Review by Loons - jasonjamerson@hotmail.com

David Lee Roth was shakin' em' on down tonight! This show is a must see people!!! Diamond Dave is simply the greatest living showman (sorry Mick, Roger, Robert, Eddie, Chris, Layne etc).

The set list was stellar. Dave was a badass--you have to love it when he talks shit about Sammy right in ole St. Louie. I commend his Sam "dis!" I'm happy Van Cherone III is no longer my last Van Halen experience. Dave sounded great. Dave sounded bluesy. The songs were heavy. Old school! Dave worked the stage and the crowd like the legend he is.

Sure, if the show was this sweet with Bart, Ray & Todd then a Van Rothin' re-union would be out of this world! Seeing Dave makes me tend to believe him and believe in him...Eddie and Alex--what the hell is your problem? Fuckin' awesome event! Dave was screamin' and jumpin' and flyin' and rulin' and flirtin'. Diamond David Lee has always had it and he always will!

David Lee Roth was stunning! He is in magnificent shape. His band is really tight. The vocals were clear! I thought the sound was better than most bands that play at that volume. He looks a little older, but he can still work a crowd like only Roth can!

His charisma is absolutely infectious. I don't understand why so many people dislike him. In my opinion, Roth is the jolt Van Halen has been missing since 1985. Roth is out to prove that now, and Van Halen fans who see this show WILL notice. If you like early Van Halen, don't miss this show! It is a testament to all Van Halen fans that Gary Cherone just ain't Van Halen like Roth is Van Halen. Roth proved it beyond any reasonable doubt Tuesday night in St. Louis.

Roth's only mistake: the Sammy Hagar comments. He's got to stop doing that. He's shooting himself in the foot. It didn't go over well in St. Louis at all. Personally, I'm not a big Sammy Hagar fan, but Hagar is well-liked in St. Louis, so going off on him lost Roth big points.

The concert followed virtually the same format as most of the dates prior to St. Louis on this tour. Here are a few details about the St. Louis show:

1. He referred to St. Louis as St. Louie.
2. He wore the silver suit. It looked cool.
3. Yankee Rose and Tobacco Road were the only non-Van Halen songs.
4. Roth referred to Bart Walsh as "the new kid on the block".
5. Walsh is the best Eddie Van Halen clone I have ever seen; he plays Eddie's studio solos with phenomenal precision and he's got Eddie's tone nailed! He even moves like Eddie Van Halen and recreates the smile and stage presence. It was so obviously calculated to be that way.
6. Roth acknowledged the boos after the Hagar comments by saying "As if St. Louie doesn't know how to say F#ck you."
7. The urination of the Jack Daniel's was actually quite comical.
8. Roth's way of saying good night: at the end of Unchained he proclaimed "I'm your rotten uncle and this is Christmas come early".
9. He forgot the lyrics only once (during Unchained) and did the "I forgot the f#cking words" routine, but overall, the vocals and lyrics were crisp and clear.
10. The background vocals and harmonies were excellent.
11. During Jump, he dropped the giant baton-stick thing just as he pulled it out to do his Marshall Arts routine and it rolled away from him. He picked it back up and proceeded with the routine convincing everyone that he indeed knew what to do with it.
12. The set was far too short: 60 minutes.
13. He was in a good mood smiling (practically laughing) through the entire set.
14. He jumped off of the drum riser 3 or 4 times during Jump.
15. After the encore Jump, he stood on stage alone with open arms for about two solid minutes basking in all of Van Halen's glory.

Personal observations:

1. Roth can still dance and kick like he did twenty years ago.
2. He can't quite scream like he used to, but he's close.
3. This concert is a sort of trip down memory lane with a twist.
4. Everyone was buzzing with comments after the show ranging from good to bad to ugly.
5. Putting Roth on the same bill with Bad Company wasn't smart. He probably scared some of the Bad Company fans away. The energy levels were just totally different. If Roth toured with Sammy Hagar, now that might fill stadiums! Roth needs to get over his beef with Hagar!
6. The show was straight forward, no fancy light show or tacky gimmickry. The band even walked on stage before the lights went out.

Personal Rating of the David Lee Roth 1999 tour on a scale of 1-10: a solid 9. It could not possibly be a 10 without the rest of Van Halen, but I tip my hat to David Lee Roth for a job extremely well-done.

The show on 7/13/99 was my first time seeing DLR after attending 5150/OU812/For U.C.K/Balance & Hagar's MTM/Mas Tequila. Here are my thoughts:

1. Attendance was very,very poor. Kiel holds 20,000 for concerts. This show had 4,000 tops.
2. I was amazed how limited DLR's vocal range is. Screams & chants were half the show & the man cannot hold a note for more than two seconds.
3. Bart, the lead guitar player, was damn good. If you closed your eyes & listened, he could have passed for EVH on several riffs.
4. The set list was attractive. DLR obviously knows his past was much better than his present/future.
5. DLR is a fool. His Sammy bashing during Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love was greeted with half the crowd loudly booing. St Louis has been a Hagar/Red town since 1979. Hagar sells 20,000 tickets while Roth does 4,000. Pretty smart.
6. Roth was pathetic at the end of the show. The guy misses the limelight/adulation so much that he stood on stage several seconds after his bandmates left to squeeze every last drop of applause the crowd could muster.
7. Classic VH tunes will always stand the test of time,but DLR blew himself up back in 1984 when he went solo. He can now only dream about the success/popularity he reached in years past as a full fledged member of VH.

Well, Since Dave was leaving the Bad Company tour the date before they were to come to Utah on August 6th, I had to fly out to St. Louis to catch Dave's show.

Dave and his band sounded awesome. He is still in excellent shape! Since this was my first time seeing him live, I was really looking forward to the show. I thought Dave's guitarist was very good, but it was missing one thing, Eddie's brown sound.

The song that I thought sounded the best was when Bart used the small guitar with the american flag on it to play Little Guitars. It sounded almost exactly like the album version.

In the end, the concert was very well worth the trip. I came to a conclusion after the show. I liked VH a lot with Gary and I saw them 12 times last tour with him. But they need to get back with Dave and put out another album and tour. They owe it to their younger fans who never got to see them with Dave in '84. I believe that a tour with Dave would be as successful as the Eagles' Hell Freezes Over tour a few years back.

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

St. Louis Post