Van Halen tour still Runnin’
We like to think of the singer and guitarist — Jagger/Richards, Tyler/ Perry, Daltrey/Townshend, David Lee Roth/Eddie Van Halen — as the best of friends.
Of course, that’s rarely the case, as the memoirs or the VH1 “Behind the Music” shows later reveal.
In the case of Van Halen, which returns to the First Niagara Pavilion tonight, we didn’t need a memoir or a memo to know that Eddie and David are just able to tolerate each other — barely. The guitarist made sure to reaffirm that in a candid June interview with Billboard, promoting the current tour.
“He does not want to be my friend,” Mr. Van Halen told Chuck Klosterman. “How can I put this: Roth’s perception of himself is different than who he is in reality. We’re not in our 20s anymore. We’re in our 60s. Act like you’re 60. I stopped coloring my hair, because I know I’m not going to be young again.”
That’s about the fastest conversational leap from friendship to hair color that you’ll get from a 60-yearold guy, but nothing should surprise us about this band that has helped define dysfunction over its 40-plus-year career.
DLR is the original singer in the band and also the sixth singer when you factor in that this is his third stint in Van Halen to go along with two stays for Sammy Hagar, and one for Gary Cherone (that everyone would like to forget).
We learned from the 2012 tour that Mr. Roth, now 60, is not at the height of his powers as a frontman. Making your fingers work at that age is a lot easier than your vocal cords, which he obviously ravaged over the years with all his yelping and howling. (Not coincidentally, Vince Neil of Motley Crue and Joe Elliott of Def Leppard are in same boat.)
Three years later, we’d be crazy to expect a sudden return to 1980 form. Van Halen’s 2015 campaign got off to an embarrassing start in March when the singer, confusing himself with a majorette, twirled the mike stand right into his nose on “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” requiring 14 stitches.
He has been assaulted by reviews as well, with the Kansas City Star recently writing that “his well-intentioned but deeply flawed efforts severely handicapped the band.” His attempt to compensate for the vocal shortcomings include crazy banter and high scissor kicks.
Van Halen’s other personnel issue also has been unsettling to fans, judging from comments sections. Original bassist Michael Anthony was replaced for the 2007 reunion by Eddie’s son, Wolfgang, who is still locking in with Eddie’s brother Alex on this tour.
The bass situation came up in the Billboard interview as well, prompting Eddie to set fans straight on Mr. Anthony’s contribution to Van Halen: “Every note Mike ever played, I had to show him how to play. Before we’d go on tour, he’d come over with a video camera and I’d have to show him how to play all the parts.”
As for the high harmonies, nothing lost there either, the guitarist said: “Mike was just born with a very high voice. I have more soul as a singer than he does. And you know, people always talk about Mike’s voice on Van Halen songs, but that’s a blend of Mike’s voice and my voice. It’s not just him.”
The 2012 tour was timed with the first Van Halen album in 14 years, the well-received “A Different Kind
of Truth,” and the first with DLR since 1984. There’s nothing new in the works now, Eddie told Billboard, as it sounds like the singer would rather be in Kool and the Gang, which opened for them here on that last tour.
“It’s hard, because there are four people in this band, and three of us like rock ’n’ roll. And one of us likes dance music. And that used to kind of work, but now Dave doesn’t want to come to the table.”
Meanwhile, Sammy Hagar, who has been waiting in the wings busying himself with two “supergroups” with Mr. Anthony (Chickenfoot and The Circle), seems to be available to jump in, but that’s not an option, Eddie says: “I think it’s now built into people’s DNA, that it just won’t be Van Halen if it’s not Roth’s voice.”
First look at Hozier
With: Kenny Wayne Shepherd. Where and when: First Niagara Pavilion, Burgettstown, 7:30 tonight. Tickets: $43-$196; www.ticketmaster.com.
Hozier
With: Dawes. Where and when: Stage AE Outdoors, North Shore; doors at 6:30 tonight.
Tickets: Sold out.