Review by Chris W. Borkin - CWBork44@aol.com

I left Connecticut at 4:00 PM and arrived at the Silo in Reading, PA at 9:05 PM. There was no way a hurricane was going to stop me from seeing The King.

Diamond Dave sauntered onto the stage around 11:10 PM. He was wearing a two-piece gray/black, pinstriped, bell-bottomed, spandex outfit. He was grinning from ear-to-ear. In just a few seconds he was about to unleash no-mercy during an 18-song 90-minute barrage of adrenaline-fueled, ass-kicking, Lewinski-sized, can of Whoop-ass. There were 3 people between the stage and me. I’d never have thought I’d be this close to DLR at a gig w/out having at least one comma in the ticket price.

David Lee pulled no punches as he showed the standing-room-only crowd at The Silo who the King of Rock really is. If you read my review of the Mansfield gig (June 30th), you will know that while I am biased, I am not a liar. I will do my best to tell it like it was.

Diamond Dave’s vocals were so close to perfect, that I have no other way to describe them. On a scale from 0-100, I’d give his vocals a 99.7% that’s the truth. He sounded like the old-school records with some awesome vocal vibrato at the end of Little Dreamer. Dave’s voice was “On” the entire show. In fact, his voice was “On” longer than Clinton’s stain has been on Monica’s blue dress.

DLR was joking, storytelling, and “spotting” the hotties he would enjoy at Club Dave and the capacity crowd loved it. Dave was also doing all of his kicks and jumps that are just too cool to put into words. My favorite part was when the crowd was chanting, “Eddie sucks, Eddie sucks…” After this went on for a while, Dave stopped the music and actually seemed hurt. He said, “That’s not true…Eddie just stands there and Gary sucks.” The whole place erupted with laughter; DLR was in the zone. Do you want to know the one thing that wasn’t perfect? The bass on the keyboard/synth was too loud. Other than that, the show was MINT!

The entire band was rocking and crowd was singing EVERY song and you could tell how much it pleased the Diamond One. Todd Jenson’s vocals were friggin’ phenomenal. He really sounded great. My one complaint from the Mansfield gig was the backing vocals, but this time they were awesome.

Ray Luzier is such an ass-kicking drummer that half of the crowd’s butt-cheeks are probably black ‘n blue right now. He doesn’t overplay, but he sure knows hoe to play and the guy hits hard. You also gotta love the fact that he is always smiling.

Do I need to say anything about Bart Walsh? The guy is a shredda, big time.

The last song of the night was Jump and David Lee did his samurai shtick with the Mic stand and yes, it was killer. The show/song ended with Mr. Roth doing his trademark jump off the drum riser and touching his toes. It was phenomenal, he not only touched his toes, he touched them with his palms! If I could do half the moves DLR can, I never leave my room. Dave worked his ass off the entire show and thanked the crowd after every song. It really was the best show I’ve EVER seen. Long Live the King!

I had never seen DLR before, but I came away extremely impressed. Roth came out to a very large crowd at the Silo in Reading, PA. It is a large bar with two levels. Considering there was a large rain storm that caused bad driving conditions the crowd size was outstanding.

Dave came out with high energy and it didn't stop for an hour and a half. Like the previous shows on this tour Dave played almost nothing but old Van Halen tunes which was fine with me. The only solo songs he played were "Yankee Rose" and "Tobacco Road".

The were a few highlights that I want to point out. Dave did "Runnin' With The Devil" and got the crowd all pumped up. During one verse he stuck the mic out to the crowd and everyone sang! It was unbelievable the sound that came from the crowd.

At one point the crowd started chanting "Eddie sucks!" Dave responded with a dirty comment about Gary which I thought was hysterical.

Dave closed with "Jump" which sounded great. I just wish he never left Van Halen.

Dave may be old but he can definitely still put on a great show. Dave's band was solid as well. I was impressed with Bart Walsh, the lead guitarist. He is no Eddie but he has some talent.

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?
(Oh) Pretty Woman
Little Dreamer
Atomic Punk
Ice Cream Man
Everybody Wants Some
Yankee Rose
Tobacco Road
Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love
Jump

DLR Solo: 02
Van Halen: 16

Total: 18

Reading Eagle