DAVE'S BACK IN DC!

Lets go back, as Gary Cherone would sing, a year to the day since they've been gone. What better way to spend this November 1st evening than with Van Halen playing at the Verizon Center in Washington D.C. on November 1, 2007! What a difference a few days make! As you may recall, the October 26th show in Kansas City was uncharacteristically bad, the following show was canceled, but then two shows later in DC Dave appears to be his old self, jiving with the audience throughout the show, giving it all he's got. This bootleg is a good audience recording.

A comparison must be made with yesterdays 1998 show in Philadelphia. Not the quality of the recording (the Philly show easily wins), but the quality of Eddie's playing. Eddie of 1998 is soulful and beautifully executed. Nine years later in 2007 I get the sense that his heart is not really in it, that he's simply going through the motions to perform for a packed house. It's as though in 1998 he was striving to made a comeback after losing a second lead singer, playing his brand of rock in a musically changing and challenging time, fighting to be relevant. In 2007 I get the sense that he's accepted the fact that the best was in the past, and at most he's going to play well enough to get through the reunion tour and make a few bucks off of it. It's as though his heart is not in it like in '98 and earlier. Or maybe its age catching up. Or maybe its something as simple as the recording, where in the mix Eddie sounds distant. Or all of the above.

A beautiful night on the prairie. Mild temperature and starry skies. For the first time ever a car drove by through the unbuilt subdivision. My first thought is it's the police and how do I talk my way out of being there while boozed up. Fortunately the car passes, continues on and disappears down the main road to Parker. No noise complaints. No sheriff to confront. In bed by 1AM.

Orion shows his face
Climbs above horizons rim
Winters messenger

Spins on its axis
Stars parade cross the dark sky
With or without us

Distant suns burning
Far off worlds unto themselves
We in their night sky

Glow below nights sky
City lights rival the stars
Just embers from space

Eternity's flow
Live our complicated lives
Only for an instant

A laser beams light
Mirrored disc's code is transformed
Brings them back to life

Eight track tape heros
There upon the forest bridge
Musics dream is born