Friday we saw Van Halen at Madison Square Garden. The band was great and we had the worst seats in the house. We were all the way up and behind the stage so we saw the backs of the band. The slapback echo of the room swallowed most of David Lee Roth's words and half of Eddie's notes. And the screen, crucial to modern concerts, was completely hidden to us.
Still a great show. Maddog was in a different section and had a superior experience. They were tight and enthusiastic even with Eddie's son Wolfgang on bass (where was Michael Anthony? How do you make up with David Lee Roth then get pissed at Michael Anthony? You don't like the way he plays his whiskey bass?).
Eddie plays the solos from the albums note for note, even the ones that sound crazy and undisciplined. They even did a cover of "Crossroads" and Eddie played Clapton's solo note for note.
When you see Van Halen with Dave, it truly is a different band. Sammy may have sung Dave's songs on the road but Dave don't sing Sammy's. You're watching a band that broke up in 1985 and they don't mind that you know it.
So what's it like? Kind of like this:
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Where Jon Clarke, writer, comedian, guitarist and malcontent, rails against things you barely care about.
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4 comments:
Thats awesome. I'm going to see them tomorrow night in Manchester, NH. I'm psyched that they do a cover of crossroads, thats like one of my favorite songs by another cool band - Cream!
Sorry the seats sucked, but if you still liked the show, they must be doing something right.
Bongo Guy!
The memory on you Cromley! We were trying to remember bands that opened for acts we went to see and clearly, ChiliPeppers was rough...the 3rd bongo solo was just too much....not even our $9 beers could get us through that.
I must say that Mr. Lee Roth is quite a show-man. He is still getting his kicks out and jumping and trying to keep the crowd jumpin!
I was disappointed the drummer did not use the [required of all 80's bands] gong which was displayed behind him the whole concert...I thought he would hit and phyro-technics would make me think it was 1986...but it was a good time without it! :)
Actually, Bill is referring to the bongo guy who played with Paul Simon in Central Park. They put the big screen in the middle of the park (since there were 750,000 people) which blocked the entire stage from our view. All except one guy playing bongos. Every time he appeared on screen, our whole section cheered.
Here's to you, bongo guy.
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