RECORD STORE TALES MkII: Getting More Tale
#375: VH Predictions FAIL!
I like to think I’m such a know-it-all. Higher-than-thou, my musical knowledge trumps yours, etc. However when I’m wrong (it happens frequently), sometimes I’m colossally wrong. Below is an example of me being completely, 100% totally wrong. Although I’m glad I was. When the Van Halen reunion with David Lee Roth was announced, I believed it would not last long. I took the time to write out this list below. With the live album coming, and the hot rumours of another tour, this is a great time to showcase one of my most colossal failures as a clairvoyant.
Date: 2007/02/08 07:10
TOP TEN REASONS WHY THE =VH= VAN HALEN REUNION TOUR WILL GO DOWN IN FLAMES
10. Wolfgang Van Halen on bass means that there are three Van Halens in the band vs. one Lee Roth. David will feel outnumbered at every turn.
9. Wolfgang Van Halen, a 15 year old kid, is an untested property. Will it sound like the same band without the very recognizable Michael Anthony on bass?
8. No new songs, no new album, just another greatest hits (the third and most obvious rip off for your money). [NOTE: at the time Van Halen were planning to release a “best of DLR-era” CD, which was thankfully cancelled.]
7. David Lee Roth’s voice has been utterly destroyed since about 1991.
6. Eddie Van Halen is but a shadow of the man he once was. A raging alcoholic surrounded by yes-men, his guitar playing hasn’t touched upon brilliance in almost a decade. Throw his 15 year old son into the alcoholic tour and you have recipe for disaster.
5. Roth and the VH brothers haven’t gotten along in decades. The fact that the brothers recently attempted–and failed at–a reunion with Sammy Hagar before this indicates that this is a last-ditch effort to save the band. Not exactly the kind of motive to make a reunion happen.
4. Roth will say and do what he wants, much to the chagrin of the ultra-controlling VH brothers.
3. Alex VH’s spinal problems, while not heavily discussed, are probably only getting worse with time.
2. 40 dates isn’t much of a tour for a band of this stature.
1. Classic VH = Edward Van Halen, Alex Van Halen, David Lee Roth, and Michael Anthony. Without Anthony, this is not classic Van Halen. This is in effect the fourth version of the band. VH-IV, if you like. That isn’t what I wanted to see on tour this summer.
I am glad to be have been proven wrong on this one. Van Halen has defied the odds and my predictions. I couldn’t be happier about it.
mikeladano.com 
Yeah and there’s that contract tour rider on the Smoking Gun webside that someone printed from the 2007 Tour that says Roths dressing room is to be at the furtherest point possible away from the VH brothers in the arena! Hahahaha….that for me says it all! Working Relationship = $$$$$$$$$$$. Personal Relationship=Nil…….
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Heard that too. But regardless! They’re making it work! They made an album! A great album! NEVER saw that coming. I would have said you’re high if you told me that would happen.
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Hahahaha …..ADKOT is a classic slab of good Ol Arena Rock!
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That’s “the Trouble with Never!”
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I remember being apprehensive when Alice in Chains got back together without Layne Staley. I’m happy to say I was wrong.
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Yeah same here man! But I am glad to say that the Devil Put Dinosaurs Here is among my favourites today. They really have their hearts in the right place and the right guy in the band.
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I had tickets for their Cleveland show which I think was the fifth stop on that tour and I was pretty sure I’d just pissed money away. Show was good but they had signs of rust, never thought they’d make it through the whole tour either
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Still not convinced you are wrong about any of that…..
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Those are all valid predictions. I’m happy that you were wrong (I heard ADKOT thanks to our venerable HMO!) and that’s awesome. NOw with the vocal issues being talked about on the new live thing coming, maybe it’s best to still withhold judgement? I guess it’ll be what it’ll be, and if EVH is still plugging in and letting ‘er rip, you know we’ll be listening.
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Yeah perhaps on the vocal front we need to withhold judgement. But Craig Fee saw ’em on the Toronto stop and swears up and down there was nothing wrong with DLR that night. He’s baffled as to why they are releasing Tokyo.
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I honestly still think everything you said will be true. Hell, I’m an able-bodied 24 year old and doing a full drum playthrough of Balance gives me major back pain. LOL
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And I saw them in 07 at the Staples Center…it was kinda boring. I liked Ky-Mani Marley (the opening act) more.
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Was it boring when DLR did the top hat trick? LOL
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no comment hahaha
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The fucking tophat….
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He must do it at every show, I guess.
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I guess so. I remember thinking like “what the hell is he doing…oh my GOD”
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LOL!
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Not entirely convinced its not all true either…from a die hard VH fan…bummed they are putting out a live album instead of a new album
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Well Mike we can always hope more music is still coming. They are very secretive, all of them. DLR did an entire second album with John 5 and nobody knew until just recently. Maybe that will come out one day too.
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The next album should be interesting cuz DKOT was pieced together with old school material. The next one I am guessing will be all new or mostly new stuff…
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I hope so. They still have lots of old songs that they could use, but I think new material is what fans would like to hear best.
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But yeah glad the predictions are a FAIL as of now!!
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