I saw the fellas in concert last night. They can still play, rock hard, and put on a damn good show. Sammy is a great entertainer. He was signing autographs constantly during the show. People kept throwong items on stage, and he'd sign them and throw them back. I've never seen that before.

Eddie and Alex haven't missed a beat. I have heard that Eddie has been in poor health in recent years. Hip replacement, cancer, alcoholism, etc., but he looked great. He's extremely trim and muscular, and he still jumped as good as he ever did. Played a mean guitar too. They all seemed to really have a good time.

I saw them during the first tour with Sammy, and this was better. I saw Sammy and Dave on tour too, and this was better, though Dave's set was pretty good, and Sammy wasn't bad. I saw Dave solo back on his first tour without Van Halen, and that was very good, but last night was better. I like Van Halen with Sammy and with Dave, but I think it's really Sammy's band now. Any other Van Halen fans among IMWANs?

I saw the Gary Cherone tour (they played at the Australia Institute of Sport here in Canberra).

Michael Anthony stole the show among the Aussie crowd. All night he was sucking VBs (the no#1 local beer) and pouring beer into the mouths of the guys in the front row. They were awesome.

One of the highlights for me was that local band Liquid opened for them. They've since broken up but they were legendary. What a pair to go see!

Alex had some weird neck brace on though...

I was a fan since way back when I first heard "Jump."
I used to love all those old crazy videos with David Lee Roth that
they used to do back in the early days of MTV. But I think, overall,
I'm more of a fan with of their material with Sammy Hagar. They
were a "fun" band with Dave, but were a "rock" band with Sammy.
I know that's probably not a fair assessment of them, since I'm not
familiar with their work pre-"1942" (I was only 12) but it's "Van Hagar"
that I grew up with, so that's my band.

I was a mega Van Halen fan back in high school and college. Diamond Dave was the fastest talking smartass frontman of all time and the band in general was just tops. I had a 3' x 3' Van Halen banner and on that banner I had over 100 unique Van Halen related pins (all pre-Sammy). I think I know every word and nuance to every pre-Sammy song.

The last Sammy albumn, Balance, was my favorite that they put out as Van Hagar. I like Diamond Dave better with the band and I like Sammy better as a solo artist, but I am glad they are all doing well and I hope they are having fun!.

I saw them with Gary Cherone too, but........

Umm....

Yeah, that was pretty bad. Let's not discuss that.

?

Whoa, that takes me back!

I must've been 12 or 13, too young to drink, for sure!

I'm a big Van Halen fan as well, though after the Gary Cherone debacle I pretty much gave them up. I don't really have much desire to see them live anymore. As far as Sammy vs. Dave is concerned, give me Dave six days a week and twice on Sunday.

I've always enjoyed Van Halen -- never cared much for "Van Hagar" though. They're playing Spokane this year, too... I don't plan on going. I might try to win some free tickets on the radio station, but I won't pay $100 for two tickets.

I saw VH back in 1980 or 1981. It was like watching gods descend from the sky: they were young, beautiful, bursting with energy, constantly in motion, happy, decadent, high, funny, loose, amazing. Eddy was the only musical reason to watch the show but what a reason! They only played about 40 minutes, though.

em... Van who?

I was a huge Van Halen fan. I even liked them through "Van Hagar" but not "Van Ex-Extreme".

But to me they were never the same without Diamond Dave. He was the man. They should have his picture from around Van Halen 2 on the Dictionary next to the work "RockStar". He lived it, and you can tell by the shape he is on today.

The man was a rock and roll machine. The band at that time was the best band in the world to me. Very raw.

The Van Halen pinnacle, to me, was Diver Down. I wore that tape down!

I loved the David Lee Roth incarnation. Sammy joined after I graduated high school, and at that point, I ceased paying much attention to the band. In retrospect, though, the early "Van Hagar" stuff wasn't bad at all. (I don't know if I've ever even heard anything from the brief Cherone era.)

I didn't realize that Sammy was back with the band! That shows you how out of touch I am. Didn't he swear that he was never coming back? (It didn't seem like a real amiable parting, anyway, from what I've heard.)

And then Eddie whispered those magic words in Sammy's ear:

CHA-CHING!

Loved that song:

"There's a fire....
In the Hole."

I'm sorry, what is this "tape" to which you refer?

"Jamie's Cryin'" and "Running With The Devil" rock!!!

Edward

Not only was it analog, it was serial access only! But that's what the Walkman played...

From WENN:

Van Halen Urges Ex-Band Member to Get Help

Van Halen star Alex Van Halen has urged former band mate David Lee Roth to seek medical help after severing all ties with the eccentric singer.

In a rare candid interview, the drummer dismisses reports he and brother Eddie are planning to reunite with "Jump" singer Lee Roth.

He says, "He needs meds. I am very serious about that. It's that simple. It's not even his fault, really."

"Whatever our personal differences are, there are no bigger fans of this band than the people who are in this band. So we understand why people would love to see that sort of reunion. But that's just not going to happen. Some things are impossible."

"The Beatles will never get back together and David Lee Roth will never again sing with Van Halen."

The group has reunited with another former singer, Sammy Hagar, and are currently working on new material.

What is the status of Dave's health? Obviously Alex and Eddie think he's mental.

While Van Hagar is good, Van Halen was better.

So naturally, when I picked up Best of Both Worlds, I was disappointed that the tracks were mixed. It should have been Disc One: Classic Disc Two: New Guy

So, I had to make my own disc. All Dave, all the Time. That's the one that spins in the player.


Ladd