Van Halen Live Album & 2015 Tour Discussion

[Powerage5]

Cool.

[ChineseDemocracy2004]

never forget.

That was exceptional.

[Val22]

I love Dave, but he just can't sing anymore.

My son-in-law said he's acting like a lounge singer and my God he's right!

Dave still has the presence onstage, but can't sing anymore. He talks his way through a performance.

Eddie and Alex carry Van Halen. They still have the talent they had 30 years ago.

I saw them a few years ago and that's it for me.

[Black Sabbath]

Dave can sing, he just doesn't sing the shit right anymore. Which is annoying beyond belief.

[ZoSoRose]

For fuck's sake, their drama (including Hagar's) is so obnoxious

https://www.yahoo.com/music/eddie-van-halen-on-david-lee-roth-he-does-not-121933811641.html

[dalsh327]

I guess Hagar did some Van Halen songs for Daryl Hall's show and they couldn't get clearance. Who even knows if Eddie intentionally did it.

[bran]

a couple of quotes to what zosorose linked to.

As proof, Van Halen is about to embark on a 40-plus-date North American tour. He will be joined by his drummer brother, Alex (whom he loves), his bassist son (whom he loves) and vocalist Roth (with whom he has no relationship whatsoever).

“He does not want to be my friend,” Van Halen says, seemingly bemused. “How can I put this: Roth’s perception of himself is different than who he is in reality. We’re not in our 20s anymore. We’re in our 60s. Act like you’re 60. I stopped coloring my hair, because I know I’m not going to be young again.”

Eddie would love to make another Van Halen album, but that plan has obstructions.

“It’s hard, because there are four people in this band, and three of us like rock’n’roll. And one of us likes dance music,” he says. “And that used to kind of work, but now Dave doesn’t want to come to the table.”

https://www.yahoo.com/music/s/billboard-cover-eddie-van-halen-surviving-addiction-why-130052426.html

[Powerage5]

I love Dave, but he just can't sing anymore.

My son-in-law said he's acting like a lounge singer and my God he's right!

Dave still has the presence onstage, but can't sing anymore. He talks his way through a performance.

Eddie and Alex carry Van Halen. They still have the talent they had 30 years ago.

I saw them a few years ago and that's it for me.

I'm with BS - it's not that Dave can't sing, it's just that he chooses not to. The version of Jump that was on Ellen is proof. Was it perfect? No. But for a guy pushing 60 it was pretty damn good. He put in the effort and it showed tremendously; between Dave's voice and all the extra harmonics Eddie did I can honestly say I think it's my favorite live version of Jump I've ever heard (with Dave at least).

Also, you can add Eolfie to who is "carrying the band". He's basically what keeps the band being a somewhat normally functioning band. He writes the setlists, he was the driving force in getting ADKOT released, he even did the new arrangements in old songs for the album when they needed it. I know a lot of people prefer Michael Anthony, but I honestly don't think VH would still exist today if Wolfie wasn't so involved in everything.

[RussTCB]

Dave is Dave.

He has NEVER been a good singer.

[Iron MikeyJ]

So I have been giving the live album a lot of spins in my truck lately, and it has grown on me. I just plain skip the bad songs, and some of the mediocre ones as well. So when you just listen to the good ones and the average to slightly above average songs, it's really a pretty solid live album imo. I have some boots from the late 70s and early 80s, and this album is every bit as good (and better in moments) than those. As other people have said, it's just dave being dave, he has always been this way.

My only real gripe about this album is I wish they would have taken songs from a few shows as opposed to just this one, because some songs do bum me out because I wish they were better. Jump, and the cradle, and I'll wait come to mind. It sucks that the live version of jump with Sammy is better than the live version with dave, especially since he did an awesome rendition on Ellen. It really was a great version that I really want to get an mp3 of.

I'll wait is not very good either, and this is the one that bums me out the most. Like I said before, I have old boots, so I already have quality live recordings of all of Dave's albums except 1984. I'll wait has always been one of my favorite VH tunes, it's just an awesome song IMO, really underrated. So I was really hoping for a good version of it, and am disappointed. But I will say this, it's not all Dave's fault, Eddie takes some of the blame on this as well. His guitar is far to loud in the mix, especially during the intro. The keys should really be the focus, not Eddie's guitar, at least for the first minute and a half of the song or so. Then go a head and turn Eddie up, but not for the whole song. That was a HUGE mistake imo, and really takes away from the brilliance of that song IMO.

But as for the good and great, this live album really does have a lot better to offer than most people are giving it credit for. Hot for teacher is freaking excellent. I can't stop singing woman and love and romeo delight, both songs (these versions) have been stuck in my head all week. You really got me has a break down in the middle of that song that is pure vh magic, that alone makes that song a real stand out for me. Plus unclained, running with the devil, meanstreets, dance the night away, ice cream man, beautiful girls and Panama are all passable performances imo. Maybe they are not always excellent, but they are completely fine for a live album imo. Other songs are passable as well, far more good to great moments than bad ones IMO.

My original problem with this album was that I bought it in vinyl first. So I had to listen to the whole thing every time. But I picked up the CD version a couple of weeks ago, and have really found a new appreciation for it. You just have to skip the bad songs, which is all the stuff from adkot, jump, cradle, and maybe one or two others. But overall I'm happy with this album, and will be adding the good stuff from it to my mp3 playlists.

Edited July 1, 2015 by Iron MikeyJ

[James Bond]

I tried the "skip the bad songs" method myself and suddenly the album was ejected from my vehicle.

Seriously though, I do agree with a lot of wait you said. Disappointing is definitely the word. I'll Wait is a crime because generally that was done pretty well in 2012 since Dave would just stand there and actually attempt to sing it. However, here his vocals are a mess. The loud guitar doesn't bother me as much because I love when Ed adds extra guitars to keyboard driven VH songs live, but I can see where you're coming from. It's a shame they left it up to Dave to pick a single show instead of going through a few because overall the release does not do the band justice. Some songs are pretty decent though, with my favourite being I'm The One. Ed is a little sloppy but overall Dave sounds mostly like the album version.

[Powerage5]

Eddie's solo is the best thing about the album.

[dalsh327]

The Van Halen live album and GNR's A4D were left unembellished, but they won't put out what they have in the vaults, yet Van Halen's Live Right Here Right Now and GNR 87-93 were studio albums pretending to be live albums.

Edited July 1, 2015 by dalsh327

[Silent Jay]

http://www.guitarplayer.com/artists/1013/van-halen-launch-tour-in-seattle-with-hits-and-rarely-played-tracks--video/52894

[RussTCB]

http://www.guitarplayer.com/artists/1013/van-halen-launch-tour-in-seattle-with-hits-and-rarely-played-tracks--video/52894

That's a pretty rad set list. Very excited about hearing Drop Dead Legs in a few months.

[Powerage5]

Fucking awesome setlist, definitely the best since the reunion. Can't wait to see Feel Your Love Tonight - that's one of my top 5 VH songs. Also really surprised to see Pretty Woman got dropped.

Anyone know the camera policy this tour? Is it like last year where SLR's are okay?

[Zeppelin]

Light Up The Sky starts the show? I'll be spent after that...

[ZoSoRose]

Awesome set! Go Van Halen!

[gunsfanoldie]

God damn thats a good setlist. Light Up The Sky, Drop Dead Legs, Feel Your Love Tonight, Little Guitars, Women In Love, In A Simple fuckin' Rhyme, Dirty Movies? Plus two songs off their new album for good measure? Thats a damn fine setlist right there. Basically about half deep cuts, half classics which I really appreciate from them. Probably never gonna see them again (saw the reunion and thought that was enough for me), but I do appreciate that each tour they switch a fair amount out, and I can't fault them for that set. Its really really good. Truly does almost make me want to go. If you were to ask me what songs will they NEVER play again, Light Up The Sky, In A Simple Rhyme and Dirty Movies would have definitely been on that list. Then again, so would Women In Love and another Van Halen II song from the last tour, so again I applaud their efforts with the setlists. I'm sure the shows are a lot of fun.

[Iron MikeyJ]

It's pretty awesome when a band has a large enough discography to pull deep cuts this. As opposed to another band I know that thinks adding another cover is the same as playing a new song...

[Powerage5]

It's pretty awesome when a band has a large enough discography to pull deep cuts this. As opposed to another band I know that thinks adding another cover is the same as playing a new song...

But their discography (At least the Dave era, since there's zero chance of any Van Hagar songs) isn't that big. 7 albums isn't a lot by any measure.

[dalsh327]

The classic VH albums were usually a half hour long, so you're talking about a little over 3 hours worth of music. ADKOT is like a double album compared to that.

[DR DOOM]

Light Up The Sky, Little Guitars and Drop Dead Legs are a few of my very favourite VH songs- question is, can Dave be bothered to try and sing them properly?

edit: also Dirty Movies...glorious intro on that one.

Edited July 7, 2015 by DR DOOM

[Rovim]

The classic VH albums were usually a half hour long, so you're talking about a little over 3 hours worth of music. ADKOT is like a double album compared to that.

And is pretty consistent anyway. I know ADKOT is based on a lot of old demos, unreleased shit.

I want another Van Halen album, but I wonder what Eddie will do with no old material to dig up. He said he's interested in releasing another album.

[dalsh327]

The classic VH albums were usually a half hour long, so you're talking about a little over 3 hours worth of music. ADKOT is like a double album compared to that.

And is pretty consistent anyway. I know ADKOT is based on a lot of old demos, unreleased shit.

I want another Van Halen album, but I wonder what Eddie will do with no old material to dig up. He said he's interested in releasing another album.

The person who could probably answer that is Alex, who talks to Dave more. They have years of riffs and song ideas.

Based on what Steel Panther's lead singer said, back when he was in Atomic Punks, they were going to do an album based around those unreleased demos out but VH's management squashed it, and that was years before the 2007 reunion. I took that as planning on doing something with those songs 15 years ago. He could easily join Van Halen and do all those songs because no one does better Roth than Saenz.

I think if Dave is done with VH after this, Ed's probably going to go the guest singer route if he has a lot of songs in limbo.