Just a short sweet review
Flew from florida to philadelphia to see wednesday nights show--that makes show number 19 for me.

T ook a couple buddys from here--and a couple from up there- none of them were disappointed at all--the mighty van halen still rule!

The most energenic event you can witness--always has been--and always will be.

So go see it and enjoy the best of both worlds--for a little while
Russ W- Florida

Hello everybody!

Oh MAN! What a great freakin' show! I'll tell you all, this was one of the best shows I've ever seen Van Halen do - probably the best since 1984 when they filmed the PANAMA video here.

The set list is the same as previous malings. Great mix of old and new.

The solos (other than Eddie's) were O.K. at best. In fact, during Sammy's solo (Eagles Fly and the other one) the line for the bathrooms was huge. On the other hand, Eddie's solo obviously was unreal.

The stage set up is great. They have the Van Halen logo making up the body of the stage. The pits only had about a few dozen in them (I think). No pyro (I thought that was a little strange until I realized that they'd probably fry whoever was in the pits - DUH). Sammy went up on the rigging during one of the songs. That was really cool.

The sound was UNREAL. Very clear and as LOUD as I've heard in a while.

The age range was very cool. One of the local DJs (Pierre Robert)was greeting people on the concourse and he told me that a woman of 86 years old was there tonight! One lady was even pregnant. I saw many younger people - there was one kid about 13 who had his body painted in red with the black and white stripes and an huge VH on his back. Very cool. He even looked a little hammered.

I saw a LOT of father/son pairs tonight too. That was VERY cool because then I didn't feel out of place bringing my kid brother. It was his first concert and he had a blast. He wants to go again tomorrow night. I said - Hey, What the hell!

Local Philly band SILVERTIDE opened up. They are heavily influenced by the BLack Crowes for sure. They looked like they were 15.

VH went on at 8:30 and ended at 10:35. I was hoping for a full 2 and a half hours, but oh well.

All in all, a WONDERFUL night. Can't wait to go tomorrow night!

TIM

Same highlights for myself-

- Before "Eagles" when Sammy was talking about doing all of Eddie's solo's, he snuck up behind him and ripped off the first 4 chords from Runnin' With the Devil (at least that's what it sounded like)

- Seeing Eddie dance around, jumping and just generally having a good time.

- Sammy appearing in the rafters to sing "Dreams"

- Eddie's "thank you" before his solo.

- MA just going nuts with the JD bass- it was tight and loud!!!

Can probably go on, but y'all probably already know. It was what I had waited 9 years for. . . totally worth every cent.

BTW- couple of other quickies:

Sammy's "thank you" and him talking about what a humbling experience it was to see the response they were getting was great.

The "Eddie" chants during the solo really got him going- and he seemed genuinely moved by the resonse he got.

Finally- did anyone else think we were getting more in the 5 seconds after the stage lights went off and the arena lights came on?

I was at the Philly show on Wednesday and thought it was fantastic - even better than the Hershey show. For any future concert-goers on the floor, bring stuff for Sammy to sign. They were throwing everything at him last night - pictures, signs, shirts, and he would autograph them. My favorite was the VH hockey jersey with "Red Rocker" on the back. Sammy wore that during one song. Also, it was very cool when Eddie wore a Flyers shirt with Robert Esche's number, and Mike with the Phillies/Jim Thome jersey.

New song in the mix at tonight's show according to the local radio station. After the bass solo, they go into "Running with the Devil" (Sammy & Mike trading vocals). Also, Eddie's hair is down tonight - no samurai do. I'm sad to have missed this :( Hopefully they'll be back around Philly in the fall. Take it easy!

I was sitting 2nd row, in section 105...across the far side from the stage, a little to Mikey's side.

Set List: Same as the past few night

Crowd: Looked packed to me. If it wasn't sold out, it was damn near close. I could only see a few empty seats here and there...and people were moving around, so it's hard to tell if they were empty, or temporarily abandonded.

Sound: On the money. The only times I had any trouble hearing Eddie was during the keyboard songs, where they had to balance out his guitar with the keys...but when the solo came along, never had a problem.

Eddie: Great tonight. I heard the recording of Greensboro, and if he played at 70% (for example) then, he was at like 99% tonight. I only remember hearing one mistake, and that was at the end of Top of the World's solo...and he made a face about it. His solo section was much more coherent than the one from Greensboro too...did some Little Guitars, Mean Street, Cathedral, Eruption, 316..the usuals...and a bunch of other cool jamming stuff.
I didn't feel he overused the sustainer either. But i guess with Eddie, he finds a new toy, finds every concievable way to use it, and pretty much moves on..
.like the Trans-Trem for example.

Sammy: was on fire tonight. I pray to God I have the energy he does when i'm almost 60!! And I think I feel bad for people seeing him at the end of the tour...cause i don't know how he can keep singing/screaming like this every night!! Amazing! Definelty high on the whole experinece tonight

Al: Same ol' Al. right on the money. My only complaint would be that maybe his solo could have been a little more interesting. I kinda liked what he did during the 3 tour.

Mikey: as usual, what's understood doesn't need to be discussed. He's the man. I love how much he's singing this tour!

The Band as a Whole: I would say they sounded 10x better at least then when I heard them on the 3 tour. The energy was just electric in the place...you could feel the love on stage.

Highlights: The rumblings before Jump begins, the whole stadium singing "Shine On" in Humans Being, Right Now (am I the only one who got misty eyed during this one...especially when the sceens said "Right Now...Eddie is feeling Great"??)

Other funny bits:

-Someone threw Sammy a Yankees jersey that he put on...and got booed for it...so he fell to his knees and hung his head in shame before throwing it back to the person.
-"SPONGE BOB IS IN THE HOUSE!!"

Overall, I'd say that the things people were most concerned with seem to be ironing themselves out as the nights go by. I would like to see the set list vary up some as the tour progresses, but if every show is as amazing as tonights, i don't think any of us will have room to complain.

I heard opening night, and I was there tonight. Granted there's a bias for not having been at the openign show, but I think just on a musical level, this show was AMAZING.

VAN HALEN IS BACK BABY!!!!

And....

Ok here it goes! First just a quick correction for Chroma. Mike and Ed did in fact come out in Philly sports team apparel, but the Flyers shirt wasn't personalized. It was a #42 Robert Esche shirt. Small correction, but just wanted to get it out there.

First a quick shot out to all my Philly cats that I chilled with before the show. Bob5150, VanMan, Mark (you're cool as shit dude!) and Mike Kramer (thanks for the beer!) Also to my good friend Brian Elliot who traveled all the way from Ireland with his girlfriend to attend the Hersey, Philly and East Ruthersford show. I'm sure I'll be over this flu by next weekend so we'll have a pint then for sure! Oh, and I almost forgot Empyre44. Dude you fuckin rock! We gotta hang more often when you're in town

Now to the show! The sound was fucking EXCELLENT! The setlist was the same as the last three nights, but I was disappointed one fucking bit. Ed was fucking all over the place, and yea he did miss a few notes tonight. Nothing major though, and it was actually cool to see. The guy was just up and down the stage doing jumps, high fivin fans, signin shit, I mean just doing everything.

As far as gear goes, Ed played the Wolf that he's been seen with the last few shows. He whipped out the 5150 for Up For Breakfast, but I gotta admit it looks weird with that neck on there. I couldnt read it, but it sure as heck looked like a Fender neck to me. His amp heads were hidden back stage so I'll just say he played a 5150 II. Whatever it was it totally had the brown sound all over it.

Highlights: During Ed's solo he was doing the Mean Street intro and added a new part to it. It's hard to describe but both his hands were over the neck. Kinda like what Dave's guitarist does during his solo spot. Cept Ed was doing some weird percussive stuff with his tapping, and it sounded unreal!

Also during his solo he got a little emotional but he didnt cry. He did say this into the mic though, "Thank you for saving my life, you guys are the best!" That was a clear message to us his fans, and it really touched me. He was smoking though here and there, but it's his life so whatever.

Alex's solo was great as well. To me it sounded like he opened with the beginning of Hot For Teacher. I mentioned it to Brian after the show and he thought I might be on to something. It sure as heck sounded like it to me.

Mike's solo. One word: LOUD

Seeing Sammy up in the rafters for Dreams was pretty bad assed too, and the man's voice is unbelievable. I figure he's got atleast five or more tours left in him, maybe more!

Lowlights:

Eagles Fly/Deeper Kind Of Love. I happen to like both songs, but they just bored me tonight. I'd love to see something different here, no disrespect to Sam.

The lowest point of the night happened way before the concert started. It was POURING out there tonight. We did our best to hang in there and chill outside for a bit, but it was just to bad out there. I've been battling the flu for days now, and standing in the rain tonight isn't gonna help. We hung in there though and had a few adult beverages before the gig. Can't blame the guys for the weather.

One last thing. I gotta give props to ILAA. I scored row 9 Eddie's side! I was just in awe all fucking not. ILAA really came thru for me, and I had the best time. The laminates suck however, but I'll still keep it for the memories. I also didn't get a free shirt or anything, but it was never promised anyways. I ordered thinking I'd get anywhere between rows 10-20, and I got row 9! Thank you ILAA!!