daddyelmis Posted June 12, 2004 Share Posted June 12, 2004 Saw the opener last night in Greensboro, NC. Band was obviously thrilled to be back on stage. Crowd was juiced. Sound was terrible, as is always the case in this venue. Ed played, well, great as Ed always does. He seemed very comfortable in his "zone" without overdoing the flamboyance. He got his extended solo and sounded great, with just enough of the Eruption licks to satisfy the crowd. Set list (which I can't recall blow by blow) was a good mix of old and new. Started with "Jump," which I thought was a bit unusual since Sammy had to begin the tour with a Diamond Dave song (I would have preferred "Black and Blue"). Covered all the goodies, including Right Now, Dreams, You really Got Me, Aint Talkin' 'Bout Love . . . Ed has 12 4x12 cabs on stage with "eVh" logos where the "marshall" would have been. Saw none of the amps, and saw no mic on any of the cab's, so I assume they were all show. Michael Anthony has a similar wall of what looked like Sunn cabs. Alex had a triple kick rig, with the de rigeur gong. Sammy was having a ball -- sharing beers with the crowd, singing from every spot in the joint, including the catwalk above the crowd where the lighting crew was (this during Dreams). Total time of VH, about 1.5 to 1.75 hours. It was, overall, a really good rock show by a band that knows how to rock. BTW, all the keyboard stuff was either sequenced or being played by someone offstage. www.ruleradio.com "Fame is like death: We will never know what it looks like until we've reached the other side. Then it will be impossible to describe and no one will believe you if you try." - Sloane Crosley, Village Voice Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BiC Posted June 12, 2004 Share Posted June 12, 2004 Thanx for the report! Sounds like it was a pretty good show. Being that Ed did not play the keyboard parts, maybe that tells us he no longer concentrates on the keys, but rather guitar- where it should be. Glad you had fun. "Treat your wife with honor, respect, and understanding as you live together so that you can pray effectively as husband and wife." 1 Peter 3:7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guitarzan Posted June 12, 2004 Share Posted June 12, 2004 you are lucky, i will never get to see 'em here in N.S. Sounds like the guys were happy. http://www.soundclick.com/bands/pagemusic.cfm?bandID=193274 rock it, i will Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daddyelmis Posted June 12, 2004 Author Share Posted June 12, 2004 Originally posted by BiC: Thanx for the report! Sounds like it was a pretty good show. Being that Ed did not play the keyboard parts, maybe that tells us he no longer concentrates on the keys, but rather guitar- where it should be. Glad you had fun. It's funny you mention that . . . just before the show I was telling my pals that I hoped Ed would not play keys and focus on guitar. I like that he expands his horizon's, but let's face it, those keyboard parts are hardly extraordinary, and it's a bit like going to see Hendrix and having him play trombone for several songs. The most memorable part of the show was seeing how much damn fun the boys were having. www.ruleradio.com "Fame is like death: We will never know what it looks like until we've reached the other side. Then it will be impossible to describe and no one will believe you if you try." - Sloane Crosley, Village Voice Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
antimatter Posted June 13, 2004 Share Posted June 13, 2004 I really want to see them, but the arena they're playing at around here I really can't stand. I've seen like 5 or 6 shows there, and each one was a disaster; for one reason or another. Glad to hear they are having fun. Thanks for sharing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fogman Posted June 13, 2004 Share Posted June 13, 2004 I am getting pumped! I hope to not be disappointed. I am seeing them in Detroit July 10. The new song "Learning to see" is awesome. It sounds like a left over from Balance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaygNY Posted June 13, 2004 Share Posted June 13, 2004 Hey - Im seeing them in NJ later this month .. Who is opening for them? cheap, fast, good. Choose 2. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gifthorse Posted June 13, 2004 Share Posted June 13, 2004 Van Halen ceased to exist when Dave left!!! Its cool u like them now. I just felt compelled to say that cuz 'dreams' is a far cry from the direction that made VH legends. http://flagshipmile.dmusic.com/ http://www.myspace.com/gifthorse Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daddyelmis Posted June 13, 2004 Author Share Posted June 13, 2004 opening act was, I think, a band called "Silver Tongue" out of Philly. There's been no mention of them online or at the gig. They were sort of Led Zep by way of Black Crowes. Good band, but toughest opening gig in the universe. Crowd was respectful, but fairly unenthusiastic. Their lead player kind of had the Angus Young head-bangin' thing with the required "long hair flop" going down. Lead singer reminded a lot of Chris Robinson (without Kate Hudson ) RE: Diamond Dave. I agree VH has never been better than when DLR was out front. But Hagar has been good as well, and who knows what direction VH would have gone ultimately with Dave -- the stuff Dave did solo was pretty "carnival" and would not have been a great thing for VH, IMHO. All in all, the boys ROCK and still have their energy. www.ruleradio.com "Fame is like death: We will never know what it looks like until we've reached the other side. Then it will be impossible to describe and no one will believe you if you try." - Sloane Crosley, Village Voice Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ice flower Posted June 13, 2004 Share Posted June 13, 2004 They are very good.It is wonderful to see their performence. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hound Dog Posted June 13, 2004 Share Posted June 13, 2004 I love VH. I've seen many good shows (the best being probably in '79 when they were young and really putting alot of energy into it). But every time I have seen them, no matter where, the sound has been not very good to bad. Yum, Yum! Eat em up! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jedro Posted June 13, 2004 Share Posted June 13, 2004 I was at the show, too. I enjoyed it quite a bit. I had fantastic seats & it was good to see Eddie playing again. One thing.. I would like to know what diet he's on. The guy is skinny! I thought the set list list was a bit predictable. I would have liked to hear some of the more obscure tunes as far as the DLR period goes. And don't finish with When It's Love. But, you've got to make the masses happy, and they did a good job. As far as Ed's playing goes, he played well, but I thought a lot of the solos were simplified a bit. Maybe he's not quite on his "A" game yet. Still, how good is EVH on an off day? Pretty good. The opening act was called Silvertide. Good band. Straight ahead rock 'n' roll with a groove. The lead player had a great sound. Looked like a Marshall plexi. Gibson Firebird for the most part. All in all a good show. Didn't really feel like a reunion-type concert, which was good. Everybody knows rock attained perfection in 1974. It's a scientific fact. - Homer Simpson Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daddyelmis Posted June 13, 2004 Author Share Posted June 13, 2004 I didn't want to bust on Ed, but he did look, um, interesting. Quite thin (could be the anti-cancer health regime), and the Kabuki/Gene Simmons top-knot hairdo was different. Still, the guy's almost 50 -- he looks better than I do! www.ruleradio.com "Fame is like death: We will never know what it looks like until we've reached the other side. Then it will be impossible to describe and no one will believe you if you try." - Sloane Crosley, Village Voice Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gifthorse Posted June 14, 2004 Share Posted June 14, 2004 I would go see them if Eddie would switch back to his red striped guitar from Diver Down tour and run straight into an old Marshall with his duct taped effects board. That would be kind of like when Rocky started training at the old gymn again! Now what does he run through? a Mac? http://flagshipmile.dmusic.com/ http://www.myspace.com/gifthorse Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daddyelmis Posted June 14, 2004 Author Share Posted June 14, 2004 The Frankencaster did make one appearance. From my Goodyear Blimp seat I couldn't make out the axe he was playing -- it looked like it may have had surface mount pups, though (but hell, at the distance I was at it could've been anything). www.ruleradio.com "Fame is like death: We will never know what it looks like until we've reached the other side. Then it will be impossible to describe and no one will believe you if you try." - Sloane Crosley, Village Voice Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Compact Diss Posted June 14, 2004 Share Posted June 14, 2004 Check out the new issue of Guitar World, Eddie's first interview in years. He seems to be really enojying his life now, doing things his way, I love his part about being ok if he is making mistakes/failing. The guy seems sober and as if he finally has put all the toys down(except the guitars of course!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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