Two words: "Fucking incredible". My wife and I had the time of my life last night. The 5-Star package was well worth the money. Soundcheck was a surreal experience with Mike and Ed about 8 feet in front of us, noodling on their guitars and talking to us fans. Wolfie was hanging out on stage too, sitting on a riser, kicking his feet and tapping his hands to the music. They played Jump, IAT, and another song (I can't remember). We went back to the banquet room after that to enjoy our buffet and free beer and wine. I had the pleasure of meeting Ron Higgins, Ron Pio, Rob Johnson, Scott Gilbert, and Scott's friend, sorry, I forgot your name bro. I also met some other Van Halen/Hagar fans, and everyone was awesome. We went on a backstage tour through the halls under the stands and heard Ed in his room practicing. Wolfie was in the hall, and darted down to Daddy's room when he saw us coming. Spoke to Kevin Dugan, and he showed us the Mad Anthony Café/Hagar Cantina under the stage which is a room created with black cloth walls, Christmas lights, bean bag chairs, booze, etc. Looks like a great party area. We then went back to the banquet room where we drank and ate more, and they raffled off a HUGE amount of VH merchandise, some stuff (jackets, drum head, and leather vest) were pretty expensive stuff. They handed out the concert tickets and Jaki and I got 2nd row in front of Mikey. All of us 5-star holders got the first 5 rows.

The show itself was amazing, and I won't post the set list because it was the same one as the other shows with the exception of Wolfie coming out and playing 316 with Ed. That in itself was the icing on the cake on what was already a concert experience that I will never, ever forget. Ed is so proud of his son, and you could see it in his eyes and his smile that he loves this kid to death. Wolfie got a thunderous applaud when he left the stage. Ed said something like "This is the future, right here" while he gave Wolfie a hug. The band tore through all of the songs, and I didn't detect any sloppiness at all. The sound quality was amazing except for the rhythm section, it was up just a little too high. Then again, I was right in front of Mike, so I probably got more bass than most fans.

Highlights:

- Meeting fellow VH fanatics like myself.
- 5-Star experience, getting treated like a VIP.
- Sammy putting on the Red Sox hat that I gave to him.
- Mikey giving me a guitar pick.
- Wolfie.
- Sam's energy and amazing vocals.
- Sam's introduction of Ed. "The man who changed the world with one guitar".
- Ed's solo. I can't even describe what that was like.
- Ed jumping off the drum riser into a "Flyin' Eddie". That new hip is working great!
- Mike wearing a Red Sox shirt, and Ed wearing a Bruins shirt.
- The whole band having a great time on stage, hugging laughing, etc.
- Sharing this whole experience with my lovely wife.

Lowlights:

- As much as I like these songs, having Eagles Fly, Deeper Kind of Love, and Learning to See all in a row brought the crowd energy down.
- When It's Love as a closer.
- Rhythm section too loud.
- Losing my voice. I can't talk today.

To anyone who is still thinking about going to see this show. Do it! You'll never forget it. Van Halen is definitely kicking ass in America
this summer.

~Ed~
Ed's Van Halen Domain
www.evh-domain.com

After a long anticipated wait, Van Halen rocked the Worcester Centrum in Worcester, MA last night in what I consider to be their best show ever! The band was full of smiles and really having a great time on stage. They played the same songs that everyone else has reported and the crowd got especially pumped up with the older Dave era songs. The band looks great AND they sound as though they were never apart. Eddie nailed his solo (as if he wouldn't) and the crowd was wild. But, I would have to say the highlight of the evening was during Eddie's solo when all of a sudden Wolfgang appeared on stage and got down next to his Dad on the red and white Wolfgang and played along side Eddie. You could tell it was one of Ed's proudest moments and when they were finished he told the crowd, "this is the future of Van Halen, right here!" The crowd went nuts! Wolfgang really showed us he can play with best (even if it is his dad)! The band played for 2 solid hours and the energy level never went down even a little bit! They came back out to do an encore and when they were finished Sammy took a moment, with the band (and Wolfgang) by his side to thank the fans for sticking through there break up and assured us that this is the real thing. He said the fact that they could be apart for so many years and come out on stage to this amount of support and enthusiasm made it all worth the wait. In all, Van Halen is STILL and will always be the greatest rock and roll band of all time!!

other notes - ed' hair was up until the second encore; sammy joked with him about it a couple times, so when he took it down at the end, and showed sammy, sammy laughed and put his hair up. Also, ed had no shirt until the second encore, when he came out in a joe thornton bruins shirt. Also, he came out smoking a butt at the beginning and for the encore (that was the only disappointment; hope he wouldn't do that after all the cancer. I'm just hoing it was only a prop because he took one puff and gave it to a person in the audience both times.

The band looked like they were having a blast. Even more than in Philly and the sound showed it.

I want the BO -- but can't wait for another full album !

Curt