Van Halen -- San Jose, CA -- December 16th, 2007

[ADD]

People said it would never happen, and that if it did it wouldn't much last longer than the time it took for Eddie Van Halen to get out of rehab. Well, in the words of Mr. T, Van Halen are back with David Lee Roth in his rightful spot behind the mic, and even without Michael Anthony these guys still put on a hell of a show. Yeah its not the same Van Halen from the early 80's, but still the arena rock experience is fun on occasion when you've got a VH or a Maiden or a Priest up there. Nothing beats small club shows obviously, but sometimes its a good change to be in that kind of environment. Saw a few awesome old school diehards who were clearly locked in a time warp that sealed around 1985 (still a wonder how they afforded tickets) and the rare metalhead, but it was otherwise you're typical 80's rock band reunion crowd. My family actually went together for my mom's birthday so my parents totally fit in with the crowd, everyone had a blast though. Roth-era Van Halen is pretty sentimental/nostalgic for me because some of my most vivid childhood memories are of playing whiffle ball in the backyard in the summertime with my brother while my uncle would be blasting albums like Van Halen II and 1984 from his trailer in the back, damn good times.


All that aside, the show itself was great. The opening band was some weird reggae shit I dunno what the hell was up with that, should've gone the whole nine yards and gotten Ratt to open or something They had these cool Van Halen blimps flying around the break between bands and this one like disco Neanderthal guy running around on the floor who I can't even do justice to, but I'll try to describe him anyways; sleeveless fur jacket, no shirt, legit beer belly, white sparkling headband, 80's long poofy hair, white short-shorts, Blackie Lawless-style codpiece over the shorts, leather boots, doing high screams and thrusting motions every two seconds. He was a major attraction, people were just getting a kick out of this dude. I dunno if he was planted there or what but it sure as hell was entertaining. So yeah, VH put on a bitchin' show, they are definitely more of an entertainment Las Vegas-style performance than a rock concert to me but hey its all about the fun. Great costumes, lasers, catwalk into the crowd, I was hoping the stage set itself would be more elaborate and we didn't get any explosions but it was certainly more of a spectacle than I'm used to. At the end of the set a huge disco ball turned out and a bunch of confetti came down on the crowd. David Lee Roth is in really good shape, he runs around and does his acrobatics and all, lots of fun to watch. and I loved his speech before "Ice Cream Man" too. Eddie looks like he's having a blast on stage as well, and he can still totally shred it, coolest live guitar solo I've ever seen. Wolfgang was competent, it really takes a lot of guts to get up there night after night in front of all those people when you're only 16, I can't even imagine doing that so major props to him. Alex was probably the least "on" last night, he was offbeat a few times and his solo went on a little long but he still nailed "Hot For Teacher" and that's all that I care about from him anyways These guys really give a lot on stage and give the audience their moneys worth I think, 2 hour set with all the songs people want to hear. Highlights for me were "Atomic Punk" (hell yes ), "Ice Cream Man", "Hot For Teacher", and "Panama." Rad show, so happy that I finally got to see it come true, and I'm sure my late uncle is somewhere very pleased about it himself

Setlist:

01. You Really Got Me
02. I'm the One
03. Runnin' With the Devil
04. Romeo Delight
05. Somebody Get Me a Doctor
06. Beautiful Girls
07. Dance the Night Away
08. Atomic Punk
09. Everybody Wants Some
10. So This Is Love?
11. Mean Street
12. Pretty Woman
13. Drum Solo
14. Unchained
15. I'll Wait
16. And the Cradle Will Rock
17. Hot for Teacher
18. Little Dreamer
19. Little Guitars
20. Jamie's Cryin'
21. Ice Cream Man
22. Panama
23. Guitar Solo (incl. "Women in Love" intro, "Cathedral", "Eruption")
24. Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love
------------------------
25. Jump

[TonyD]

Does anyone know if they are doing some kind of rotating setlist or if they are playing the same shit in a different order?

[ADD]

Originally Posted by TonyD

Does anyone know if they are doing some kind of rotating setlist or if they are playing the same shit in a different order?

I don't think the setlist has changed much. I might be going on Saturday also with a few friends who didn't get to go on Sunday so that'll be rad.

[TheWhisper88]

I'm pretty sure that is the same setlist I saw in Philly back in October.
Great show though. I can't wait to see 'em again in March at MSG.