Van Halen - Tacoma Dome 5/5/12

I loved the show--though that was pretty much a given.

Venue            

This was my second T-Dome show. The other was "Barney's Big Surprise."  The sound 30 rows back on Ed's side, at least, was pretty horrible.  The bass was reverberating loudly and any sound in the mid-to-upper registers was lost in the mix. This was most notable, to me, during Cathedral when the lower-notes made the higher notes impossible to hear.  On the bright side, I got a new version out of the deal.  Barney had much better sound (which is good because Baby-Bop totally OWNS the "Clean-up" song).

Seats were uncomfortable, but seldom occupied, thankfully.  Me and the rest of the middle-aged set clogged up the concession and restroom lines nicely--to the point that a beer purchase prior to the show meant a 30-minute wait in line.


Dave              

I was hoping that, since we're at a mid-point of the tour, that Dave and the band would be relaxed, but not yet showing the negative effects of so many shows prior.  To the first point, the band was clearly looser, it seemed to me, than they were earlier in the year.  The rigors of the tour, though, seem to be wearing on Dave, for sure.

I thought his vocal work was pretty inconsistent.  Having watched his other 2012 perfomances, I was expecting that.  But the degree to which he struggled, at times, surprised me a bit.  It often seemed that he couldn't choose how to sing a song and would alternate between high, mid, and low tones--like he'd try one, decide it wasn't working, and then switch to another, which often wasn't working either.  I get the impression that it's easier for him to hit the higher notes, now, than the lower, as he often defaulted to singing about an octave higher than he did on the original recordings. I found his struggles most notable on Chinatown. At other times, however, he was spot on, though those times were more rare, for sure. When he got it "right," it was awesome--1981 tour all over again.

I'll be the first to say that I don't enjoy DLR-flavored-VH because of the amazing lead vocals.  I enjoy DLR-flavored-VH because DLR infuses every performance, live and recorded, with a soul the band's seldom been able to replicate without him.  That spirit was present in the arena before the show started and continued until the last bits of confetti fell on the stage.


Band           

The band plays better, now, than they ever have, as far as I'm concerned.  "Hot For Teacher," and "Everybody Wants Some," especially, were performed beautifully.

I can't really comment much on Alex or Wolf because of the sound issues, except to say that Al was as brilliant as ever.  I learned long ago to play every VH song, note for note, on the drums (yeah, Al was my hero, for sure) and as far as I can tell, he didn't miss a beat.  I really appreciated how he controlled the tempo, too.  Songs performed during earlier tours were frequently played at a quicker tempo than the recorded versions.  Not last night.  Al was a hyper-accurate metronome, throughout.

I must admit that I didn't care for the drum solo this time, as it really wasn't a solo anymore. All I heard was salsa music with lots of added percussion.  I thought the pre-recorded video that accompanied the solo was kind of cheesy.  I would've MUCH preferred a live video-feed instead of random video of Al's sticks flying all over the place.

As he has been for the entirety of this tour, Edward was perfect.   His solo was considerably shortened and I was okay with that. I've always preferred his playing within the context of his songs, so if cutting the 15-minute solo in half meant a couple of extra songs, I'm all the happier.

Overall, the band seems to have achieved some odd sort of peace with their music and the massive impact it's had on those fortunate enough to appreciate it. It's hard to explain what I'm thinking as I type that, but it's almost like they play the songs, now, as if they were proud parents.  They own the songs now instead of simply performing them.  It seems to me that sense of ownership pervaded the entire show, last night, and, perhaps, contributed to the very positive and friendly vibe that was the hallmark. To be sure, I missed the band's early 80's swagger, but they've filled that hole with a quiet and mature confidence that more than made up for the less aggressive nature of the performance.  It was a wonderful night in Tacoma.

Oh--Tacoma:  After being on your feet for the duration, you chose to finally sit during my favorite VH song, "Women in Love."  I will always resent you for the implication.  :)

Also--Be sure to view the rest of the m5150's fabulous photostream from the show.

So I Can Read it Later: "A Different Kind of Truth"

Here's what I notice when I listen to Van Halen's "A Different Kind of Truth": eighth and sixteenth notes.  Yeah, weird, I know, but that to me is the key that brings the band back to their roots.  When you go back and listen to Roth-era Van Halen, Eddie picks faster.  "Light Up The Sky", "Romeo Delight", "Mean Street"--are all good examples of what I'm talking about. Listen to just about any of the Hagar-era Van Halen, especially the later stuff, and it's a wash of "slower" playing, both from Ed and Al, even when the tempo of the song is faster. The new album is replete with examples of Ed embracing his inner rhythm guitarist (he's still one of the best ever at that) and Al frequently doing the same.  Like Michael Anthony, Wolfgang is frequently the exception to this, picking out quarter-notes against his double-timing kin.  I know it's simplistic, but, to me at least, this is the big change that brings ADKoT up to the ridiculously high standards the band set 35 years ago.

Song by song first impressions, just so I can go back and read 'em later to see how wrong I was:


Tattoo  Listen

A greatly underrated song, I think.  Though I think a faster tempo (say 10bps or so) would take this song to the next level.  Not much to say about this one.   I love Al's playing on this song.  The guitar solo is exceptional and I like the "You're No Good" ending.


She's the Woman  Listen

As others have said, this is very reminiscent of Fair Warning's "Mean Street," although I do not believe that this song is nearly as strong.  The chorus, in particular, suffers in comparison, although this is an excellent example of the band returning to their historic form. The highlight of the song is the breakdown immediately prior to the guitar solo--where the new rhythm section is featured for the first time.  The song's right in DLR's wheelhouse, for the most part and he's in fine form throughout.

You and Your Blues  Listen

As this is one of the more "poppy" songs of the bunch, I'm particularly fond of it.  Background harmonies are featured prominently throughout and the song is exceptionally well-constructed out of a handful of disparate "parts."  I liked that on the first listen it wasn't obvious where the song was going.  Roth is forced to stretch on this one and he pulls it off better than I would have ever expected.

China Town   Listen

The tempo gets turned up here in a song that is just like "the fast ones" that appear on most of VH's earlier albums.  The song is particularly reminiscent of "Hang 'em High."  The vocal on this one is particularly strong and is engineered differently (to these ears) than the other songs on the album.  This song has a few five-second moments that are just awesome and, as a whole, China Town is interesting and stands up well to repeated listens.

Blood and Fire  Listen

I don't think any song on this album better recaptures the Van Halen vibe than "Blood and Fire."  This song has just about every trademark VH element that I've missed over the last 30 years.  It starts with the melodic, undistorted guitar opening ("Woman In Love," "Hear About It Later," et al), continues with Alex washing out the music with his ride-cymbal (the way he used to play on EVERYTHING), the soaring harmonies ("Highhhhhhhhh...") and concludes the first verse with a vintage "ooooh yeah" from Dave before launching into a transition straight out of "In A Simple Rhyme."  Again, the chorus is something of a weak spot, but only relatively so, and then Dave sings "Look at all the people here tonight," and it's right back to 1982 all over again.

The bridge takes me back to "Jamie's Cryin'" before the wink-and-nod "say you missed me" interlude, follows it up with a "Dreams"-like guitar solo that resolves beautifully into a crush of power like little else in the VH catalog.

This song remains the highlight of the album for me, one of Van Halen's great summer songs (and there have been many, to be sure).  It's an amazing hybrid of so many of my favorites, but reminds me most of "In a Simple Rhyme."

Bullethead  Listen

"Light Up The Sky" but not quite as good.  Still, it's like "Light Up The Sky," so how bad can it be?  I'm not skipping it, that's for sure.  There's even an element of mid-70's Todd Rundgren art-rock buried in here that is probably apparent to me, only.  :)

As Is  Listen

At first listen, I chuckled at how much they were aping "Everybody Wants Some" at the beginning.  Upon further listens, the similarities to "AFU (Naturally Wired)" were what grabbed my attention.  The guitar solo got my daughter's attention.  In the end, though, this song is like a VH version of a Brian Wilson Teenage Symphony to God, a Frankenstein of bits and pieces jumbled into one big noisy cake.  The "la la la la" final minute is the highlight of the song for me and is as good as anything the band has ever produced."

Honeybabysweetiedoll  Listen

SO MANY COOL SOUNDS.  The heaviest track on the album, just like "Tora, Tora, Tora" was on Women and Children First." The riff is a variation of "Outta Love Again," but HUGER.

I don't dance.  The "Girl Gone Bad" rhythm of this song, crazy as it sounds, makes me want to gyrate in the stupidest way possible.

The Trouble With Never   Listen

This song's just kinda "meh," to me.  It's got a few moments that make me take particular notice, but I'm more interested in hearing one of the other songs again.

I have a big problem with this song that will persist, I think, for a long time.  Specifically, Dave's "Yeah!" at the intro to the breakdown reminds me, WAY TOO MUCH, of Kristen Wiig's "Target" lady from SNL.  The fact that the breakdown is so similar to the one in "She's The Woman" and 10 other Van Halen songs doesn't help to distract me from the mental image.

The guitar playing in this song is stellar and the heavy wah-wah will immediately put some in the mind of Jimi Hendrix.  I didn't really get into Hendrix that much, so, again, "meh," except during the whole spoken word, "selective amnesia" bit.

Outta Space   Listen

Yeah, I like "On Fire," so it's to be expected that I'd dig this song, aka "Son of On Fire."  Okay, maybe "Bastard Love Child of On Fire and Atomic Punk."  What could possible be wrong with the mating of those two classics???

Stay Frosty   Listen

Okay, an acoustic ditty about something cold that resolves into a crunching shuffle-rock tune with a slide guitar'ish solo?  Yeah, Ice Cream Man is a great song that's certainly stood the test of time.  You'd expect that "Stay Frosty," built out of precisely the same elements (plus a bit of "The Full Bug") would too, as it matches and, in some bits exceeds the 1977 original.  But come on--their not even trying, at this point, to come up with something new.  It's the same song (albeit with a lot more words) and I have no complaints.

Big River   Listen

Yeah, "Runnin' With The Devil" lite.  Except it has A SHAKER!  That's something new.   :)

Honestly, I think this song needed a bit more effort.   They have the guts of a great song but missed some opportunities to take it to the next level.  Even still, it's nice to listen to, but I fear it won't age well.  I can see myself getting tired of it quickly.  The highlight, for me is the riff immediately prior to the final chorus and the sustained notes soaring over the outtro.

Beats Workin'   Listen

This is another of my favorites and Van Halen finally have their PERFECT show-opener, though I'd be shocked if they ever opened with a song like this.  So everything on this CD is reminiscent of something else, right?   This time, it's "Feel Your Love Tonight," and "Day Tripper" (to the point of a lawsuit, perhaps? I mean the "Day Tripper" bit, not the "Feel Your Love Tonight" bit).

I like the lyrical acknowledgement of why the band's finally reunited ("beats workin'") to close the album.

The most Sammy'ish vocal on the album.

Carl's Jr. Followup

So today I ventured out on the town to run  a few errands and managed to find the lone Carl's Jr. in Snohomish County.  Positive California culinary experience fresh in my mind, I thought I owed it to the reader of this blog (me) to verify the authenticity of the local version of the Carl's cuisine.

I'm very pleased to report that my Famous Star was easily the equal of its SoCal brothers.  The Diet Coke was pretty horrible, but really, I didn't go there for the drink, so who cares.  Burger King owns the Diet Coke game in these parts.


Carl's Jr. is worth the thirty minute drive every once in a while, I think.  Next time?  Chili-cheese fries.