Van Halen - Finally?!?
 

Or at least as close as it can be...
http://www.reuters.com/article/entertainmentNews/idUSN0746408220070807

I guess we'll have to wait and see...

hmmm October rhymes with sober....

not holding my breath.

Have you seen a picture of him lately? He cleaned up! No, really. He was on the cover of Guitar Magazine (I think, don't have it handy) a month or so ago, and he looks great.

Does this mean I'll have to listen to them on the radio again? Sigh..........

I'll believe it when I see them hit the stage, pigs fly and Axl Rose reunited with GNR and shows up on time for a gig.

Before:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/features/...12vanhalen.jpg

and after:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...van_ha3456.jpg

Yeah, Dave's hair is in bad shape. But he's still in top physical shape and I bet no one is more motivated to pull off a great show than he is. Lord knows, he could use the money.

Would I go? I'd love to go. I just don't want to taint the great memories of the band, like some lame PBS special featuring 60's folk musicians, playing their geriatric hearts out, loosing their voices, rhythm, and stage presence and destroying any semblance of dignity and pride.

In my experience, that hasn't been the case with the old bands. For example, my wife has dragged me for three years in a row to a small outdoor venue in Eastern San Diego county to see Pat Benatar, and I've gotta tell you, she and her husband (guitarist) and the rest of the band absolutely give an awesome show - spot on perfect - and she's 54 years old.

Fleetwood Mac is another example I can think of.

The pros, when they hunker down and get to the business of it, can still dish it out.

What came to my mind:

The Kingston trio on PBS (Like visiting an old age home)
Peter, Paul and Mary live. Mary has no voice left.
Jimmy Page and Robert Plant Unledded, sorry but I need Led from those two.
Ringo (PBS)
Elvis Costello (PBS)
Rolling Stones (Super Bowl XL Half-time show)
Old Elvis

Yeah, OK all these guys are older than VH, but look at Roth!

He's set for a while, he got every penny of his three year multi million dollar contract with KROC in New York, and was only the air for a few weeks.

Sorry, that shark was jumped 20 years ago...

I last saw VH on the "reunion tour" in 2004. Lots of folks said it sucked, but I swear I caught them on a really good night. It was one of the best concerts I've ever been to and I've seen VH a good 20 times or so.

However, I am concerned about quality with this latest reunion. Has Ed's kid ever played out? Can he sing like Iron Mike? Mike's backup vocals were every bit as much of the VH sound as is Ed's guitar. I'm sure Wolfgang is a child prodigy and it's not like Mike's bass lines are that challenging. But I have a very hard time seeing Wolfgang fill those shoes. And I'm so pissed about the way the brothers treated Mike and DLR, that this will be very hard money for me to spend.

If this does happen, I might be interested in going. I saw VH with Sammy in the mid '90s.

Hang in there...They'll probably be opening for Paul Revere & the Raiders in Branson soon.;)

I saw them the summer of 78. They rocked the world. Saw them in 81, same, saw them in 83 or 84 before Dave left. All Awesome. Saw them in 04 and they were good. I wish EVH hadn't tried to jump because he got off the stage a good 3 inches as opposed to the good old days. Then on one song he wanked with his tone control on one weird solo for a couple of minutes. I wanted to yell out WTF are you doing? I don't know if I'd go again though. Those old shows are indellibly etched in my memory. At one I recall going into the bathroom and some guy was taking a leak at the urinal. He was wobbling pretty bad and finally passed out smacking his head hard with his dick still in his hand. Some joker yelled out, hey man, got any more of that stuff. You had to be there.

Still say it is not truly "Van Halen" without Michael Anthony.

I am disappointed that they (i.e., Eddie) chose to exclude Michael from the reunion.

Did Michael Anthony have a falling out with the brothers? Or does Eddie just want to show his kid the family business?