(Above: The pic we took of the overhead screen of Eddie & Wolfgang singing:
Below: me and my Brother, in front of the "Van Halen" mustang, across the street from the Arena & the bar where the local radio station held the concert psyche-up party)
Aside from the trip to Cleveland being a chance for me to get out of the house and out of Toledo for a day or two, it was also a teary eyed (for me) reunion for my little brother and I. Though I am now 47 and he's 42, when we get together it's always like old times, the good ones anyway..(and we have definitely had some bad years apart here and there.)
After comparing how old looking we'd gotten and laughing our asses off, we got down to the plan of settling into the hotel: the Holiday Inn Express, downtown Cleveland (nice: Mezzanine floor offers 2 pool tables which I didn't see until the next day, going down for a tray of breakfast goodies, which were awesome, to take back up to the room, as well as a copier and 2 computer/work stations. The staff was very cordial and professional, and quick to bring us extra supplies. (though the guy at the front desk was a smart-ass to my brother, he was nice to me). The bathrooms were super-nice and I can't wait till I'm rich enough to buy a shower head like the ones they offer!
Check out this page to see how nice the bathrooms were:
http://www.awardhq.com/Custom/48323_HIExpress/cat_bath_collection.html
There was a CVS drug store across the street in case you'd like to get pictures developed at the one-hour-photo (like we did) and to pick up batteries, film, snacks, drinks and/or beer & wine. Before the show, we kind of stupidly decided to try to find a party or concert psyche-up bar event, which we did, across from the Quicken Loans Arena (near Jacobs Field) and it was there that we saw the Van Halen painted camero. The bar was so crowded with rick-looking people squeezing in & out of the door, that we thought for a minute that the band might just be in there too. We got our picture in front of the Camero, and went in and talked to a few people about the difference between the "Sammy" Van Halen & the "Dave' Van Halen, while waiting for our beverages. We left soon after though, because the prices were really up there. We also were asking around about a Van Halen party AFTER the concert, with no luck...it was drizzling and we couldn't find a liquor store ANYWHERE in the area, which dampened our plans in more ways than one. You can't go to the hotel where the band is staying (the Radisson, I'm assuming, across from the Arena and one of the most expensive if not for the 119.00 a night special by showing your event ticket _ AND SOLD OUT THE FIRST DAY AFTER THE ANNOUNCEMENT) and try to fit into a party without a bottle of some sort...or SOMETHING to share.
Anyway, as the rain got heavier, we headed down to the Quicken Loans Arena..We had our glow sticks that my brother brought to sell or give away, in vain, before the show, but got looks like I'd NEVER seen from a group of supposedly happy people...then we found out upon entering that glow sticks aren't allowed inside. What a bunch of maroons! We hid them in the bushes and took them back to the hotel afterward.
The arena was really nice. The acoustics were great from where we sat. We paid $6.25 for a very large draft beer in a cup, and there were plenty of food and drink booths, as well as commonly located concert souvenir tents, inside and outside. The most inexpensive t-shirt was $35.00 with most of them being $40.00 each. Most of them were black, and one was grey. My brother only likes the white ones, and hasn't been to a concert, evidently in a long while, because he thought $40.00 was too much for a t-shirt. I, being the experienced concert-goer (LOL), knew that $40.00 was commonplace. And it hurt my belly that I left without one. (I checked Ebay today though, and I'm sure that sometime before the tour is over, I will find each of us one, for little more than the shipping cost. over what they were charging at the Arena.) i personally didn't care for the cheaply made designs on the T-shirts. They reminded me too much of Journey with the wings coming out from the "VH". I would have preferred a Van Halen shirt that had the dates of the tour on the back of the shirt, much bigger, and a glittery or IDK, something "cool" on the front than just the teeny "VH" with wings and a crown on top...maybe a picture of the 4 guys, showing Wolfgang with them and Dave in the Center or something.
Kai Mani Marley, youngest child of The great Bob Marley, sounded wonderful, as the opening act, mellow and refreshing, but definitely not a band that I would recommend to "warm-up" for the great Van Halen. With TONS of new rocking music out there (hell, we met a great bass player at the Greyhound station that was on tour with a band called: "RUN". He gave us a CD to listen to and THEY would have been a GREAT band to warm Van Halen crowd up!) Which reminds me, my brother saw the guy doing the main sound board on his Greyhound bus from Baltimore to Cleveland, and do you think they guy would give us a hello or a tip of the head once we got into the venue? Hell no!
Anyway, until the lights went off and on for Van Halen to come on, we squeezed in a couple cigarettes out at one of the 3 smoking areas outdoors. THANK GOD there was a little overhang or we would have been soaked. That's where all the COOL people go - the smoking area. Everyone at any one I have ever been at, has been cordial, friendly, and talkative. That's usually where you get a party invite too..We weren't that lucky that night. Just so you know: the website that tells ANYTHING you would ever need to know about the Quicken Loans Arena stated that there were little TV screens at the smoking areas, and there weren't. And we never did find the smoking area outside of Gordon's Sports Bar in the back of the Arena, only the one down by section 120, about 50 yards away.
FYI: Here's the EXCELLENT website for Quicken Loans Arena: http://www.theqarena.com/
OK, back to the concert... The band stuck to the online posted set-lists like glue, and unfortunately, just seemed to zip through many of the songs. We were lucky enough to be the the show where David Lee Roth was celebrating his birthday (October 10th, 1954) and had made a really cool sign/card for him with glitter, lights and - well it was just cool, but even though my brother had PURPOSELY paid the big bucks for floor seats JUST SO HE WOULD BE ALLOWED TO GO UP BY THE STAGE, the Q.L. Arena staff quickly rushed us back to our THISCLOSETOGETHER fold-out chair seats every time we tried to get up closer. Now that made my bro' a sad little boy..We were no more than I'd say 20 rows back from where the s-curve stage came out into the crowd, and I couldn't see worth a shit. An I wore 3 inch heeled boots just in case! Everyone stood the entire time, which was all fine and good, but no one stood on their chairs, so I couldn't see, except for the big screens that the Arena offered. THANK GOD. So that is what many of our pictures were of - the screens showing what the tiny band members were doing on stage. IF YOU EVER GO THERE< AND CAN'T GET WITHIN THE FIRST 5-10 ROWS, GO AHEAD AND TRY TO GET THE NEXT LEVEL UP OR YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO SEE.We were 3 seats from the sound guy, on the floor. I got claustrophobic for a while, and went and got a beer and watched the guitar solo (after the 9th song) from the upper level. it was a MUCH better view and AMBIENCE up there. PLUS I COULD BREATHE! The chairs were just entirely too close together.
The very nice girl I met next to me apologized because she had to talk the guy she came with into coming because someone had just died in their family - so they weren't yelling much, and the folks behind us were pretty quiet too. If they don't have a mosh pit. they should at least have a "rowdy area" for us concert freaks, I think. Here's how the stage was set up:
My favorites were "Atomic Punk"...it had an awesome intro, "Everybody Wants Some" (Dave did a cool introduction to that one), and of course, "Hot For Teacher", "Ice Cream Man" and "Panama". "Jump" was ok, but not as crazy as I would have hoped for the end of a show...I got the impression that they were glad that this whole monotonous set was over. They brought out that huge blow-up microphone, with Dave riding it, then did nothing else with it.
(Image from BlogsNRoses.com)
It would have been cool if they would have let the crowd surf it a while. OR, maybe it was just ME, being bummed because the concert was over at that point...who knows.
Here was the set list: (with the albums that they came out on listed afterward)
The group's set list was as follows:
Set list:
01. You Really Got Me (from Van Halen, 1978)
02. I'm the One (from Van Halen, 1978)
03. Runnin' With the Devil (from Van Halen, 1978)
04. Romeo Delight (from Women and Children First, 1980)
05. Somebody Get Me a Doctor (from Van Halen II, 1979)
06. Beautiful Girls (from Van Halen II, 1979)
07. Dance the Night Away (from Van Halen II, 1979)
08. Atomic Punk (from Van Halen, 1978)
09. Everybody Wants Some (from Women and Children First, 1980)
10. So This Is Love? (from Fair Warning, 1981)
11. Mean Street (from Fair Warning, 1981)
12. Pretty Woman (from Diver Down, 1982)
13. Drum Solo
14. Unchained (from Fair Warning, 1981)
15. I'll Wait (from 1984, 1984)
16. And the Cradle Will Rock (from Women and Children First, 1980)
17. Hot for Teacher (from 1984, 1984)
18. Little Dreamer (from Van Halen, 1978)
19. Little Guitars (from Diver Down, 1982)
20. Jamie's Cryin' (from Van Halen, 1978)
21. Ice Cream Man (from Van Halen, 1978)
22. Panama (from 1984, 1984)
23. Guitar Solo (incl. "Women in Love" intro, "Cathedral", "Eruption")
24. Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love (from Van Halen, 1978)
Encore
25. 1984 (from 1984, 1984)
26. Jump (from 1984, 1984)
The only difference between our show and those that I had read at http://vanhalentour2007.blogspot.com/ , was that during the guitar solo that Eddie did, he goofed around with "Romeo Delight" on the guitar a bit as well.
There wasn't much dialog at all that I can recall, except for Dave saying that this was one of the best birthdays he had had in a long time, but somehow I just didn't believe it (unless maybe it was because he met up with his daughter and granddaughter - see my last "research' post..who knows...not really my business anyway..)
But PLEASE don't take this wrong. I KNOW it's coming out sort of negative, but it was an AWESOME VAN HALEN SET AND SHOW and I enjoyed it IMMENSELY! I whooped it up and hollered the entire time (my brother is still a little hoarse, 2 days later) We "danced the night away" became "atomic punks" and "jump(ed)" till we were "unchained". it was a great show and I will remember it always. See, i wasn't one of the lucky ones who had seen Van Halen tour with Diamond Dave back in the day, this was my first time seeing them, and it was fantastic. How many concerts to you get to go to where the main band plays 26 SONGS??!! None I can recall!
I feel it necessary to mention a few things that I noticed that took me by surprise:
Eddie Van Halen had a gold wedding band on his right hand. I felt compelled to do research on this, which is in the next or previous research post..(entitled "wedding band on..!") Also the fact that Eddie looked SO BAD. Oh God, of course I know he's been through a lot, but his ribs were all sticking out, and he had a little bit of "old-man" boobs" hanging down. If I didn't know how old he was, I'd swear he was 60 and had dyed his hair. He didn't move a whole hell of a lot around the stage, and neither did Dave at this show for that matter. I do remember ONE high kick.
Wolfie was one cool 16 year old young man. he played it up and wore aviator sunglasses. he was cool and having fun, and sang JUST EXCELLENT. OH, and yes, My brother noticed that Dave forgot the words about 5 times, but I didn't catch it. And he was all huggy with Eddie at this show too. Eddie and Wolfgang held hands when they walked off the stage which would have embarrassed the hell out of my 16 year old, but more power to 'em. I would have been so proud I would have squeezed the crap out of him and gave him a big fat kiss too.
In conclusion, about the concert,, I wish we could have gotten close enough to allow the band to read our posters and notice us...just like 75 percent of the auditorium probably wished too. Isn't that what it's all about? Being cool and being noticed? At a concert, I always thought it was.
The next day, having until 5 pm to have to catch our perspective busses to return "home", we enjoyed the Rock-and-Roll Hall of Fame, which is right at the end of Ninth Avenue near Lake Erie and about a 10 minute walk from the Arena and downtown hotels. (http://www.rockhall.com/ ) I had been there when it FIRST opened and saw the ABSOLUTELY STUPENDOUS once-in-a-lifetime-9-hour concert for the grand opening of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (so now maybe you see that my point of view may be a bit jaded...I have been some MIND BLOWING concerts in my life, and some from the first row..Examples: Pink Floyd; Detroit, 3rd Row with "groceries", Mellencamp, first row center, Styx right in front of the stage, Melissa Etheridge, at a tiny bar on her first tour, the list goes on and on..) it and will never forget the "in Memoriam" floor (THEN, and ENTIRE floor with dimmed lights and no talking, now just a corner on the 2nd floor with 3 photos in frames - talk about disappointed..) The entire 5th floor was shut off while they were working on a Beatles tribute. So the first time I went, it took more than 5 hours to see everything, this time we zipped through, in a matter of 2 and a half hours, and that included the 3rd floor which was the teeny little cafeteria (don't get the hamburgers, they are pre-made and microwaved and like rubber...NASTY.) The store on this tip was the best part, OH and the video put together of all the funny things said by the inductees at the various inaugerations...none included anyone from Van Halen though, who was just inducted in may of this year.
I thank the Lord and my brother for this opportunity, and for keeping us safe, and wish the entire Van Halen tour continued good health, fun shows and lots of happiness, and the most awesome memories from all the work that they put into this tour, that will last a lifetime.
'Till I get 'em all uploaded into this blog, here's the link to the
(kinda crappy but what do you expect from section 4 row O with a disposable camera??)
VAN HALEN CONCERT PICTURES from the CLEVELAND SHOW ON OCTOBER 10th, 2007...
http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewPicture&friendID=152734660&albumId=2209431
THANKS FOR READING! PLEASE ADD SOME COMMENTS!!
XOXO TTownRobin
I was just a tad offended by this concert review, by
but I did understand his point to a certain extent because I felt the same way on a few occasions. So I went ahead and added it on to my review...I hope I don't confuse anyone..:
FOUND AT: http://www.courant.com/entertainment/music/reviews/hc-vanhalenrev1007.artoct07,0,6937883.story
PRINTED OCTOBER 13, 2007
Van Halen Reunion Nothing Special
By THOMAS KINTNER | Special to the Courant
October 7, 2007
"The whether and when of a Van Halen reunion with original lead singer David Lee Roth have been subjects of frequent speculation ever since Roth quit the enterprise in April 1985, a rabbit that would not come out of its hat until at last the band kicked off its current tour last month.
The famously combustible band brought its signature brand of boisterous, hard-charging rock to the Mohegan Sun Arena on Friday for a show that had some impressive moments but was generally more serviceable than special.
Although the signature presences of Roth and guitarist Eddie Van Halen were sufficient to satisfy most nostalgia, the band's lineup was not quite its original, as bass player Michael Anthony has been replaced by Van Halen's 16-year-old son, Wolfgang. That role has never been the band's lynch pin and remained secondary as drummer Alex Van Halen hammered out a back beat for the rowdy opener "You Really Got Me" while his brother Eddie tore into the melody with sharp-edged electric licks.
Roth's role requires little more than an ability to bark festively in a manner sufficiently assertive to match up with full bore rock anthems, and despite having accrued some additional rasp on his voice's high end over the years, he remained game enough to handle the chore as he yelped "I'm the One" and pushed along the chunky "Runnin' With the Devil." Short-haired relative to the flowing locks of his glory years, the 53-year-old Roth was more tentative and less kinetic than the memories he was trying to evoke, almost asking for the crowd's approval where once he would have commanded it as he battered the lyric of "Somebody Get me a Doctor." He looked fit and frequently punctuated his performances with spinning high kicks, twirled microphone stands and other colorful touches that were the closest things to spectacle in a generally straightforward show.
The storied antagonism between Roth and the Van Halen brothers was nowhere to be seen as the singer went out of his way to vamp Eddie's still-incendiary playing as it formed the centerpiece of the roaring "Everybody Wants Some." The tour is most assuredly a marriage of convenience for two factions that desired the buzz - and payday - their reunion would bring, but the band members seemed almost surprisingly cordial in ways that went beyond the couple of hugs the always-grinning Roth and Eddie Van Halen managed during the show.
With the exception of a snippet of "316" during Eddie Van Halen's lengthy guitar solo near its end, the entire set was built from tunes from the Roth era, which meant everything was at least 23 years old. Much of it remained a dynamic mix of hard rock and pop, from the springy "Unchained" to the rugged throb of "And the Cradle Will Rock." Roth opened "Ice Cream Man" by reminiscing his way through a solo acoustic guitar bit (in fact, Wolfgang Van Halen was the lone member of the quartet who didn't take a solo turn), and his voice was a touch creaky during a blowout trip through "Panama."
The set ran to two hours by the time it closed with a pulsating rendition of "Ain't Talkin' `Bout Love," and then extended with a brief encore of the band's lone chart-topping single, "Jump." The tune closed with Roth riding a big inflatable microphone across the stage, but the prerecorded keyboard line was more in line with how adornments fit into the program, a light touch in a show that tied up more efforts in raw energy than gimmicky flair."
DAMN! My Hair looked GOOD! Too bad it went flat as soon as we started walking in the drizzling rain to the show..At least I got a (dark) picture of it...!
