Van Halen
Virginia Beach Amphitheater
Virginia Beach, VA
August 19, 1998

Set List - Click here!

Review by Ben - cabo126@erols.com

EXCELLENT!!! A good mix of their music and the sound was great. Eddie's tone was very cool.....the Wolfgang and 5150's sound great. The drums were huge, bass was tight and Gary actually sang all the songs real well.....If you are a fan then you wont be disappointed!!! I know this is brief but the show just ended and I'm REALLY TIRED!!!

After a quick meet and greet with the band, and the chance to shake Eddie's hand after years of idolizing him, we came from backstage to enjoy the show.

As the lights went down, "Unchained" blistered as the band's opener. Several songs off of the new album were played and then it was back to the rock of nearly 2 decades ago!

The band sounds as tight as ever. Although it wasn't the VH of old, with David Lee Roth at the helm, Gary Cherone's theatrics went over well enough. The crowd couldn't get enough and begged for two encores! Michael Anthony took the lead vocals on "Somebody Get Me A Doctor" and the crowd was so excited they needed a prescription for sedatives!

A great time was had by all, including the band. Do yourself a favor and check them out when they visit your town!

Wow!...The boys started with Unchained and finished me off with Jump. In between lay 17 songs of pure pleasure that seemed to end too quickly.

Eddie (what bad hip) was awesome, Gary (is he a gymnast) was the ringleader, Mike (only 1 shot of JD tonight) can sing and screech and Alex (in a full neck brace!!!!!) pounded the skins like....well a madman!

Fortunately, the boys are in Richmond on the 28th so I will indulge myself to another night of a 2 hour hard-on......

This was my second night in a row of seeing the band...my, oh, my, it was worth all the travelling. The set began just as it did Tuesday in Raleigh, with "Unchained", "Without You", "One I Want", "Mean Street", "When It's Love", and "Fire in the Hole". During "Why Can't This Be Love", Eddie experienced some microphone difficulties and his lead vocal on the verse he sings kept fading in and out. He got pissed and knocked the mike off the stand.

Following "Why Can't This Be Love", the boys played "I'm The One". Tight is too mild a description for the performance. Gary was dead on with his vocals. Apparently, this gets switched with "Romeo Delight" every other night, so you are guaranteed that the set list is getting stale.

The boys continued through the set doing magnificent versions of everything they touched. The only major flaw may have been when Eddie's pick seemed to slip out of his hand during the beginning of "Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love" and they kind of did a "do-over".

The crowd was so into this show, it was unbelievable. They were rewarded with TWO EXTRA songs for encores - "Dance the Night Away" and "Feel Your Love Tonight". I was in VH fan heaven!!!

I can't stress this enough - go to see them. They're having the time of their lives and it shows in the music. One request of the VH fans though, from a fellow fan: leave your laser pointers at home or least don't shine them in Eddie's or any of the guys' eyes during the show. There was at least one moment early in the show that someone was flashing one in Eddie's face and you could see him waving them off.

What a show, from the time opening act Kenny Wayne Sheppard hit the stage until the last note of Jump, it was awesome.

The band ripped through a set featuring the old favorites and the new material from III had the sea of fans on their feet for the 2 hours that they were on stage. Mr. Cherone belted out the classics masterfully and although Diamond Dave and Sammy are things of the past, he filled their shoes and then some.

This guy is a dynamic performer, hurling mic stands across the stage like javelins. A bit of a change from the previous encores, in addition to Josephina, Panama and Jump were Feel Your Love Tonight and Dance The Night Away (I believe) thrown in between for good measure.

The band seemed happy the whole time and at last they are just that...a band instead of 1 guy and 3 helpers. And lastly, having seen Kenny Wayne Shepherd on the same night as the Master, Eddie Van Halen was like seeing the best of the future as well as the present and past. My advice....go see the show.