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Reunited band gives fans a thrill
By Malcolm X Abram
Published on Thursday, Oct 04, 2007
Another week goes by, and another reunited classic rock band rolls into town.
This year, Genesis and the Police have put aside any differences or apprehensions to bring their history-filled concerts into Quicken Loans Arena. On Wednesday a reconstituted Van Halen will try to recapture some glory and re-energize its fan base with a 75 percent reunion tour: Eddie and Alex Van Halen, lead singer ''Diamond'' David Lee Roth and 16-year-old Wolfgang Van Halen, Eddie's son, taking over bass duties for uninvited Michael Anthony.
For many VH fans, the tour is a dream come true. The ''Van Hagar'' era, though longer than the original band's run and wildly successful, was a 10-year, five-album endurance test, and now Van Halen is back more or less as it should be (sorry, Mike).
Count me as one of those fans.
Actually, I owe Van Halen a debt, specifically to the album Van Halen II for opening the ears and eyes of an 11-year-old black kid from East Oakland to the wonderful world of rock/metal. Back in 1981, there wasn't much Van Halen or any other rock blasting out of the windows, car radios or boomboxes of the folks in my neighborhood, and I listened to the same pop and R&B radio station as my friends.
But one fateful Saturday morning during a three-hour drive in the back of a beatdown Datsun 620 pickup named ''Thunder,'' my cousin Melody put side two of Van Halen II into her boombox, said ''Check this out,'' and pressed play.
I was apprehensive because, up to that point, she had been a huge Journey fan, and frankly the melodic arena-rock stylings of Journey weren't pulling me away from my Jackson 5 or Funkadelic records. But I was already in love with the sound of the guitar (see Funkadelic) and the descending guitar intro and main riff of Light Up the Sky was like a glorious kick in the guts. The song featured an elastic guitar solo from Eddie, a rolling, thunderous drum break from Alex, and Roth's raspy wail dripping with the attitude and decadence of rock 'n' roll.
I was equally transfixed by Eddie's 60-second acoustic workout Spanish Fly, the lunkheaded metal riff of D.O.A. made me bang my head for the very first time, and I couldn't argue with Roth's declarations that all he needed were some Beautiful Girls.
It was a pivotal moment in my young life, and after that trip I began skipping around the radio dial looking for other songs with distorted power chords and screaming 16-bar guitar solos. Naturally, I acquired VH's catalog, which at the time also had their landmark self-titled debut, their third record, Women & Children First, and the least successful of the Roth era and still my favorite, Fair Warning.
What made the band textbook rock stars throughout the '80s is also what made them less cool in the earnest, anti-star, grunge '90s. In the Roth years, Van Halen was a hard-rockin' party band that was too big for the Pasadena bars where they paid their dues. They had a shameless ham of a frontman in Roth, who embodied and embraced the cartoonish aspects of super-rock stardom, and an innovative guitarist whose flashy style and techniques were perfect for the excess of the '80s and would influence a generation of guitarists.
The first six albums featured no pretentious concepts and no capitulations to disco, new wave or punk (Atomic Punk is not a punk song), but just a lot of good-time, arena-ready rock 'n' roll that inspired frenzied air-guitar-playing, spontaneous breast-flashing and communal fist-pumping.
It's been 23 years since the release of the original Van Halen's most successful album, 1984, which signaled Roth's exit and Sammy Hagar's entrance into the band. Though the Hagar era was very successful, and Eddie always maintained aspirations of turning VH into a ''class act,'' the band was never as much fun as in those early years, and the guitarist underestimated the power and pure joy that a big dumb rock song such as Everybody Wants Some can engender in fans.
Since 1984, fans have endured multiple breakups, a near-reformation with Roth in 1996, marriages, divorces, rehab, arrests and questionable career choices on all sides (Anyone miss Roth's radio show? How about former vocalist Gary Cherone?).
But for me and millions of other fans, all will be forgiven as soon as Eddie plays the opening strains of You Really Got Me and Roth screams ''Hellooooo, Cleveland!!''
The band isn't doing any interviews (how many times can you say ''no, no really, we don't hate each other''), but early reviews from fans and critics say the 50-something Eddie, Alex and Dave and young Wolfie look and sound good, with Roth still able to rip off a few of the high notes and his famous high kicks. The inevitable fan-recorded videos on YouTube back this up, showing a healthy and short-haired Roth and Eddie Van Halen side by side, smiling at and even hugging each other and seemingly enjoying themselves.
The 26-song set list (picked out by Wolfgang, according to Roth) should please every fan of the era, mixing obligatory choices such as Jump and Runnin' With the Devil with album favorites such as Ice Cream Man and Romeo Delight.
With the tour selling out enough to force an expansion from 26 to 40 dates, everyone involved stands to make googobs of money.
No one will discuss any future recording plans for the band, and there is always the chance that during the tour, the old tensions will resurface and the onstage good vibes will dissipate. But with Cleveland being only the fourth date on the tour, Northeast Ohio fans are likely to get one of the better shows.
So get your fists ready and tune up your air guitars.
Malcolm X Abram can be reached at mabram@thebeaconjournal.com or 330-996-3758.
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