Van Halen Special Event Review by Carlota

 

I was one of them.

 

Now, when I was little, back in the days of vinyl, I remember looking at the cover of Van Halen 1 sitting in front of all the other records. In fact, it was always the first record on the floor, thats because it was always the record on the turntable. That album was a part of my childhood. I grew up on Van Halen, with David Lee Roth as their frontman. That is MY Van Halen. So when I was invited to see them on Wednesday night, believe me, I was ecstatic. These guys are a part of my history, and now I get to go witness them make history.
 

 

When we arrived at the Jim Henson studios, the first thing we were told was the historic nature of the venue. Charlie Chaplin made his silent movies in the same room where Van Halen was going to play. The second thing we were told was "Open Bar". Ding ding ding.

 

After a couple of drinks and mingling with an odd array of celebrities, musicians, radio executives, friends of the band and radio disc jockeys, we were told its show time. 

 

 

The studio, was hardly bigger than my house and just barely fit the 200 in attendance. The stage was a U shape, and on the walls were pictures of the band and VH logos, constantly moving around the room. It was pretty damn cool.  And then before you knew it, there was the band, Eddie, Alex, David and Wolfie (yes it would be awesome if Michael was there, but he wasn't and he won't be and we just have to get over it) 

 

Eddie began to blast a riff we now know as "You really got me" and it was on from there!!! 

 

As the band blasted through their early stuff, and a couple new tunes ("Tattoo", "The Trouble with never" and "Shes the woman", which by the way, the early demo of that tune is what got them their first record contract), David and Eddie really seemed to enjoy playing with each other. They were laughing and smiling the whole time. David was his usual campy self and is in better shape at 57 than most people I know in their 20's. Eddie, even though he looks like hes been through 3 surgeries for cancer, was on fire. There is no doubt about it, Eddie is one of the greatest guitar players to ever pick up the Ax. NO DOUBT WHATSOEVER! Alex beat the drums up and is as great as it gets as well. (In fact, Alex is one of the highlights of the new CD. The drums on it are brutal in a wonderfully brutal way). And Wolfgang? Well lets just say the kid, now man, can play. When I saw VH a few years back, Wolfie was just a little 15 year old boy, who could play. Now, he's a man who has obviously dipped his pen into the golden ink if you know what I mean. He just had that look you know? "Hey, I can play and Im going to bang some chicks later" Granted he's no Michael Anthony when it comes to harmonizing, but the kid has got the Van Halen pedigree. 

 

The band played roughly 13 songs, all classics outside of 3. They were AWESOME. They were on FIRE. They were having FUN! And if this show is any indicator of what's to come, then WOW. 

 

 5/27/12. MGM Grand. Van Halen. 16,000 people.

 

I will be one of them.