Edward Van Halen: one of the greatest rock guitarists of all time. I got to see Van Halen (the band) at least once (and perhaps twice) at the Municipal Auditorium in the 1970s-80s here in Nashville. I also saw the band a few years ago at the Bridgestone Arena. I consider myself fortunate.
For those old rockers on the board (I'm pushing 60), it's sad to see blues-based rock music now existing in such a modest state. There are some fine blues-based bands with members 45 and younger carrying the torch — Rival Sons, All Them Witches, Larkin Poe, The Black Keys, The Raconteurs, etc. — but their fan base (in terms of sheer numbers) is limited due to changing demographics in the U.S. Older stalwarts like Pearl Jam and Foo Fighters can attract big crowds to their live shows but they benefit from having emerged before the "death" of rock (and, as such, have an older fan base).
The future of hard-driving blues-based rock and roll does not look bright.
(10-07-2020 11:21 AM)No2rdame Wrote: STR: Van Halen was the first concert at the Pyramid.
an unknown group, THC, was the opening act
the sound was terrible and they were booed off the stage
Note: Opening for Van Halen. Replacing Alice in Chains who were snowed-in in Oklahoma City
i think the real story was that AIC leader singer had a drug issue
Layne Staley. Incredibly bad heroin run, died at like 100 pounds in 2001 or so. AiC remains my favorite band from that time. AiC's show on MTV's Unplugged was the best on that show.
Yeah, EVH also arrived in the studio and rearranged Michael’s “Beat It” arrangement. Laid down tracks, and told Michael “you’ll thank me later” when he arrived later. Michael agreed and kept Ed’s arrangement.
It was a Quincy Jones deal - not MJ. As QJ tells it, QJ called EVH and told him they wanted a rock guitar solo on a song to help MJ's image/marketing. EVH came in and laid it down in a day. He had to rearrange the song to make his solo a better fit. EVH kept it quiet and didn't want any payment or credit, because he didn't want to upset the band VH.
When you've got 90 minutes sometime - maybe on a long drive - here is the original VH demo tape from 1976. This is before they signed a recording contract and features some of their great early songs. It's basically the set they played regularly at Whisky a Go Go. Quality is not great, but you get the raw songs from their origin. It's referred to as "Van Halen 0".
(This post was last modified: 10-07-2020 01:25 PM by Tiger87.)
I saw them on the 1984 tour in (I think) January of 1984 at the MSC. Blown away. So good. And at the time, the loudest place I'd ever been. (Until I saw Ratt about 2 years later.) My ears were ringing for 2 days afterwards. Not good for the ears, but what a band.
(10-06-2020 06:44 PM)AlonsoWDC Wrote: Oh man, how do you just now find that out?
As the great Joe Dirt once said, Van Halen, not Van Hagar.
I'm one of the rare ones who appreciate both. If I had to choose, I'd take DLR and Van Halen. But DLR left, and I liked what Hagar did too. And I'm so glad they didn't shut it down after DLR, and we got to continue to hear VH put out quality songs. They came up with a very good solution with Hagar.
I saw them in the early 80's with David Lee Roth and to put it mildly, he wasn't overly professional; but it was a great fun show. Saw them in the early 90's with Sammy Hagar on their For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge Tour, which I actually liked. He comes onto the stage and tells everyone that they are going to make up for the prior show in Montreal (which apparently was short and not so good) by partying and playing longer. The show lasted 90 minutes, which was fine, but it was garbage, no good at all. Almost walk out after 30 minutes no good.
/
NTR: RIP Eddie Van Halen
