Review by Jim Coarse - m9allm9@hotmail.com

I left tonights show early. I came to see Dave. NOT Bad Company. Bad Company was BAD! But Dave, DAVE was the man!!! Forget about Eddie because he's got Bart and the gang.

He shouldn't really bash Sammy Hagar. VH didn't hire Sammy to kick out Dave. Dave left and they just needed someone to fill his shoes. So Dave and Sammy, could be friends! But ya know what? I would really like to see Dave back with VH. But ya know what, then where would this place Bart? He's to good to be left alone again. SO! Dave should keep his new band. They sounded MUCH better then VH3.

The best part about the show was that you can tell that everyone on that stage has worked their butt off to be where they are. Dave's been working on all the old VH stuff and Bart must worship EVH. I don't think he even used to 5150. It was all Marshalls! I miss the old VH toooooooo much. But when Dave comes back. I'm coming to see him.

The mighty DLR Band took the Mann Music Center stage at 8 PM and closed out the set at about 8:48 before returning for the encore. The entire show was a total of 55 minutes. What was cool was that Bart Walsh and Todd Jensen simply walked out on the stage, followed by DLR and Ray Luzier, who took his seat at the drum stool. The stage did not go dark, which was nice for a change.

Highlights include:

• After Little Guitars, Roth said something along the lines of "We have ourselves a little dance contest here", and the band kicked into Dance The Night Away, replacing Slam Dunk in the set. This is the first time that has been done in all 6 US shows so far on the tour.
• The rest of the show saw the same DLR one-liners as the previous shows on the tour, including the Sammy Hagar insult and "you're so sweet you must **** sugar."
• I must say, however, that David Lee Roth rocked tonight harder than anybody I have ever seen. I have finally seen EVERY member of VH in some form in concert, and though the VH 1995 Balance show I saw will always rank as my favorite, DLR is definitely the best performer out of the three singers, and that's no offense to Sammy, because he is my personal favorite.
• He did the leg kicks, and even did 2-3 splits off the drum riser during Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love.
• For Panama, he actually did the whole "I reach down ... between my legs ... and ease the seat back ..." speech. It was totally awesome.
• Jump was the single encore, and it was sounded amazing. DLR did the kung-fu mike twirling to perfection, and did the split where he kicks his hands with his legs. Totally awesome.

The crowd was totally into the show and extremely loud. I would say close to 10,000 people were there for the set. I could be a little over on that estimation, however.

And for all you fashion monitors out there, DLR was wearing tight neon orange bell-bottom pants, with white stripes throughout. They were kind of like a candy-cane type look. And he had a darkish pink shiny button down shirt.

Ray Luzier pounded away on the drums and was great. Todd Jensen hit many of the high notes to perfection and did great backing vocals, in addition to his thunderous bass playing. Bart Walsh is a guitar prodigy. The kid really can wail away, and tonight I witnessed the closest thing to Dave and Eddie being on stage together. Bart really did take on a lot of the characteristics of Eddie's stage presence, which was not at all as bad as some have previously indicated.

As far as merchandise goes, there was the Ol' #1 black hat, which I didn't catch the price of, and for $27, the "Ol' #1" T-Shirt, w/ all of the tour dates on the back. If you get the chance, definitely catch DLR on this tour.

Oh - I think I'm gonna.....bahhhllggghhh! Oh geez.............vomited. But who wouldn't after seeing David's new band and new tour. I will list my complaints in a little bit, but I first have to say Bart Walsh has to be wearing a wig - it looks so fake - maybe Roth should borrow it.

1. The venue, Mann Center, is small but looked way too big to hold 2000+ that decided to show up. It was sad (do they each pocket $20 from this concert?)
2. Dave's voice was only ok - not great like everyone keeps saying.
3. The sound mixing was terrible - they should have thrown on a CD of 1984 and just danced around lip-synching.
4. His constant comments to the 40+ year old sluts in the front were tiresome - they had wrinkles upon wrinkles for the love of God! Dave - are times that bad?
5. I saw Van halen at Core States earlier in the year and they were way better and packed out the house - this crowd and Dave were really off - it was SO awkward when Dave would try to get the crowd going and ..............nothing would happen.
6. Best part of the night - besides the vomit at the end (see top of letter) was when the water bottle thrown by a sharp shooting fan hit Dave in the ear - that was awesome. His comment? "I saw who did that - and now I'm gonna fuck your girlfriend tonight." Ummmmm.....Dave? It was a girl who threw it you dork.

"NOW I CAN DIE IN PEACE!"

This was the most energetic, exciting and complete rock and roll performace that I have ever experienced. Dave jumped and swaggered and joked his way back into the spotlight in all of the ways that only he can. It should be noted that I have not always been a huge Dave fan. I have slowly become one over the last few years and this concert cemented it. Dave is the world's best entertainer and I will pay to see him perform this summer as many times as I can.

His voice was excellent. This is especially important because as the opening band he doesn't get a lot of extra time to banter to save his voice or to rest it during a guitar or drum solo. It's just one great song after another with very few breaks.

Best line of the night? "Do you believe in love at first sight sweetheart or do I have to walk by you again?"

I don't remember the setlist in exact order, but it was very similar to the ones posted here from previous shows. He didn't play "Slam Dunk," leaving only "Yankee Rose" and "Tobacco Road" as the only solo-period songs. "Jump," "Runnin' With The Devil," "Meanstreets" and "Panama" were probably the best songs, but I have to make one thing perfectly clear: Every single song was fantastic. The crowd, most of who were there for Dave, rocked and jumped and screamed with every word and hip swivel. We were in the palms of Dave's hands.

The band was great, as well. The rhythm section was very capable and Bart Walsh played the songs note-for-note.

A part of me is begging for Dave and EVH to settle their differences and for Dave to take his rightful spot as the lead singer of Van Halen. However, after seeing VH3 three times last summer waiting for a good show and seeing Dave rock Philadelphia last night in under an hour, I have serious reservations. After all, a reunion might not be fair to Dave.

I thought the show was great! I've been a Van Halen fan for a long time. It was nice to hear Dave sing all the lyrics, I saw dave in '91 - he didn't sing that much.

Dave seem to be his old self on stage moving around and working the crowd. It was nice to hear songs like Little Guitars, So This Is Love and Hot For Teacher. The only low point was in Ain't Talkin''Bout Love when Dave makes a stupid comment about Sammy Hagar (let it go).

If you like early Van Halen go see this show.

Hot For Teacher
Panama
Little Guitars
Dance The Night Away
Mean Street
Runnin' With The Devil
Eruption
You Really Got Me
So This Is Love?
Yankee Rose
Tobacco Road
Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love
Unchained

Jump

DLR Solo: 02
Van Halen: 12

Total: 14

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