Rock tour review: Van Halen’ rock in search of a party

December 5, 2007

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Rock tour review: Van Halen’ rock in search of a party

December 4th, 2007

From: http://www.oregonlive.com/

by Luciana Lopez, The Oregonian

David Lee Roth summed up Saturday’s Van Halen reunion concert pretty aptly on his own.

He wanted to be serious for a second, he told the Rose Garden crowd, and then he said how glad the band was to be there.

Granted, it was at least 10 seconds, not just one; but it was probably the only serious moment from a band best known these days for its back history of internal drama as for its ferocious riffs and a cheekiness that made them hard not to like back in the day. But if there was any inter-band tension to be had on Saturday, the band kept it in check, delivering instead Eddie Van Halen’s fiery guitar skills, David Lee Roth’s combination of yowling vocals and strutting exhibitionism and two hours of rock looking for a party.

It’s all too easy for a reunion tour to look sad or desperate or just plain old, but Van Halen avoided those traps handily. Sad? The band members looked downright jubilant to be on an arena stage again, and they were prepared and polished. Desperate? Van Halen, especially when playing with Roth, doesn’t take itself seriously enough for that, and their show was solid. Old? Sure, songs such as "Ice Cream Man" (preceded by a Roth story about growing up in the ‘burbs and chilling beer in an ice cream truck) and "Jamie’s Cryin’" draw from the band’s heyday more than 20 years ago, but there was enough energy on stage to make clear the band isn’t shuffling off the mortal coil just yet.

They won’t get carded in a bar, but they’re not ready for the senior discount at the buffet, either.

Not every song from the band’s back catalog worked. "Oh, Pretty Woman," for example, has always felt a little too sweet for the gleefully salacious Roth, who at one point in the show pretended to levitate a hat in front of his leather-clad lower regions. And why open with "You Really Got Me"? Sure, Van Halen’s played it before, but the song is far more associated with the Kinks. Starting with "Panama," instead of playing that song later in the night, could have stamped the show more strongly with the Van Halen identity.

But realistically, Van Halen was never about intellectual probing or deep emotional engagement or personal transformation. Let’s face it, "Hot for Teacher" won’t ever lead to peace in the Middle East. And with a set list that predated not only Bush II but even Bush I, the band wasn’t offering anything particularly new, either.

What the band was and is about, especially with Roth at the helm, is having a good time, and that’s a goal that transcends the years. These days, that search of a good time is colored by nostalgia, as well, a reclamation, if only for a night, of stupidly fun youth. There’s no tomorrow in the Van Halen universe, so you might as well get blitzed tonight.

Nevertheless, there is, clearly, a yesterday for this band: The current tour marks the first time Roth has played live with the band since 1985, when the aforementioned drama erupted and the two split ways. The band’s identity changed when Sammy Hagar took over lead vocal duties, with a more adult sound, but he, too, eventually left the band. The next vocalist, Gary Cherone, formerly of Extreme, didn’t match either Roth’s or Hagar’s success.

But the tour isn’t entirely a reunion. While Eddie’s brother Alex Van Halen is back on drums, bassist Michael Anthony has been replaced by Wolfgang Van Halen, Eddie’s 16-year-old son. While there was a certain sweetness to seeing father and son rock out together — they jumped together off the drum riser at the end of "Jump," the band’s encore song — it was also a jarring reminder that most of the band, if not looking old, aren’t necessarily looking young, either.

Nostalgia’s enough to pack the Rose Garden for a one-night show, but whether that’s enough to keep audiences devoted in the future is another matter. The band reportedly plans to stay together after the tour and record a new album. There’s no such thing as nostalgia for the new, so Van Halen will have to find a new reason for fans to listen. And that’s a serious proposition.