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van halen concert review - greensboro

Published Sep 30, 2007

 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!



10 Comments


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bmr66:

I gave this concert A RAVING REVIEW!

You are right, It was money well spent. I had a great time, and loved every second of the show.

David Lee Roth sounded great. My comment was that he didn't move around like a 20-year old, but like a 50-something year old. It was simply an observation.

GREAT CONCERT, AND I'D GO AGAIN IN A HEARTBEAT!

EVH ROCKS!!! I'm so jealous, but glad you had a great time!

I think somebody needs to put down the crack pipe. This concert was the best I've seen in 20 years, and I've seen quite a few. Dave and Eddie are cut and toned, and moving around just fine...so Dave doesn't jump off the drum riser like he did years ago, so the hell what? He looked and sounded great, and now VH is VH again, and not some horrible sappy mess like when Sammy Hagar or whoever else was in the band. This was money well spent. If you don't believe me, just look on vhlinks dot com under the reviews for Greensboro, or even on youtube, search for VH and greensboro to see some video for yourselves.

I agree completely with everything! Eddie did steal the show on his solo. Wolfgang was great for someone so young, but does need Dad to give him some stage presence lessons. They were just awesome. I, too, did not understand issues with exiting the parking lot! It's never been a problem there before!

i am so hating you right now!...LOL...i really wanted to see this show, but it just didn't work out...glad you enjoyed it!

This photo was the band's press photo. Wolfie didn't actually look that heavy in concert. He is a clone of his mother!.

I saw them in the mid-80s and they were still pretty good. EVH played Beethoven during his solo, and it was terrific. What's up with Dave's cheesy grin in the pic you've got? And, does that kid Wolfie look like his mother, or what? Glad you had fun.

Thanks, was wondering how it would be, Diamond Dave has had quite the career since VH, doesn't surprise me he's out of shape.

Wow! Glad you had a good time. I love their music and Halen sure can play a mean guitar. And I love a good drummer also. Good review, Hope you didn't have to wait to leave very long. Bet you enjoyed every minute of it. Thanks for sharing this..

Too bad I didn't make it. I did get to see VH back in 1984, when they played at Reyonlds Coliseum.

Thanks for the great review!

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