The Nibbana Family

Last night we saw Van Halen in concert with tickets I won on the radio. I’ll spare you the standard fare regarding the miracle of seeing David Lee Roth on stage again with the VH’s and go right into thoughts on the show.

The most imporant aspect of the show, the music, was incredible. You could close your eyes and think you were listening to the original recordings – they sounded that good. They roared through the hits without any misses. Sure, a few mistakes here and there, but what stood out was how clean the show was. How absolutely perfect. How “sterile”. And not in a good way.

There were no fancy pyrotechniques. No fancy light show. Heck, even the keyboardist was kept off stage and relegated to the pit. Eddie’s 16 year old son, Wolfie Van Halen (who replaced original bassist Michael Anthony), exhibited far less energy than his 50 year old bandmates and strolled around stage playing bass and never cracked smile. There just wasn’t much action on stage.

David Lee Roth, forever the perfect frontman and master showman, possessed a stage presence as sassy as his sparkling torso-baring jackets. Beaming perpetually, Eddie sometimes spun and sprung as his fingers, which were granted frequent close-ups on the big screen behind the stage, worked their wizardry.

Overall it was a pretty good show. The music was impeccable; the show just wasn’t much to behold. The energy seemed to be lacking and the crowd wasn’t very involved. I don’t know, perhaps since I’m not the biggest VH fan I just wasn’t in to it. Here is a clip from last nights show, judge for yourself: