“HEY, WOLF! Bring it! Or don’t ring it!!”
Wow! That's all any of us who were at the concert can say. Van Halen leaves ears ringing, and your mind spinning over how they do it!
The best way to pay tribute to Van Halen’s Thursday show at Amway Center, is a quick wrap - a the view from the floor during a show that was a different kind of rock! Not to mention the truth. So this is my take as a journalist, and the singer for Van Halen Tribute band 1984.
Van Halen played as well as I have ever seen them play. And this viewpoint goes back to the very early 80's seeing them in the Midwest. I distinctly recall that our parents were appalled by the way that crazy longhair band destroyed a floor of a Madison, WI hotel, after a show. It made all of us love them even more and buy more copies of Van Halen I. So, I go back a few years with this band.
And so did Van Halen last Thursday night. The set list was filled with songs from 40 years of music writing. My personal favorite was the Full Bug. A deep cut from the Diver Down album that’s as cool as a VH song gets. I think they only play it, when they know they all have their PFRC's on that night. They were tight enough to make it amazing, but loose enough to make it a blast.
I heard on the radio the day after, someone complain that Dave forgot the words to a song. That guy’s not a Van Halen fan. Forgetting the words only means it’s Dave on stage. He was much more "back in Van Halen" than the last show, when I saw 3 and a half men rock the now rubbled Amway Arena. This time, inside the Amway Center, it was clear that the troubles of the last Orlando show we're also a crumbled pile in the past. Last time, they'd announce an indefinite cancellation, as Ed “went away” for a while. Still, I loved that show. Even on the brink of disaster Van Halen rocks. That was Van Halentine’s day, Feb. 14, 2008.
This time, a little more than 4 years later, they fired on every cylinder. They walked out like our friends, simply taking the stage this time. It was a change from the normal crazy lights and strobes, with a roar of drums and guitar from the darkness. This time the lights were on, and we were caught off guard by the seeming spontaneous start to the show.
Alex started it… he was suddenly just there, jamming behind that enormous instrument. He was the centerpiece of the stage as always. The set up was simple and clean. Alex launched with a fury of drum kicks and licks and wouldn’t stop for about two hours. He looks so at ease with the biggest tool on the stage. It can’t be played with fingers or tongue and lips. It takes stamina, and Alex always does it with grace. As many times as I’ve seen my drum hero behind his set, he has, as on Thursday night, been dead on, and amazing. He’s the consistency.
Wolf was next to take the stage, not Wolfgang, or Wolfie anymore for me. He’s a Wolf, not flamboyant like his dad once was, just a toothy animal prowling the stage. He seems very comfortable refusing to be what everyone expects, a Michael Anthony wannabe. He is at ease with the bass, and I can’t wait to hear what his career brings him with other instruments. If the new CD, A Different Kind of Truth, is his first album, man I can’t wait for the rest his music career.
Think about Wolf for a moment – He grew up the only child of Eddie Van Halen and Valerie Bertinelli, the hottest chick and the coolest guy in the entire 80’s (or 90’s). That was a decade that my kids still consider legendary. This only child negotiated the roughest of seas, and has stayed afloat with grace. By all accounts, A Different Kind of Truth could be considered 3 parts Wolf, 1 part inevitable. It took a kid who grew up with access to the cutting room floor. Any parent knows that your children can influence you in ways NOTHING else can. And he appears to be the one that made the fantastic, pile driving, turn-it-up , say-ya-missed us rock and roll collectoin that is A Different Kind of Truth. It was worth the wait. Thanks Wolf.
Dad walked out next. Funny if you think of it that way - Ed brought his son along for the ride. What a gift, or is Dad really getting the gift? He walked out on stage as if he were just some dude walking into 7-11. When we roared he looked like “Hey, Everybody,” then looked at his brother and son and “bottala battala WEEHEEEERRRR!” The show has begun… and here comes trouble. In a simple pair of jeans, a T-shirt and guitar named for his son – Eddie can thrill a rock fan like no single man or woman in the business. No one makes the jaw drop like EVH and he did just that for an ear ringing two hour and 24 songs.
Then there’s Dave. Pretty Dave as the Bird and the Bee put it in their song. No more long locks, or splits, just the flare that he still uniquely brings. He’s bloomed again for sure. Dave doesn’t worry about the boys in the band. He does his own thing, and catches up when he gets behind. His vocals were great, his quirky dance moves should not fit in a hard rock show, but only Dave can pull them off. He’s reinvented himself. But Dave was still Dave, even if he’s pushing 60. For example If Dave doesn’t “microphonically” complain about the sound, the lights, or in Thursday’s case the air conditioning, it would not be David Lee Roth. He’s like Honey Badger! (What he orchestrated in Madison, was simply a tribute to UW.) Dave don’t give a &*^%! He knows he’s the party, he brings it, and rings it!
The set list was a great variety of new songs and old songs, and songs you never expected. I’ve followed the running set list and I’m very happy that it’s so fluid. At times, it looked like Ed or Wolf were just calling out songs and going for it.
There were plenty of exchanges between Ed and Wolf throughout the show. Some were just fun, but some appeared very professional. There’s a lighting situation here, or a set list change that needs to be quickly discussed. Al and Wolf looked at each other often too… making sure they were driving it while Dave and even Ed missed a few bars. That’s what a good drummer and bassist do. It was really cool for me, as a father and uncle, to see generations of Van Halen’s working together. I’ll mention Wolf again; because what he’s inherited deservedly is something he seems to be taking in stride, with restraint, professionally and appreciatively. Wolf could have walked away after Van Halentine’s day.
Unlike lots of critics, I didn’t want to report all this the next day. I love Van Halen, that’s my critique. I know Van Halen has to sink in. Have these guys plunged to deep waters? Sure. Nearly drown? Probably. But it’s the floating part that really matters, and these guys have risen right back to the top.
It’s great when your ear stop ringing at midnight, and you work 3 hours later. I suffered for the colors – red, white and black, all stripes and all worth the wait.
This time it was total Van Halen, 4 men and a simple stage.
Eddie, you helped me grow up with a guitar… that’s all I knew of you, but it helped direct my emotions when I needed it the most. Alex, one of my favorite pictures of my childhood is trying, again, trying to play Hot for Teacher on my red fur-covered drum set in my bedroom. Dave, I try, again try to impersonate you to this day. I’m 43.
But Wolf thanks for bringing ‘em back. I’ll say it like I mean it. THANKS! Stay Frosty kid.
The best part for me, when Eddie kissed Wolf on the head. Hey, Wolf… wanna come mentor my teenagers? … uh and me!
Steve Barrett is a staff reporter for WFTV, WRDQ and WFTV.com, and the lead vocalist for the band 1984. Click here to "like" 1984 on Facebook.
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