I had been looking forward to this show for months. Make no mistake, despite the absence of the golden pipes and Jack Daniels-fueled pulse of Michael Anthony, this current incarnation of Van Halen does not disappoint, in fact, they are absolutely fucking transcendent. Honestly, its kind of hard to point out any highlights when the entire face melter-laden set has your synapses firing on ten for two and a half hours straight.
Though Eddie remained physically low key for most of the night, shredding beside his pedal board and occasionally swinging his hips to the beat, Dave more than made up for it by charming the audience with his Zeus-sized rock star persona, at once ridiculous, confounding, and totally love-able like only he can be. It was totally bizarre to see 16 year old Wolfgang Van Halen living out a fantasy I had when I was around his age. The "rooting for Wolfie" aspect of the tour seems to be paying off. His chops are certainly in order, and you can practically feel Eddie bursting with pride as they exchanged high fives on stage.
I heard 20,000 people scream the word "Panama" and it nearly brought me to tears. So what is it about this music that is so universally enjoyable, so longed for, so worth paying hundreds of dollars for? The energy, hooks, musicianship, the showmanship; they just do not seem to exist in the same way anymore, and we miss the actual music as much as we miss our old selves. If any new artist took this approach at this point it would seem silly, thus we must return to the source. Its that nostalgic connection that really makes the experience hit home for me. The pure teenage Americana. A dreamworld where frankenstein guitars scream pinch harmonics heavenward through a dozen Marshall stacks, drowning out the coming workday. Worth every goddamn penny.
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