytelling and usually throws in some local flair so the audience can relate to him and the band. The really telling thing for me that they are truly a family even though sometimes the dirty laundry gets put out on the line for all the neighbors (and fans) to see is how Roth interjects his monologue with thoughts regarding his relationship with the Van Halen brothers and the way he clowns with Ed during the solo. Listen at 2:20 where he talks about Al and Ed and at 10:10.
As much as there is tension between Roth and Ed at times, they still manage to have fun and I think deep-down, both of them know this; they are brothers under the skin and even brothers fight at times. “Unchained” followed and to me this song is on par with “Hot for Teacher”. It is a sing-along crunchy monster and they really have to include it on every tour along with “Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love” (which followed), “Runnin’ With The Devil” , and “Panama.”
OK, next it was time for Ed’s guitar solo and he has pretty much played the same solo for years; hints of “Mean Street”, “Cathedral”, “Eruption” and just about every meaningful solo lick he’s done to cement his status as the greatest innovator since Hendrix. The difference was his sound. In his solo and throughout the entire concert you heard his classic brown sound. Gone is the harsh, buzzy, compressed, unpleasant tone that fans had complained about since 2007/8. He has his classic fat, punchy tone perfected now, so much so that the amp modification that he had done to his amps was put into limited production in his off-the-shelf amp that you can buy today, if you can still find one. Even though he still plays his most famous licks in the solo, he has shortened parts of it so that the audience remains engaged and in awe, rather than thinking it might have gone on a little too long (sorry Ed, but sometimes that was true.) In any event, he did what he became famous for from the very first album; keeping solos short and leaving them wanting more, and it worked. The Lord of the Strings still has it, playing better now at 60 then he did just ten short years ago. Who knows? Perhaps they still can achieve that legacy of being America’s greatest rock and roll band. If making television appearances is any indication, (and they made three major ones this year — Jimmy Kimmel Live, The Grammys and The Ellen Show) they could well be on their way and I hope they do. America needs a rock and roll ambassador and they could certainly fit the bill. Fan favorites “You Really Got Me” and “Panama” followed before wrapping up with “Jump.” Both “YRGM” and “Panama” were great but I think “YRGM” should have been more towards the beginning of the show as it had been on the last tour. I don’t usually hang around for “Jump” and in this case I didn’t either. While a good song and by far their most well-known, I’ve heard and seen it live enough times where I treat it as if I were at a baseball game and my team is ahead going into the 9th inning; I head to the parking lot and listen to it on the way home.
A good time was had by all and it made me realize one thing; that even today, Van Halen has a HUGE fan base, far bigger and more forgiving than the few die-hards who frequent certain blog sites and prove to be as dysfunctional as the band at times. Every fan at the show had a good time and the majority seemed to have a GREAT time. The place was packed; I didn’t see an empty seat. All-in-all I would rate the show with four flying Eddie’s out of five. Roth was good and much improved but not spectacular and considering his bout with the flu, he gave it his all. Eddie sounded great, the best by far in years and Wolfgang and Al provided solid backing for The King and The Court Jester. People stood for most of the concert and there were people that were older than I and some much younger (kids too) who were jumping up and down, pumping their fists and enjoying every kick-ass tune. The VH clan has an extended family and we are all part of it, in sickness and in health, for better and for worse. This show proved that dramatically for me.
