| "All
I can say is FUCK the attendance number. Yes there were some
empty seats at the HSBC Arena tonight but the people that were
there were on fire and the place was jumping.
Heading out to the show I took everyone's reviews from Greensboro
and Hershey into consideration and I brought along some ear
plugs. You know...those foam thingys. After Van Halen took
the stage the sound was so loud it was hard to decipher some
of the bottom end sound. So I tried popping the earplugs in
and whammo!!!! Perfect sound! These arenas were never built
for concerts of this volume and the earplugs really calmed
the sound down a lot! Even with the plugs it was FUCKING LOUD!!!!!
Overall the sound was good where I was sitting. (don't ask
where....can't remember... ) I was fine until Duke10 decided
a shot of Southern Comfort would be a good idea at the Pearl
St. Grill before we left for the show.....
Set list was the same as the previous nights. You know...before
the Buffalo show I was looking at the set list along with
everyone else and I was wondering why they had chosen certain
songs and why they excluded others. Let me tell you....when
they played them live and back to back they flowed amazingly
and the vibe kept growing. I have to back up everyone else
at Hershey and Greensboro when they said things really picked
up at Best of Both Worlds. When Eddie hit the first notes
of that tune the roof blew off the joint. It felt absolutely
amazing to hear that song. It felt good to be a Van Halen
fan!!!
I am not going to rehash the whole night.....(getting tired...
) but my 2 favorite moments were moments that made the band
feel normal. I don't know about you guys but many of these
shows feel like they are rehearsed to death and every error
is criticized and analyzed. There were a few mistakes and
the band embraced them as if they were truly human. Moment
#1. During Somebody Get Me A Doctor Ed's guitar came unplugged
and the song went on for about 15 or 20 seconds without a
guitar. A guitar tech ran out and plugged Ed back in and he
played on with that grin on his face. People in the pit can
probably add more to that since it happened right in front
of them.
#2 During You Really Got Me Mikey was horsing around with
the crowd and when the back up vocals in the chorus came around
he was no where near a mike stand. He looked left and he looked
right and realized there was no short way back to his post
so he just ran around the ring and joined in when he got there.
Sammy laughed pretty hard at him.
All I can say is.....it felt good. Real good! This is what
we live for. Van Halen on stage in any form is better than
any other live act out there. What impressed me the most is
that the arena was half empty and they played to the people
that were there. They could care less that there was empty
seats in the 300 level. They took care of the people that
were there. A class act all the way.
To the people that previously reviewed Hershey and Greensboro
that stated the band was having fun....bang on the nose. I
have never seen them have this much fun on stage. It was infectious!!!
I cannot wait for July 3rd in Toronto.
Before I left for the show my wife gave me a bit of a hard
time. She was smirking at me and I asked her what was up.
All she said was "I didn't know I was marrried to an
18 year old!" Her reference was to me being as excited
as I was back in the mid to late 80's whenever Van Halen was
within drivining distance. I took it as a complement. She
also made fun of the Mickey Mouse shirt I was wearing but
I fixed her by buying an expensive tour shirt!
Thanks to Tora Tora, 1979 and Duke10 for a great time at
the Pearl St. Grill before the show. The bar was giving away
Cabo Wabo beach balls, wrist bands and tatoos to anyone who
bought a drink with Cabo Wabo Tequila. As well, cheers to
NoAverageJoe who stopped by to say hi. We must have smelled
pretty bad because he never came back! See you in Toronto!
A great night! Don't let anyone tell you any different. Van
Halen is back and they are absolutely kicking ass...(and yes...they
did get the video to Right Now correct...It did say Van Halen
is kicking ass in Buffalo..)
Cheers everyone!!!"
And....
"Alright, guys! tburgsinner, a new member and hopefully
poster sold me the best ticket of my life and I thank him
a lot! 8th row, direct center!!! Amazing!!!! Anyway, I'll
start off with the Pearl Street Grill. Me and Eric, tburgsinner,
ate there with a fanatic who is planning on going to like
all the east coast shows. I told him to stop by here. And
I did see JetGuy and others, but dinner took a long time to
be served and I didn't want to ditch the guys I was sitting
with. Don't worry, everyone, I'll see most of you at Hard
Rock in Toronto!!!! On to the show!!!! MY FIRST VAN HALEN
SHOW!!!!! Let me just say I do not remember smiling that much
EVER. From the sound of Eddie's guitar at the beginning until...well,
even now...I SMILE(D)!!!! But so did Eddie!!!! All night!!!!
I've never seen the guy so happy and I've watched a lot of
perfromances. "Live Without a Net"...nope...WAY
HAPPIER!!!! The guy looked great too...as did the rest of
the band. On to the show: Almost everything seemed right all
night. The band is getting tighter and Sammy is still singing
amazingly. The thing is, I've never gotten the welcome feeling
I got from Van Halen at this show. It was like they were my
best friends up there. A funny incident occurred when I was
singing word-for-word "Up For Breakfast" and Sammy
was looking at me the whole time and actually looking pissed
off!!! ...Don't worry, guys, he laughed as he walked away...I
think he just wanted to prove to me that he can sing it better...lol.
The best songs of the show had to be "Up For Breakfast,"
"Top of the World," "Ain't Talkin' Bout Love"
and "Panama," but all sounded great. Speaking of
sound, I found no problem area from where I was. It seemed
to be mixed perfectly. I never heard a show that close so
clearly. Sammy put a House of Guitars shirt on his head and
that place is from my area, so I got a kick out of it. Also,
Eddie made it a point to shout-out to former Buffalo Bills
quarterback Jim Kelly quite a few times. I think he is real
good friends with him, right? Eddie lit up a little, but not
too much. Again, I have NEVER seen him jump around and act
as goofy and happy as he did tonight. The only downside of
the show was that Eddie was still pretty sloppy, unfortunately.
Certain songs he has to the T like "Somebody Get Me A
Doctor," but he needs to work on his picking and fingerwork
for solos. Also, he hit a few wrong chords here and there,
but that's cool. His guitar solo was also a real disappointment.
The first part of it was just a bunch of noise and he attempted
the "Little Guitars" intro but screwed it up...giving
a funny face when he did. He can still tap super fast, though,
and the end was a treat...even "Cathedral" was good.
I'm just hoping he gets everything together playing-wise for
the Toronto show. He also is not using his equipment wisely.
He left reverb and all sorts of effects on during some parts
were they definitely weren't needed. He didn't even play the
"Panama" solo because he was trying to fix the sound.
He also likes to insert random squeals to cover up mess-ups.
Oh well. He only had a few weeks to prepare for this tour,
so I totally forgive him, and like I said last night, at least
he is out there and giving us the best show he can!!! And
it was the best show I've been to!!!! They all seemed so close,
Eddie slapped hands with nearly everyone in the rings, as
did the rest of the guys, and Alex is still the man. Anyway,
I'll be glad to answer any questions about the show. I highly
recommend it!!!!!"
And, the setlist:
Jump
Runaround
Up For Breakfast
Bass Solo
Somebody Get Me A Doctor
Poundcake
Its About Time
Drum Solo
Top Of The World
Unchained
Why Can't This Be Love
Where Eagles Fly
Deeper Kind Of Love
Learning To See
Best Of Both Worlds
Eddie Solo
Dreams
Ain't Talkin' Bout' Love
Right Now
Encore:
You Really Got Me
Panama
When It's Love
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