June 10, 2004


The eyes of the world are focused on Greensboro, NC as Van Halen prepares to launch a full-scale assault of the United States tomorrow night at the Greensboro Coliseum. The Greensboro News-Record exclaims:


Van Halen prepares to kick off tour in Greensboro

6-8-04

By Mike Kernels, Staff Writer
News & Record

GREENSBORO -- The first of 12 tractor-trailers rumbled to a halt outside the Greensboro Coliseum around midnight Saturday.

Van Halen - drummer Alex Van Halen, bassist Michael Anthony, singer Sammy Hagar and guitarist Eddie Van Halen - will kick off its national tour Friday at the Greensboro Coliseum.

Six hours later, it opened its doors to reveal black and silver containers. Lots of them, stacked high and tight. Each one handled as if it were a newborn. And on each, written in magic marker, a household name: Van Halen.

After nine years away from the stage, the band reunites in Greensboro on Friday for a 47-date tour.

In a nationwide conference call with reporters last week, vocalist Sammy Hagar, the band's on-again, off-again and now on-again frontman, promised: "The set list will kill you."

But before that show can begin, another one began to unfold Sunday.

The crates came off the trucks and the crew began the massive chore of setting up lights, sound and sets so the band can start rehearsing today or tomorrow.

Greensboro has seen its share of great acts come through, but seldom do they start here. The last time one did was AC/DC in 1996. Before that, it was The Cars in the late 1980s.

This tour was originally scheduled to begin in Richmond, Va. -- only multiple days couldn't be secured there for rehearsal. So band organizers looked for another point on the map that was within a day's drive of the tour's second stop, Hershey, Pa.

They chose Greensboro, a city where they've always been warmly received.

"It's always been a great market for us," Alex Van Halen said during last week's teleconference. "We'll go to Greensboro and hang out for a week and get to a know a few -- and make a few new friends."

Putting together their show is a massive undertaking. It takes five tour buses, 12 53-foot tractor-trailers, 3,000 amps of electricity and 92,000 pounds of equipment. When it's all assembled, three large video screens will surround a simple stage of two simple letters -- V and H -- that you can see from at least a half block away.

Right now, an electrician is checking outlets. Carpenters are swinging hammers. Riggers are working in the rafters.

On the arena floor -- an area off-limits to the uninitiated because of the potential for falling objects -- chains used to hoist lights hang like strands of metal spaghetti.

Exit right and you're backstage.

Ahead is a control panel straight out of "Star Trek," a series of monitors displaying scantily clad women and stickers that say "Vote For Joe Walsh."

Step over the bundles of cable on the floor, nod to the security guard and pause before the door with a sign that reads: "Restricted Area: Do Not Enter."

Enter anyway.

Go down the hall. Behind Door No. 1 will be the dressing room for the Van Halen brothers, guitar god Eddie and drummer deity Alex. Behind Door No. 2: Hagar and bassist Michael Anthony.

By contrast, the promoter whose Bishopville, S.C.-based company Van Halen tapped to set things up gets no star treatment.

He has a makeshift office in the coliseum -- but he's never there. And good luck finding him, too.

You're looking for a 40-year-old man with a key hanging from his neck, a walkie-talkie attached to his hip and an empty Krispy Kreme coffee cup in his hand.

His name is Allen Corbett and everyone has seen him, like, just a minute ago.

One roadie points you to another roadie who, in turn, points to someone else.

"I don't know," he says with a shrug. "I'm just a runner."

Two roadies later, you have your man. Now, you just have to keep up.

Corbett weaves his way through a maze of equipment and a barrage of black-shirted workers on the arena floor down a hall to, ultimately, the kitchen. He stops, looks around and is off again.

"I'm just walking around making sure everybody is in their zone," he said. "Right now, everybody's good."

Corbett's another story.

He did a Harry Connick Jr. show in Charleston, S.C., the night before, then came here right after to make sure the arena would be ready when the band arrived.

"I got in here this morning at 3:30," he said with a yawn. "I came here and laid straight on the couch. I'll get me a shower in about another 15 minutes and I'll be good to go.

"I'm going to go check e-mail -- just don't go out on the floor."
Noted.

By 6:34 p.m., it's the end of the day for the crew -- and the beginnings of a major show.

The stage is almost assembled, complete with drum kit. A worker is sweeping the floor while above him a test pattern plays on one of three video screens.

You want to get a better look when you hear a voice caution you -- it's Corbett.

He's pushing a cart with a box full of towels past you and, without breaking stride, says, "Just don't go out on the floor."