WHAT A TEMPER!: VAN HALEN: THREE YEARS AGO ALMOST TO THE DAY

It is Friday evening after another busy week where time seems to evaporate before I manage to accomplish anything meaningful. Nor are the performance reviews of staff always a pleasant experience.

I chose to do a virtual concert this evening out on the prairie, but with the single model home in the budding subdivision now occupied, I've become self conscious of how loud I may crank it up. If I move farther away from that home, I move closer to two others. I drove around this corner of the county and the neighboring one but found no suitable substitute, especially not wanting to drive under the influence for so far a distance. I settled on the area right behind our house in a wooded drainage, speakers pointing towards nothing for at least a mile.

And the reason I wanted to crank it up was because Van Halen was playing this evening. An excellent recording of their live performance at the Allstate Arena in Rosemont, IL on October 16, 2007. Six months later I saw them perform in this same venue with my sister, so I had a clear connection to tonight's show. A typical VH performance from this tour, with all the classic "Davisms."

Here's what a reviewer had to say about the show:

I never thought I would ever hear "Beautiful Girls", "Dance The Night Away" or "And The Cradle Will Rock" ever again, let alone with Roth and Eddie on the same stage. I was especially amazed by the playfulness both of them exhibited with each other, even sharing the microphone on certain songs. There appeared to be indisputable camaraderie between the two, something I once deemed impossible but tonight it was a reality. This is what was absent from the Police reunion from earlier this year. There was no sense of chemistry or understanding between those three members, but the collective whole of Van Halen appears to be authentically excited about this rebirth. Each song was performed with an unexpected searing intensity. No one can criticize the band for calling this one in. "Mean Street" is living proof of the resurrection of this band. The song was dazzling and spot on. Once again, credit must be given to Wolfgang who not only picked the set list but based on reports I have heard has told his father when he's not playing it correctly. As a result you may be witnessing the most precise version of Van Halen to ever exist. The most adorned songs of the evening were the scalding "Unchained" (which I feel the band should play twice a night...once to open the show and another time to close it) was a goose-bump moment as was "I'll Wait" which is widely disregarded by many fans. Here's a song that was only performed on one tour but on this tour, the big pop-wise number was not just a crowd pleaser but puts the song in an entirely different light as a pop gem in the Van Halen catalog.

Read it all here:
http://www.unratedmagazine.com/Document.cfm?Page=Articles/index.cfm&Article_ID=539