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Van Halen and Rod Stewart bring their
greatest hits to town this weekend
By DOUG ELFMAN
REVIEW-JOURNAL
Once upon a time, Rod Stewart and the members
of Van Halen were young
men conquering the world. This weekend, they slide into Las Vegas to
perform oldies sets.
Van
Halen's tour is "still big, dumb fun," if you believe Chicago
Sun-Times critic Jim DeRogatis. DeRogatis went to a Van Halen
show in
July and found it to be worse than previous VH rock-outs, but still
worthy.
He deemed a bass solo to
be a "self-indulgent and worthless holdover
from the hair-metal '80s." And he ridiculed bassist Michael Anthony, who
used
to chug Jack Daniel's bottles, for turning up the kind of
mini-bottle that flight attendants serve.
DeRogatis, like
many critics, preferred Van Halen when it was fronted by
singer David Lee Roth, over the period when singer Sammy Hagar,
56, gave
the group its face.
"I have always sided with those who believe that Van Halen shrank in
stature when
it traded the ridiculous but self-deprecating David Lee
Roth for the ridiculous but annoying red rocker Sammy Hagar," DeRogatis
wrote.
"But during the first of its two-night stand in Chicago, the
group seemed even smaller -- meeker, older and a lot less
gonzo -- than
Van Hagar Mach I."
DeRogatis still declared Van Halen -- which returns to Vegas on Oct. 1
to play
at the Orleans Arena (tickets go on sale Aug. 14 for that show)
-- to be "a band of the people, with its millionaire members
maintaining
a true connection to their blue-collar fans" that was "really pretty
darn good."
The critic went
on: "Even Hagar's ritual of donning the hats offered by
the fans -- a construction helmet, a fire helmet, a Cubs cap, a
Sox cap
-- and wrapping himself in the giant banners that they tossed onstage
was endearing in its way."
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August 06, 2004
Riffs in, rift out as Van Halen welcomes back
Hagar
By Spencer Patterson
<spencer@l...>
LAS VEGAS SUN
Van Halen's game of musical vocalists is back
on, and this time the
winner is ... Sammy Hagar.
Eight years after replacing Hagar with Gary Cherone -- and despite
persistent
rumors original frontman David Lee Roth might return to the
fold -- the hard rock band has re-formed with Hagar at the
helm.
The 56-year-old singer joins founding members Eddie Van Halen, Michael
Anthony and Alex Van Halen on a tour
that stops in Las Vegas this
weekend.
The quartet play the Mandalay Bay Events Center at 8 p.m. tonight and
Saturday.
Shinedown opens both shows.
Tickets -- originally priced from $68 to $131 -- are sold out for both
nights.
Van
Halen's tour comes on the heels of last month's release of two-disc
compilation "The Best of Both Worlds." The two-disc
set rounds up the
band's best-known work, from "Ain't Talking 'Bout Love" and "Jump"
during Roth's tenure to "Why Can't
This Be Love" and "Right Now" during
Hagar's first stint with the group, along with three new tracks.
The tour also
marks a return to the stage for Eddie Van Halen, who
announced in May, 2002 that had had made a full recovery from tongue
cancer.
Who:
Van Halen.
Where: Mandalay Bay Events Center.
When: 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday.
Tickets: Sold out.
Opening act:
Shinedown.
Personnel: Michael Anthony (bass), Sammy Hagar (vocals), Alex Van Halen
(drums), Eddie Van Halen (guitar).
Latest
release: "The Best of Both Worlds" (Warner Bros., 2004).
Album feedback: "The Dave and Sammy tunes are mixed up with
no regard
for chronological, musical or emotional cohesiveness. The raw materials
for a great Van Halen compilation
are here -- it's just up to users to
take these 36 songs and sequence them at home ... to make this the
compilation
it should have been." (All Music Guide, 4 1/2 star).
Essential releases: "Van Halen" (1978); "1984" (1984).
What
to expect: A hit-laden set covering both the Hagar and Roth eras.
Not surprisingly, Hagar has opted for a couple of his
solo tunes
("Eagles Fly," "Deeper Kind of Love") in lieu of a few of Roth's Van
Halen classics ("Runnin' With the Devil,"
"Dance the Night Away").
Recent set list: United Center, Chicago, July 19: "Jump," "Runaround,"
"Humans Being,"
"'Up For Breakfast," "Somebody Get Me a Doctor,"
"Poundcake," "It's About Time," "Top of the World," "Unchained," "Why
Can't
This Be Love," "Eagles Fly," "Deeper Kind of Love," "Learning to
See," "Best of Both Worlds," "Dreams," "Ain't Talkin'
'Bout Love,"
"Right Now." Encore: "You Really Got Me," "Panama," "When It's Love."
(www.billboard.com).
Tour
feedback: "From the explosive opening of 'Jump' to the
first-pumping choruses in 'Best of Both Worlds,' the band managed
to
make its big hits seem even bigger onstage. It helped that Eddie played
brilliantly throughout." (Rolling Stone);
"As personally sweet as Eddie
Van Halen's comeback may have been, the 10-minute solo ... only indulged
his greatest
excesses. One section, which started like a sonic
exploration of the heavens, ended up more like an exploration of Eddie's
navel."
(New York Daily News).
Previous Las Vegas appearances: June 16, 1981 (Aladdin); June 17, 1982
(Aladdin); May 18,
1984 (Thomas & Mack); July 10, 1986 (T&M); May 6,
1992 (T&M); May 31, 1995 (T&M); Oct. 2-3, 1998 (The Joint).
Said
Hagar: "The only enemies I've got in former bands are Eddie and
Alex Van Halen, and it's just because ... we've never had
a chance to
button back up. I don't really care because those guys stabbed me." (Las
Vegas Sun interview, May 2002)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
August 09, 2004
Van Halen deals uneven numbers at
Mandalay Bay
By Spencer Patterson
<spencer@l...>
LAS VEGAS SUN
# When: Friday.
# Where: Mandalay
Bay Events Center.
# Rating (out of 5 stars): ** 1/2
Van Halen didn't play the 1988 single "Finish What Ya Started"
Friday night,
but they ought to take the song's message to heart, in reverse.
The hard rock band really needs to
start what it finishes better.
Friday's show at the Mandalay Bay Events Center -- the first of back-to-back
sold-out
nights at the arena -- ended with a flourish.
Guitarist Eddie Van Halen sent the crowd into the throes of delirium
with a
patented guitar showcase, and then he and his mates reeled off the big hits:
"Dreams," "Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love,"
"Right Now," "You Really Got Me,"
"Panama" and "When It's Love."
Problem was, it took nearly 90 minutes to arrive
to that point.
For the first two-thirds of the show, Van Halen sleepwalked through a set
list apparently devised
by someone with no clue how to pace a performance.
Revved up and ready to rock when the four men arrived to opening
number
"Jump," the audience then suffered through B-list singles, Sammy Hagar solo
numbers and new material, leaving
many with bored looks on their faces.
In lieu of David Lee Roth-era classics such as "Runnin' When the Devil,"
"And
the Cradle Will Rock ...," and "Dance The Night Away," Van Halen opted
for early '90s also-rans such as "Runaround" and
"Poundcake."
Obligatory solo pieces by bassist Michael Anthony (playing a Jack Daniels
bottle-shaped guitar) and
drummer Alex Van Halen drew cheers, but offered
very little in terms of musical creativity.
Even Hagar's stab at
the normally impassioned "Unchained" came up far short
of the rendition conjured up by Roth at his solo gig at The Joint
at the
Hard Rock Hotel earlier this year.
Song-selection issues told just part of the story of Van Halen's rough
takeoff.
Because
of either equipment malfunctions or vocal limitations, harmonies by
Anthony and Eddie Van Halen sounded truly awful, coming
over more often than
not as off-key shrieks.
And Hagar -- unceremoniously tossed out when the band replaced him
with
third singer Gary Cherone eight years ago -- seemed more interested in
connecting with fans up front than getting
lyrics right.
Time and again, the shaggy-blonde-haired frontman scanned the audience for a
sheet, a towel or anything
else that could double as an extra article of
clothing.
It was fun and participatory. But often Hagar was too busy
tying one such
item or another around his waist to bother bringing his microphone to his
mouth during a key section
of a song.
Several times, the vocalist even got down on hands and knees to sign
autographs, even as he tried to
balance his mike and continue on with his
words.
Thankfully, Eddie's extended solo signaled the start of more serious
business.
Bare-chested
with his curly hair well below his shoulders, the 49-year-old
guitarist appeared in good health, roughly two years after
announcing he was
completely free of tongue cancer.
Fingers flying, the much-worshipped ax man worked through several
varied
movements, from a trippy opening passage to a breakneck middle section to a
sinister-sounding duet with son Wolfgang
to close.
That set up the band's big finale, as the quartet finally came through with
the heavy hitters most of
the crowd invariably came to hear.
"Dreams" and "When It's Love" got fans singing, but it was '80s throwback
"Panama"
that truly sent the arena into a frenzy, as Eddie's guitar squealed
and Hagar effectively handled Roth's original vocals.
Although
the piano intro to "Right Now" descended magically from parts
unknown -- the band should really consider bringing a keyboardist/backing
vocalist
on board for future tours -- the song featured some of the night's
most memorable moments.
The familiar "Right Now"
video rolled on a giant screen above the stage,
with a few new messages thrown in to keep the message current.
A
few of the new ones:
"Right now, no one is forgetting," under a shot of a "911" license plate.
"Right now, a
13-year-old kid is illegally downloading this song."
And "Right now, Eddie feels great," which drew the night's loudest
cheers.
Might we suggest one more: "Right now, Van Halen needs to figure out how to
start their show as strongly
as they finish."
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