VH Tour Dirt

[markD]

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAA - awesome!!! these EVH threads get outta hand!!!!!

[sgray]

I saw them last night in Washington DC, It was an incredible show! Dave was hitting almost all notes very well, Eddie was incredible, even managed to finish a song with a broken string with no problem. Wolfie, he is 16y?? He played great, sang great and Uncle Alex was good as ever too. Overall the concert was one of the best I have seen in a long time, Eddie hasn't lost his touch and still amazing. The place was sold out, and provided a ton of energy. Go see them if/when you can, it was worth every penny to get there! Period.

[jrnic]

6 days and counting down until I see them here in NY. Can't wait!!!!

[Bri]

my new favourite thing is how some kids try to prove how Eddie didn't influenced Randy Rhoads....

yet talking with people who actually lived the life back then and know all the interviews and stories... say the opposite things

I'm no kid, I was a fan of both of them back when the first VH and Ozzy albums came out. These days I'm still a big fan of Randy and I have respect for Ed and love the early stuff. Back then in interviews Randy said he had respect for Ed's playing. In the interviews with Ed, he would say how he heard Randy was influenced by him. See the difference? Randy and Ed both gave Ed a compliment They were contemporaries in the LA scene. Ed had the guitar mag covers to himself while Randy was still stuck in LA with QR. Then Blizzard came out and he had to share the metal/hard rock guitar god cover opportunities with Randy. Just playing in the same environment can produce similarities. I can't count how many times back in the day I'd jam with a friend from another band and our new riffs would sound very similar. It's all kind of silly arguing about who's better or who influenced who. The problem is Ed has participated in the silliness from the beginning. Only Yngwie was worse. I hope the tour is a great success. I hope Ed kicks ass like the old days. I hope there is new music that moves me like the old stuff. I just won't be holding my breath. No hating, no hoping for failure or pleasure if things hit the fan.

[Grumpy]

I've been a VH fan from the begining and even stayed a fan during the Sammy days. (Sorry Gary no-can-do) My only gripe with EVH has been over the last 4 or 5 years with the copy write crap and e-bay hit squad.

Who cares if someone stripes a blow-out strat or clapped-out Kramer? They're not the real thing and never will be. A 25K Frankie was the biggest FU! to all of VH fans who have stood by him with all of his drama. He's on the cover of Guitar magazine saying "Thank You", earlier this year, for supporting and sticking with him.

Well ED...... how about putting some weight behind that and letting up on your "supportive fans". We want to sell shit on e-bay without your hit squad and we want a reasonably priced guitar from you. (That way there would be no real reason to copy it, mmmmmm... you never thought about that did ya.......).

[yard dawg]

Ed invented the FLoyd? Ummm ok. I guess Boogie bodies and schwinn have a case against ED for a piece of that $25000 frankie pie? After all it was a boogie body with schwinn bike paint.

As far as dirt goes, you wont read any because every famous person makes there staff sign a confidentiality agreement. Im sure ED has his techs sign one. Im sure if he says anything bad or gives out secrets he'll get sued too.

"mostly sober"???? That sucks!!!

[Endrik]

I'm no kid, I was a fan of both of them back when the first VH and Ozzy albums came out. These days I'm still a big fan of Randy and I have respect for Ed and love the early stuff. Back then in interviews Randy said he had respect for Ed's playing. In the interviews with Ed, he would say how he heard Randy was influenced by him. See the difference? Randy and Ed both gave Ed a compliment They were contemporaries in the LA scene. Ed had the guitar mag covers to himself while Randy was still stuck in LA with QR. Then Blizzard came out and he had to share the metal/hard rock guitar god cover opportunities with Randy. Just playing in the same environment can produce similarities. I can't count how many times back in the day I'd jam with a friend from another band and our new riffs would sound very similar. It's all kind of silly arguing about who's better or who influenced who. The problem is Ed has participated in the silliness from the beginning. Only Yngwie was worse. I hope the tour is a great success. I hope Ed kicks ass like the old days. I hope there is new music that moves me like the old stuff. I just won't be holding my breath. No hating, no hoping for failure or pleasure if things hit the fan.

you completely missed my point...

these days if you ask kids who are metalheads who they perfer... it's pretty much Randy Rhoads all the time ... because Randy was a heavy metal guitar god with classical sounding leads... the thing wich is pretty popular right now.... a lot of them don't get what's the big deal with VH... they can't relate to groovy tunes about partying and banging chicks fueled with out of box jazzy guitar solos... good time music is not very popular among serious metal maniacs because still living in mom's basement and having no girlfriends... there's no room for fun... it's all angst and anger

and a lot of those kids seem trying to prove that Ed didn't influenced Randy in any way.... because they concider Ed overrated or whatever.
I've seen so many times those folks bringing out comments ala... "Randy played Eddie's solos because his students wanted to learn VH licks" or "that bass player who played with Randy said that Randy thought Ed was all smoke and mirrors" and shit like that

but old-school rockers who grew up durning that era remember how Randy praised Ed and learned stuff from him.
there's many interviews in old guitar magazines where Randy said his favorite players are Gary Moore and Eddie Van Halen or when asked what he thinks when he plays... Randy said he pretends he is Eddie Van Halen.

A player doesn't really have to sound like the person who influenced him.
Ed's biggest influence was Clapton... yet Ed doesn't sound like Clapton at all. But that doesn't mean he didn't copied his licks and phrases... he just made those his own.
I can hear many licks in Randy's playing he took from Ed.... and even more licks from Gary Moore... but his playing structure and feel are completely different... so it's doesn't really sound that evident that he stole stuff from other players. If you take some Ed's licks and play them with completely different feel and tone and use them in structured classical sounding compositional solo.... then off course it doesn't sound like Ed... but one can't deny the influence.

[Endrik]

They were contemporaries in the LA scene. Ed had the guitar mag covers to himself while Randy was still stuck in LA with QR.

VH deserved the early success, they sounded more LA, they were better songwriters, better performers and better in pretty much everything.

Early QR sounded like crap and Randy wasn't nearly as good as he was with Ozzy.

Kevin Dubrow was an ok frontman with medicore stage presence and bad hair.

DLR was god and all the girls wanted him. He was as innovative as Ed was on guitar.

QR was a standard hard rock band.

VH could play anything... disco, funk, polka, waltz, jazz, blues, big band etc.

VH was much better as a BAND... that's what matters... the songs and how the band plays together... it doesn't matter if one of the members is a wiz... if the songs suck then you are stuck

[rjohnstone]

VH was much better as a BAND... that's what matters... the songs and how the band plays together... it doesn't matter if one of the members is a wiz... if the songs suck then you are stuck

I couldn't have said it better myself.
There are so many bands that have one talented guy who tries to carry the entire band.
It just doesn't work that way. For it to really work, everyone has to be on their game.

[nateb]

Kevin Dubrow was an ok frontman with medicore stage presence and bad hair

[jhale667]

or "that bass player who played with Randy said that Randy thought Ed was all smoke and mirrors"

Umm, that quote is not attributed to "that" bass player, but it IS from an (well, pretty much ) unimpeachable source, and I have heard said party repeat said quote, your honor...

[RacerX]

Fuck Van Halen! I use to be a VH fan but its not VH unless they have Michael Anthony. Wolfie doesn't count.

Gee, I never heard that before

[Mr Metal]

I've been a VH fan from the begining and even stayed a fan during the Sammy days. (Sorry Gary no-can-do) My only gripe with EVH has been over the last 4 or 5 years with the copy write crap and e-bay hit squad.

Who cares if someone stripes a blow-out strat or clapped-out Kramer? They're not the real thing and never will be. A 25K Frankie was the biggest FU! to all of VH fans who have stood by him with all of his drama. He's on the cover of Guitar magazine saying "Thank You", earlier this year, for supporting and sticking with him.

Well ED...... how about putting some weight behind that and letting up on your "supportive fans". We want to sell shit on e-bay without your hit squad and we want a reasonably priced guitar from you. (That way there would be no real reason to copy it, mmmmmm... you never thought about that did ya.......).

Well put..............

[Firebird V]

saw them on 11/3 and it was a great show. ed's solo did not really do anthing great. kind of sucked. dave sounds great. they all did a great job. no sustainer pickup from what i remember. his sound was awesome.

[pro-fusion]

Glad to hear that the VH tour is doing well. Interestingly, I talked with a guy who did setup for the DC show, and he said that VH were not using recorded backing vocals. True? I wasn't there so I have no idea.

As for the Eddie vs. Randy thing. That silly argument was run into the ground 20 years ago. It *is* possible to like and respect them both, y'know.