Review: Van Halen at the Palace in Auburn Hills (2nd Detroit show)

[El Chiguete]

I think this is the first bad review of a concert on this tour that has happend? Until now everything has been good from the band.

[horns666]

Steve, you gosta wear da Guitar Goggles mang!!!

It works for da poon!!!

[khabibissell]

I dunno guys, I guess I expected Ed to play his parts correctly. Maybe I was expecting too much.

[khabibissell]

Steve, you gosta wear da Guitar Goggles mang!!!

It works for da poon!!!

Bill, you are WAY more a VH nerd than I am, and I guarantee you would've walked out too. The crowd was silent during Ed's solo, so much so that he went up to the mike to say "Com'on!!! Give me some noise".

I'm curious to see the reviews for this show on vhnd.com.

Seriously, I'm not a "stick in the mud" concert goer... I specifically wanted to be of sound mind for this so I could take it all in. The main reason I posted this review was because every review I read was sucking Edwards cock... He didn't deserve that kind of praise for this show at least, not even close.

[dg]

Nothing wrong with giving your honest opinion. I trust what you say, and it definitely makes me worry a little. Hopefully it was just an off night & he's not back on the sauce. If he is, we'll all know about it real soon. BTW, Bret D. saw one of the first shows and he wasn't blown away either. I've just seen a few videos & heard the soundboard clips Mike posted, and I thought they were pretty damn good. Shit, DLR sounds better to me now. The two times I saw him in '81 - '82 he was too fucked up to give a crap, forgot lyrics on most of the tunes & spent half the show hassling with fans up front.

[slo100]

Here's what I said about Charlotte:

"I guess I had greater expectations or something but I came away underwhelmed. They had no energy and everyone for the most part stood in place. Wolfgang trying to fill Mike's shoes was just not cutting it IMHO. Dave did the flag thing and did sing well but he did not exhibit the fire that I expected. Wolfgang wandered out of his spot a few times but for the most part just stood there.

It was a big downer to me not to have Mike A. there. He is 1/4 of the legend of Van Halen and I had a hard time with him not being there. "

EVH, in my opinion, has always been a loosey-goosey player live. He is not a technician. This has been the distinction between EVH style players and RR style players with grooving "wing it" playing and highly structured playing. Even at the 1983 US Festival and through the years EVH has tended to wander around the original material and groove with the moment as opposed to duplicating the original recordings.

IMHO the Charlotte show was very much like this so it did not bother me. What bothered me was the lack of stage energy and the presence of a fat kid playing bass for the mighty [otherwise original] VH lineup. There were a few mistakes here and there but that was not the souring factor for me.

It does appear, though, that if obvious mistakes are still occurring and there are technical glitches such as the Jump debacle from a few shows ago the band did not rehearse enough before embarking on the tour.

KISS and Aerosmith don't have all these issues so I wonder what the underlying problem is???

[RacerX]

What bothered me was the lack of stage energy and the presence of a fat kid playing bass for the mighty [otherwise original] VH lineup.

So how about if Wolfie loses some weight, shakes his booty a bit more, and grows a mullet? :ROTF: Will you like VH better?

[MBreinin]

Trolling bastard!!!!

I am joing Ed's legal "mod squad" and I am going to bury you beneath so much paper you won't be able to see the sun for a decade.

How DARE you give a bad review! How DARE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!













We all have off nights, I hope this was just an example of Ed having one..because he was on when I saw him.

Mike

[slo100]

Yeah, I guess giving bad VH reviews is frowned upon here!!!

So how about if Wolfie loses some weight, shakes his booty a bit more, and grows a mullet? :ROTF: Will you like VH better?

Um, no. Read my post again.

[JACKSONFREAK]

I was at the UC show. Here in Chicago. Although i didnt see Tekky there.. lol I was lucky enough to get a free ticket. One of the guys at work got tickets form one of his good customers. And our boss couldn't go so I did.
Im ok with being second choice. It was freakin Van Halen.. lol
The show was great eddie was on. His tone was Stellar. And Dave was Dave.
His voice was good. Although the screams were lacking. I think he only did like 3 all night. Other than that. It was awsome. Im not sorry i went. I would've even paid for tickets had i had the money at the time some came available. ( another friend of mine had tickets she couldnt use. So she wanted to sell them to me at face value. How ever I didnt have the cash. Then the guy at work called me..) BONUS. So i got the tickets for another friend at work and Eveybody was happy. He paid me back. He got to see VH with his wife. And I got too see VH for free. My first VH show with Dave. And it will probably be the last. Cus who knows how long this will last. Although a new album would be great. Of course a tour to follow. Anyway. The show was great. Yeah i missed the Bass solo part of thier set. But Alex's drum solo made up for it. It was amaizing. No i rememeber why Alex is my favorite drummer. I had a great time. And loved every bit of the show. Eddies solos was cool. He adlibbed a few things. But incorperated a few things he hasnt done in years. It was cool. And the original Franky Still sounds incredable. I thought it sounded better than any of the new EVH artist series guitars, and the new Wolfgang protos. He was playin most of the night. The new 5150 III just make frankie come to life. It was intense tone. At least at my seat. Eddie did a bunch of the flying splits. dave jumped around and Wolfie jus tstood there. but the kid is only 16 and probably still shy in public. Regardless of who his and uncle are. Awesoem show and i'd see it again.
Gil

[Tekky]

And the original Franky Still sounds incredable.

Are we positive that it's the original Frankie? I didn't get a chance to see the back of the neck. (in the video he wrote something like "this is the real shit" on the back of the original so he could tell the difference)

[JACKSONFREAK]

Yup.. Eddie had wrote.. "This is the Shit" on the prototype. (the one pictured in guitar world) He was playing the original. When you have the original that's been tried and true throughout decades of abuse and torture. And still stands up to the test. Why play a copy? It was the original. I've played the copy. And yeah it sounds great. But that was the original.
Gil

[Tekky]

Yeah, I guess giving bad VH reviews is frowned upon here!!!

I don't think that's the case at all. You witnessed, in your estimation, a bad show. Others have pretty much chimed in with either support for that or comments about how the shows they saw were fine. I have a friend who went to the exact same show that I did and had a completely different experience than I did. And it's not the first time it's happened. (We both sat next to each other for Zappa Plays Zappa, he was disappointed, I was glad that I had gone to the show)

I'm not completely sure that anybody was seriously dogging you for presenting your views. I think the comments you may have taken offense to were a more in jest than anything.

Now, I wasn't at this show and I haven't seen these videos, but this is from the 10/16th show at the Allstate Arena. (I hate the Allstate, I don't go there unless I have to, since VH was playing the United Center, I went there instead) Is it better than your experience?

http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=83408

[JBall008]

I was at that show too and it was fan fookin tastic! Great show, all the way around!

[skorb]

too bad that 2 of those 3 vids are down.

Mean Street sounded badass.