When Dinosaurs Ruled The Earth [Entered 1/28/08]

Once again, I've let the blog slip my attention. Oops. I'll catch you up on the running stuff in a later post, but right now I need to let you know how the Brothers Van Halen, the Lead Singer, and the Baby Van Halen did in concert on Thursday night.

Frank and I met at his casa Thursday afternoon, and after an easy drive, a healthy pre-concert dinner at Hooters (it was for the wings, man...seriously! :-) ), and the remaining journey to the AT&T Center in San Antone, we were ready to rock. Judging from the crowds waiting on line to enter the auditorium, the age range was weighted more heavily to the late 30's and older crowd, but a sizeable number of teens and younger adults was mixed in as well. We were sure better dressed than we were in the old days when we'd go to an arena rock show!

Once the doors opened, a roar shot up from the crowd. I'd say the audience was a little stoked. After the obligatory t-shirt purchase, we settled into our seats and awaited the night's entertainment. The stage looked pretty cool, with a giant video screen behind the band, all the speakers above the stage with an impressive lighting rig suspended above, and an S-shaped runway coming off the main stage that surrounded a tidy piece of the crowd on the floor. So far, so good.

The opening act was one of the many Marley children, grandchildren, or nephews that are out there performing. It was pleasant reggae music, with a couple of Bob Marley's tunes sprinkled in for effect ("No Woman No Cry" and "I Shot The Sheriff"). Thank you. Now get off the stage.

After the roadies did their magic, and suitable time had passed, the lights went down, the crowd went nuts, and the massive guitar chords of VH's version of "You Really Got Me" blasted out of the speakers. From that point on, it was nonstop party rock and roll for 2 hours.

The Van Halen brothers looked to be in fine physical and sober form, and David Lee Roth, the grinning banshee, was similarly happy to be on stage again. Those three guys, music veterans all, showed us what a professional rock and roll show is all about. The guitar player did his pyrotechnic technique thing, showing off the full kit bag of two-handed tapping, blindingly fast runs, and chest-thumping power chords. Obviously, the years of hard living haven't robbed Eddie of his prodigious musical gifts. His trademark solo portion of the show, very late in the evening, was stunning as usual. About 8 minutes of all the cool things you can do with an electric guitar, 16 amps turned to "11," an arsenal of effects pedals, and two magic hands...it was amazing. The funniest thing was how all the guitar players in the audience were staring at the closeups on the big video screens of Eddie's hands as he played all that cool stuff...it was no different than the look that guys have at strip clubs! Sort of a slack-jawed half grin, half grimace, as we watched something we'd never be able to do. :-)

David Lee Roth? He sort of screamed a lot of the lyrics, but who's worried about lyrics in this setting, anyway? He never was much of an actual singer, but he's lost none of his raw showmanship. He strutted the stage the whole night through, like some sort of Atomic Rooster, with that crazed ear-to-ear grin plastered on his face. He was clearly the happiest person on stage, and who can blame him?

Alex played the drums with all the thunder that was required, locked in tight with his brother as they supplied the stuff that makes arena rock so intoxicating. I'm not sure that he needed all four (4!!) bass drums in his kit, but it sure looked cool. His drum solo was actually pretty cool, and I'm not really a drum solo guy.

Now, I must discuss little Wolfgang Van Halen, the Child Of Eddie, 16 years old, in his first band, Daddy's band, playing every night in front of 15,000 people. Sigh... I must admit that any anger stems from a heavy sense of envy, but the kid looked like, well, a 16-year old kid. He played the bass very well, bringing the bottom end, and obviously he has a genetic gift for the guitar and bass. No problems there. The singing was adequate, but no 16-year old can match pipes with Roth. I just thought he looked a little scared, a little hesitant to do anything outside of a tightly scripted list of Acceptable Moves. He may turn out to be a fine adult someday, but one wonders what this trial by fire might do to any 16-year old boy. It would nearly be impossible to maintain any clear sense of one's self under those circumstances, no matter how much fun all the glitz and glamour might be.

The encore was the expected "Jump," and after the last chords echoed through the arena, the night was over. What's the final verdict? For musical quality, I give the instrumental portion a "10," and the vocals just a "6." I missed the portions of the songs where Roth either used to scream or wail those high notes, and the sound system swallowed up the vocals a lot. For entertainment value, I give it a "9.5." Geez, it was Van Halen, the original Van Halen, rocking loud and proud. While it wasn't 1984 again, it sure was a lot of fun. Well worth the price of admission, and even worth the long rambling journey out of the jumbled parking lot and back home to Austin that night.