by Paul Cashmere

After 2 months on the road, the Van Halen juggernaut came through Los Angeles last night (November 20) for the important one, 'the hometown gig'.

Van Halen absolutely slaughtered the stage and had the audience in the palm of their hands with David Lee Roth's showmanship and Eddie Van Halen's rock god presence.

Tied together with the drum and bass section, Alex Van Halen on drums and newbie Wolfgang Van Halen on bass, this was a band more than capable of pulling off a 2 classic rock set.

That's pretty impressive for young Wolfie, the 16 year old son of Eddie and nephew of Alex. Alex has replaced the departed founding bass player Michael Anthony for this tour. Alex did pull it off. The kid has probably been rehearsing for this gig ever since he was in the womb (the womb's owner, mother Valerie Bertinelli proudly watched on from the side of the stage).

Other familiar faces graced the audience. Robert Downey Jr was getting off on the show. Dennis Rodman watched the entire show from the side of the stage.

The band partied like it was 1984. The setlist was 100% David Lee Roth era (no Sammy songs were used in the making of this show) but that's what the audience needed. They had waited decades for Dave to be back in the role he was born to do.

Dave was "on" for the evening. This is a guy who knows the old fashioned values of showmanship and knows how to work an audience (all 17,000 of them).

The songs you needed to hear were all there. Van Halen opened with 'You Really Got Me' and closed with 'Jump'. In between, you got 'Panama', 'Hot For Teacher', 'Ain't Talking About Love' and 'Running With The Devil'. It was the perfect mix of the pop rock hits that catapulted this band to the charts and the rock depth digging into each Roth album.

Putting the albums back to back, the band performed:
Van Halen (1978) 8 tracks
Van Halen II (1979) 3 tracks
Women and Children First (1980) 3 tracks
Fair Warning (1981) 3 tracks
Diver Down (1982) 2 tracks
1984 (1984) 5 tracks

Van Halen setlist for November 22, 2007 (Staples Center, Los Angeles)

01. You Really Got Me (from Van Halen, 1978)
02. I'm the One (from Van Halen, 1978)
03. Runnin' With the Devil (from Van Halen, 1978)
04. Romeo Delight (from Women and Children First, 1980)
05. Somebody Get Me a Doctor (from Van Halen II, 1979)
06. Beautiful Girls (from Van Halen II, 1979)
07. Dance the Night Away (from Van Halen II, 1979)
08. Atomic Punk (from Van Halen, 1978)
09. Everybody Wants Some (from Women and Children First, 1980)
10. So This Is Love? (from Fair Warning, 1981)
11. Mean Street (from Fair Warning, 1981)
12. Pretty Woman (from Diver Down, 1982)
13. Drum Solo
14. Unchained (from Fair Warning, 1981)
15. I'll Wait (from 1984, 1984)
16. And the Cradle Will Rock (from Women and Children First, 1980)
17. Hot for Teacher (from 1984, 1984)
18. Little Dreamer (from Van Halen, 1978)
19. Little Guitars (from Diver Down, 1982)
20. Jamie's Cryin' (from Van Halen, 1978)
21. Ice Cream Man (from Van Halen, 1978)
22. Panama (from 1984, 1984)
23. Guitar Solo (incl. "Women in Love" intro, "Cathedral", "Eruption")
24. Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love (from Van Halen, 1978)
------------------------
25. 1984 (from 1984, 1984)
26. Jump (from 1984, 1984)

[Return to Current Headlines]