Concert Review: Van Halen @ Madison Square Garden (Different Kind of Truth Tour 2012)

-
Van Halen kept the Madison Square Garden crowd on their feet the entire night. It was an incredible performance by the band last night on the second of their two sold out New York shows.

Eddie Van Halen is the master on the guitar, he alone is worth the price of the ticket. During the show goes at some point you realize: there is only one guitarist on that stage, playing all that music. Eddie dressed in jeans, along with a blue & white striped shirt, does it all. The most amazing part of his brilliance is the guitar solo toward the end of the show. He incorporates the classic Eruption, along with the effects from 1984 and performs some of the best guitar work ever see. I of course was in awe of Eddie's playing, but as I looked around I saw people with their jaws open, others staring just smiling & others just shaking their heads in amazement.

I just wished the solo was longer & their were more of them. Eddie looked happy all night as he just smiled sand backing vocals & played his guitar all night. He looked a bit bloated in the face, as if possibly his meds or his old drinking issues have had some effect on him.

I was very impressed at the backing vocals, I thought Eddie & Wolfgang did a fantastic job of it. That is a major part of the Van Halen sound behind that great music & although Michael Anthony is gone his backing vocal parts were covered well.

Alex Van Halen behind his dark sunglasses & huge silver drum kit, is an incredible rock drummer doing a fantastic job as usual. His drum solo was a great performance, as also added a latin percussion touch to it. It's amazing to see how musically talented the Van Halen family is. Edie's son (Alex's nephew) Wolfgang Van Halen, did a great job of bass playing & background singing himself. The kid is getting better & impressed.

Then at the front of it all is David Lee Roth. Roth is still all about himself, all about theatrics & having a good old time. He's what rock & roll front men are meant to be all about. Roth in his snake skin pants, velvet scarves, boots & beige hat is in incredible shape. He struts & dances all over the stage nonstop while telling stories & making jokes like a TV game show host. His high leg kicks are signature, as is his incredible twisted leg bending down thing he kept repeating the whole show. His voice is great he sounded fantastic.

Only problem I had with him was at times he seemed to change up the flow of some of the songs & change some of the words. At one point he forgot the words to the new Chinatown, as he confessed to the crowd. Another point he stopped the show & told the crew at MSG to shut down the blowers because it was ruining his vocals, as the air made his voice hoarse. Before the show I saw a wood board on the stage & the crew mopping some stuff on top of the wood. Turns out it was all for Roth to slide & dance across during the show.

The new songs were great live, it's a great new album no doubt, the first with Roth since 1984. I did think the sound could have been a bit better, maybe it was where I was sitting (section 107- Row 20). I also thought the set list could have been a bit better, although it was still great stuff. Tonight's show actually had a few different songs from what I saw on other nights & few songs were also switched around. Most notably the opener was switched to Unchained as opposed to You Really Got Me.

Madison Square Garden Set List 3/1/12

Unchained
Runnin' With The Devil
She's The Woman
The Full Bug
Tatto
Everybody Wants Some
Somebody Get Me A Doctor
China Town
Hear ABout It Later
Oh, Pretty Woman
Alex Van Halen Drum Solo
You Really Got Me
The Trouble With Never
Dance the Night Away
I'll Wait
Hot For Teacher
Women In Love
Outta Love Again
Beautiful Girls
Ice Cream Man
Panama
Eddie Van Halen Guitar Solo
Ain't Talkin' Bout Love
Jump

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Former Mets Broadcaster: Fran Healy ( 1984-2005)

-
Image
Francis Xavier Healy was born on September 6, 1946 in Holyoke, Massachusetts. The big six foot five catcher, attended American International University at Springfield. In 1964 he was signed by the Cleveland Indians, spending five years in their minors leagues. In 1968 he was drafted as the 56th pick in the expansion draft, chosen by the Kansas City Royals. He would make his MLB debut playing six games there in 1969 & spending the next year in the minors. In October of 1970, he was traded to the San Francisco Giants for Bob Garibaldi. Healy played in 47 games for the 1971 Western Division Champion Giants, as the backup catcher to Dick Dietz. He hit .280 with two HRs & 11 RBIs. He did not play in the NLCS & after hitting just .152 the next year in 45 games, he was traded back to Kansas City. He became the Royals main catcher in 1973 playing solid behind the plate, throwing out 44% of would be base stealers. That year he had the distinction of catching Steve Busb
Read more

Remembering Mets History: (1977) The Felix Millan / Ed Ott Brawl In Pittsburgh

-
Image
Friday August 12th, 1977: Joe Torre's last place Mets (47-66) traveled to Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh for a double header with Chuck Tanner's second place Pirates (66-49). The bad times were underway for the late seventies Mets and tonight marked the end of another key player's career from the 1973 NL Champion team. In the first game of a double header, Jerry Koosman (8-13) took a 3-1 loss to Jim Rooker (10-6) & the Pirates. Both pitchers went the distance, with Koosman giving up three runs on six hits & Rooker giving up the lone Met run on nine hits. In the night cap Mets started Bob Myrick against Pittsburgh's  Bruce Kison.  In the 2nd inning Myrick himself added an RBI base hit making it 1-0 Mets. Lee Mazzilli added a two run HR in the 4th putting the Mets up 3-2. The Mets were battling, but the Pirates tied it up at 3-3 in the sixth inning.  Met Manager; Joe Torre made a double switch bringing in Felix Millan to play second base, as Do
Read more

Remembering Bobby Ojeda's Tragic Boating Accident (1993)

-
Image
Steve Olin, Tim Crews & Bob Ojeda March 22 nd 1993: was an off day from Spring Training, for three Cleveland Indians pitchers; Former Mets 1986 World Champion pitcher; Bobby Ojeda, Tim Crews & Steve Olin. The three friends, took out an 18-foot open-air bass boat & went out fishing & gator hunting in the darkness of the evening on Lake Nellie in Clermont, Florida. Tragedy struck, when the boat rammed into a private dock that jutted out some 250 feet into the still waters. Two other Cleveland Indians personnel had arrived to meet the fishing party just as the horror took place. They heard Bob Ojeda saying they needed help. The two men jumped into the water and called out for someone to call 911. 27 year old pitcher; Steve Olin was killed instantly. 31 year old pitcher; Tim Crews was alive but was struggling to breathe suffering from massive head wounds. Bobby Ojeda was in & out of shock, he was suffering from head lacerations but was coherent. The
Read more

The 1970's Oakland A's Ball Girls- (MLB's First)

-
Image
In the days of the early seventies the Oakland A's won three straight Championships & changed the face of baseball forever.  The team's controversial owner was known to be cheap in paying his star players & known to meddle in the teams on field affairs. He drove managers crazy & even had Dick Williams resign after winning his second straight World Series. But Finley also revolutionized baseball in many other ways. He was instrumental in getting the designated hitter in the American League & have the World Series played at night, so fans could attend after work. He gave his players fancy names like Catfish, Blue Moon & True Blue.  When his star Reggie Jackson refused to shave his beard, he encouraged the whole team to grow facial hair by paying them $200 each.  The A's team even grew their hair long, a sign of the times. But before that baseball players had not had facial or long hair since the 1800's.  He introduced bright colored yello
Read more

Remembering Vixen Founder / Guitarist; Jan Kuehnemund (1961-2013)

-
Image
centerfieldmaz was shocked to learn of the sudden passing of Jan Kuehnemund, the founding member of the all female metal band Vixen. Jan was a fantastic guitarist, song writer & women pioneer in Heavy Metal. I am a huge fan of hard rock all girl bands & Vixen were one my long time favorites. Janice Lynn Kuehnemund was born November 18th, 1961 in St. Paul Minnesota. The female guitarist formed one of the first all female Metal bands in Minnesota with singer Janet Gardner while in high school in 1980. By 1985 they moved the band to Los Angles California, to be part of the Heavy Metal scene. In 1987 the classic Vixen line up of Jan Kuehnemund (lead guitar) Janet Gardner (vocals/ guitar) Share Pederson (bass) & Roxy Petrucci (drums) formed & released their debut album the following year. Vixen 1988 In a world of all male Heavy Metal bands during its heyday, Vixen were groundbreaking in being an all female metal band. The Runaways, with Joan Jett & Lita Ford
Read more