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van halen concert review - greensboro

 abuse

 Seems like old times

On the second night of this long-awaited tour, the band did not disappoint the sold out crowd Saturday night at the Greensboro Coliseum. David Lee Roth shuffled around the stage like... well, a 53-year-old man. The once flamboyant front man for Van Halen has lost the bulk of his signature moves, but the voice is still there, that is for sure.

After a 22 year hiatus, Roth was back with band-mates Eddie and Alex Van Halen. Gone is basist Michael Anthony, replaced with Eddie's 16-year-old son Wolfgang. Wofgang, who lacked stage presence, made up for his shortcomings by playing well-beyond his years. I thoroughly enjoyed watching proud pappa Eddie interact with this talented musician, who is barely old enough to drive, let alone stand up in front of 20,000 screaming fans.

The show started out with their cover of The Kink's You Really Got Me. To the delight of the sold-out Greensboro crowd, Roth exclaimed that "it is an honor and a privilege to be here tonight." The band proceeded to belt out such amazing classics as: I'm the One, Runnin' With the Devil, Romeo Delight, Beautiful Girls, Dance Away the Night, Everybody Wants Some, Pretty Woman, I'll Wait, And the Cradle Will Rock, Jamie's Cryin', Hot For Teacher and more.

At times I felt bad for Roth, who seemed to be trying to make up for his lack of mobility by twirling flags and microphone stands. "Diamond Dave" was a ghost of his former self. However, the band sounded amazing. Drummer Alex Van Halen displayed skills that I hadn't remembered when I last saw the band in the early 80s.

However, Eddie definitely stole the show, with some guitar riffs that boggled the mind. The 52-year-old guitarist, looking amazingly fit, carried the band through their two-plus hour show. To me Eddie Van Halen is one of the top five guitarists in the history of rock and roll, and has not slowed one bit in his old age.

The one disappointment that I had (besides trying to exit the arena), was that Van Halen only played one encore. The show ended shortly after 11pm with the song Jump. The crowd seemed a little surprised as the house lights were turned on, and the fiasco of exiting the arena began.

For some unexplained reason, all of the seemingly "easy" exits were blocked by security, and the enormous crowd was forced to slowly shuffle towards one exit at the opposite end of the arena. It took over 30 minutes to get to the front entrance, as we were forced to meander past all of the souvenir stands on our way out. Exiting the parking lot was just as big of a nightmare, as it clearly seemed the police were ill-prepared for the large number of vehicles.

Oh well, this would not dampen the amazing show that I had just witnessed. Van Halen put on an amazing show, and I was completely impressed.

What did you think? I'd love to hear your thoughts!