Van Halen
Helsinki Ice Hall
Helsinki, FI
May 27, 1998

Set List

Review by Petri Nauha - petri.nauha@hut.fi

For the first time ever in Finland and the first gig of the European tour for Van Halen. The show ended about 2 hours ago, so here's a very fresh scoop for you.

No jetlag, period! From the first chords of Unchained, the band was spectacular and loud! I'm trying to stay objective here, so here goes: Ed, Al and Mike were enjoying themselves as Gary proved to be the man for this band. He's not Dave and he's not Sammy, but he's a great performer on his own. He was bouncing left, right and center with a knack for some very cool dance moves and other antics... At the quiet break of "Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love" he fell on his knees and mooned the audience. As he started singing "I've been to the edge..." he scratched his ass... Here's a guy that can totally laugh at himself, and hey, that's what makes this band so good in the first place: they're delivering a 100'000 Watt smile at you! Not to mention the music.

The set list was exactly the same as in Philadelphia, except that "Year to the Day" and "Josephina" weren't played at all. Maybe the guys were afraid of playing the new songs on the old continent. The songs from "III" sounded better live, but they only did three of them. Still, Gary's vocals and the whole band sound so good live now that it makes me anxious for the next album! The way they treat the old material makes you think there's something interesting on its way to us. Thsi live feeling will infiltrate into the up and coming songs. They will kick y'alls asses...

The stage looked the same as in the photos from the other shows. Simple, great lighting with just 3 guitar cabs that looked like Marshalls, but no name tags on 'em so can't be sure. Mike had his 3 Ampeg cabs and I got a good look at the infamous "Mad Anthony's Cafe" before the show, where he has his basses and weird coloured lights.

Ed's tone reminded me of vintage VH and the riffs came out like nothing he's done in the past years. His solos and especially his rhythm with Mike and Alex was scary - it all sounded like it was coming straight off a cd! Ed's own solo spot featured Eruption in small segments infiltrated with Cathedral and 316. I've seen him do it 6 times now and I kinda hope that he'll come up with something new for the next tour - he's talked about doing his solo bits in connection with the songs they're intros to, how about it, Ed? I wouldn't mind hearing You Really Got Me, D.O.A. and Secrets after the appropriate solos. I mean, the Mean Street intro sounded absolutely killer to me tonight!

Gary's vocals were great, much better than on the album. He had a very live raspiness to his sound and he did great with all the old VH. The only song he was careful about was ”Right Now”, otherwise he kicked butt on the Sammy-era songs, too.

The band is a whole band now. They play way tighter than with Dave and they have tons of more energy than with Sammy. It's like a fist hitting you in the face with great music experienced best in a full stereo position about 40 feet off the stage, on the floor. That's where I was. Go see 'em, no matter what! Europe's in for a bad-ass treat, not to mention the rest of the U.S.

Oh, the shirts are very cool and they run out fast, so get yourself one while they last. (I'm waiting for the $10 fee you guys promised me for that one...)

Hey it was a GREAT show!! The first time EVER the mighty Van Halen in Finland was surely an event nobody couldn't afford to miss!

Before the show I clearly had some doubts of how Gary would be able to take care of the Roth and Hagar-era material, but he managed to do it above all standards!!! Gary sang the oldies-goldies with his own personal touch and style. And Mike taking the frontman's duty in "Somebody Get Me a Doctor" was an awesome experience!!! And then of course Edward on guitar.. I don't have to explain it anyone who happens to know the guy..

The only thing that somewhat bothered me was Ed's live solo that seemed to be a shortened version. Or maybe it just felt that way, coz time flies when you're listening that kinda remarkable stuff..

Thanx guys for an unforgettable visit in Finland!!

Great show! All of the boys were in top form, especially Eddie! Highlights of the show for me were: Somebody Get Me A Doctor, Why Can't This Be Love, Humans Being, Jump and I'm The One (played as last encore). Now after seeing Cherone do it live I'm convinced that he may have a future in this band....

YEAH!

What can I say... the show was G R E A T. Eddie was the king of the evening. He´s playing was absolutely incredible, and enjoyable. Me and my friends were standin´ pretty close to the stage and it sounded SO powerful...

The highlights of the show were the classic VH tunes. (The whole show was a highlight!) Michael Anthony was just great on "Somebody Get Me A Doctor", they could have very well chosen him to be the lead singer :o) The "samba" part of Alex´s drum solo was cool too.

Eddie played his solo just the way only he can play it. ..and what about Gary... he handled the job very well. He has a lot of energy and so has the whole band too.

They ended the show with I´m The One, and it was a final hit to the face.

Great band, go to the show and see it!

OK, let's be honest. The one and only reason I bought the ticket to the VH Helsinki gig was because of the simple little fact that my favourite singer of all the time got into the band and since there was no hope of seeing Extreme live again,I had to go for the second best... Just kidding...

I really didn't know what to expect of the concert. I was only familiar with the songs of the new album and knew practically nothing about the previously released material. But what can I say about the show is: EXTREMELY GREAT!

Today I bought six old VH albums just to get to know the music better... So that ought to tell something about the inpact the concert had in me... Hope to see VH in Finland soon again. And no matter what the critics say, Gary is the best possible singer for the band.

The guys really rocked and clearly enjoyed performing. Gary does well with both the old and new material, although his singing seemed to be little subdued by the rest of the band in some parts of the show.

It was great to see Ed reproducing the solos of all the old songs with such an ease. His trademark solo was fine, but I would rather hear it integrated with the songs. The same with Al's solo.

Songs like Romeo Delight and Somebody Get Me A Doctor with Mike's amazing singing really proved the band's full of energy and I think the rest of Europe will see unforgettable shows.

VOOA! Van Halen came on stage after the local band had played for about half an hour. The set list was allmost the same as it had been in USA, although they didn´t play Dreams and Josephina. Some highlights of the show: