I'm afraid the more they get out for promotion, the worse it gets.

I might pay to see Eddie by himself, just jamming, no singer.

This performance did not help their cause, in my opinion:

http://www.rollingstone.com/tv/videos/watch-van-halen-perform-jump-on-ellen-degeneres-show-20150403

I'm afraid the more they get out for promotion, the worse it gets.

I might pay to see Eddie by himself, just jamming, no singer.

This performance did not help their cause, in my opinion:

http://www.rollingstone.com/tv/videos/watch-van-halen-perform-jump-on-ellen-degeneres-show-20150403

Who was playing the synthesizer?

I'm afraid the more they get out for promotion, the worse it gets.

I might pay to see Eddie by himself, just jamming, no singer.

This performance did not help their cause, in my opinion:

http://www.rollingstone.com/tv/videos/watch-van-halen-perform-jump-on-ellen-degeneres-show-20150403

Who was playing the synthesizer?

The third brother, Serge Van Backing Track... 😛

Eddie looks and sounds great! DLR....not so much! I wish he'd work harder on his singing and less on his schtick.

well they'll prob be selling VIP seats for $1000 bucks & up and even more to meet Roth or Halen backstage and as long as older people keep spending their disposable income on things like that the prices will just keep rising for older & older bands. Amex-front of the line syndrum! I don't really get it. I watched the 'Ellen' show on Utube & they weren't much better...was like they were performing on ice-nice schtick. Ellen seemed to be a big fan. They'll prob grab a high # of Ellen fans thru that though...wouldn't be surprised if they stick Van Halen on the View next. Music industry sure has changed over the years. (They need another big shakeup again)
I think after being on the road awhile,Roth will be riding high on bags of coke before long & if Eddie's doing fine now,after working with DLR next to him for a month,well he'll be back on his way to rehab again...I know I would be.

[Edited on 4/4/2015 by bettyhynes]

Eddie looks and sounds great! DLR....not so much! I wish he'd work harder on his singing and less on his schtick.

His singing is beyond repair at this point IMO Dave. He is a train wreck at this time. If he sounds this bad now imagine how he will sound after about two weeks of every other day shows.

To tell the truth, the band itself sounds off timing wise. Hopefully that is from lack of playing together and just tightening things up but you would think if they were gonna be on TV they would have put in some rehearsal time. Eddie sounds on point but everything else is just a little bit off timing wise and Roth stinks!!!

The thing of it is, if DLR would actually try and sing, he can still do a pretty good job of it. On that last tour, we saw them in Nashville and I was quite surprised. And he sang his balls off on that last studio record. He just doesn't care about the vocals enough at this point to put forth the effort. His phrasing was even worse in those videos. than any notes he actually missed. I think he feels that people come to see him. Not necessarily to sing, mind you, just come to see him so he has a "who gives a shit" attitude about it.

Now, more importantly, why is Spock drumming for them now?

especially after one of the Brothers' parents died.

Only one of the brothers?

Just to add...

Eddie didn't want Michael Anthony on the 2004 tour with Hagar, but Sammy wouldn't do it without him. It was said that Michael had to sign over his share of the band as part of him doing that 2004 tour.

They also took all of his songwriting credit away from the 1984 album except on the song "I'll Wait". I think the only reason he kept it for that song is that it would have required Michael McDonald to also sign off on any changes since he also has a credit on it.

Not sure about the songwriting credits as Michael Anthony himself stated in an interview a few years back that he never gave up his songwriting credits and still owns them. What he was forced to give up was his share in the corporation known as "Van Halen" (thus giving the brothers complete ownership) as well as a lower performance fee for performing while on the 2004 tour.

Hagar walked away with exclusive rights to Cabo Wabo Cantina (it's no coincidence that he opened a third Cantina as the tour was progressing) which previous he had to share a percentage of profits with the brothers. Alex Van Halen made a shit load of money (which if rumor is true, he needed desperately after divorce number three). Meanwhile, Eddie was on deaths door and had no business being on tour much less trying to play guitar for paying fans...

I like Mike and think he got fucked over, but he knew he was fucked when he did the Hagar/Roth tour in 2002 without the brothers blessing and, by the way, still made a shit load of cash from the 2004 tour....For a guy who never wrote a note of the VH catalog, he still made out pretty damn well, and will continue to all things considered. And good for him I say.

The new remastered version of 1984 that came out this week has Michael Anthony's name removed from all the songwriting credits except for "I'll Wait". So obviously he doesn't have them anymore for that album despite what he might have said.

Hagar got the rights to Cabo Wabo long before the 2004 tour. The bar was losing money the first few years they had it open and Hagar bought them out while he was still in the band in the early 90's. He changed the bar's management at that point and it started making money. Hagar ended up selling the brand for around 100 million.

[Edited on 4/5/2015 by WarEagleRK]

It wasn't about the restaurant/bar, it was about the tequila and the shares that the brothers had in that.

To-Kill-Ya can mess you up in many ways. For the VH brothers, well they lost lots of money when Sammy sold.

Now Sammy sells rum. Why not? Vodka is likely next.

What kills me --and this is off topic-- stop Panama about :27 into it. Look at all those phones! People, people, don't you realize it's on TV? In much better quality? You could be having a moment. A never again, boogiefied moment acting a rock n roll fool but you're watching your phone along with several hundred other idiots.

People no longer wish to experience. Instead they want to watch a video that they shot missing out on that experience. Then add it to the thousands of other pictures/videos that they took and forget it forever.

The majority of us grew up in families that had photo album. We all knew the pictures from looking at them over and over. Got and still get a warm feeling looking back at our lives.

That has been forever lost for kids. Now that there is virtually no limit to the number of pictures that a person can take, many take thousands. Depending on the year and/or format, they end up on computers, discs, memory sticks, hard drives......no one ever really looks back at them so why take them?

Some video shot on your phone watching VH perform what will be shown in HD on TV? Why?

It wasn't about the restaurant/bar, it was about the tequila and the shares that the brothers had in that.

To-Kill-Ya can mess you up in many ways. For the VH brothers, well they lost lots of money when Sammy sold.

Now Sammy sells rum. Why not? Vodka is likely next.

I'm almost 100% sure that the brothers never had any piece of the tequila. Sammy had bought them out of the Cabo Wabo bar in the early 90's when he was still in the band and didn't create the actual Cabo Wabo beverage brand until after that in 1996.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabo_Wabo

http://www.cabowabo.com/history

I am pretty certain that Eddie and Alex never had any stake in anything beyond the bar and they wanted out when it was doing poorly a couple of years in. That is what bothers them is that Sammy bought them out then branched the business out and made tens of millions on it afterward.

As far as watching a concert through a phone, I don't get that at all either. Everything is right on stage in front of you, why watch it through a tiny screen.

I can see someone in 20 years "what was the best concert you ever stood and watched through a small screen not fully enjoying the music that you ever attended?"

[Edited on 4/6/2015 by WarEagleRK]

What kills me --and this is off topic-- stop Panama about :27 into it. Look at all those phones! People, people, don't you realize it's on TV? In much better quality? You could be having a moment. A never again, boogiefied moment acting a rock n roll fool but you're watching your phone along with several hundred other idiots.

Not necessarily true. I can understand why it may seem stupid, but there's something special about having your own personal recording. It provides a much more vivid memory of the show if you record it yourself, versus watching some network broadcast. It's not quite as special watching a DVR.

And for the non-televised shows, why not capture it on video? The band is now done and gone forever, so why would it be foolish if we recorded some video of our prior ABB shows? And it's very simple to record a show, and also watch it live with your eyes at the same time. You don't have to literally watch it through the viewfinder. I once recorded about 20 minutes of a show without looking at the phone once, and it came out beautifully. I captured some priceless personal video of my favorite band that I can share with my kids, while not missing a single beat in person.

I was thinking about Diamond Dave and his poorly-received performance today, and it occurred to me that one of Mr. Roth's biggest solo hits says it all....

Oh, there will come a day
When youth will pass away
And what will they say about me?

When the end comes I know
I am just a gigolo
Life goes on without me

It wasn't about the restaurant/bar, it was about the tequila and the shares that the brothers had in that.

To-Kill-Ya can mess you up in many ways. For the VH brothers, well they lost lots of money when Sammy sold.

Now Sammy sells rum. Why not? Vodka is likely next.

I'm almost 100% sure that the brothers never had any piece of the tequila. Sammy had bought them out of the Cabo Wabo bar in the early 90's when he was still in the band and didn't create the actual Cabo Wabo beverage brand until after that in 1996.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabo_Wabo

http://www.cabowabo.com/history

I am pretty certain that Eddie and Alex never had any stake in anything beyond the bar and they wanted out when it was doing poorly a couple of years in. That is what bothers them is that Sammy bought them out then branched the business out and made tens of millions on it afterward.

As far as watching a concert through a phone, I don't get that at all either. Everything is right on stage in front of you, why watch it through a tiny screen.

I can see someone in 20 years "what was the best concert you ever stood and watched through a small screen not fully enjoying the music that you ever attended?"

[Edited on 4/6/2015 by WarEagleRK]

The brothers never had a piece of the tequila business. And yes, Sammy bought out the brothers share of the original Cabo Wabo Bar after it was devastated by a hurricane in the early 90's.

However, when Sammy left VH or was fired, part of the "breakup" legalities included Hagar having to pay the brothers a percentage of profits from any additional "Cabo Wabo" Cantinas he opened in the future. Which he did after opening, I believe, two other Cantinas. Skip ahead to 2004 when Alex was broke and Ed was basically in a perpetual haze of hard drug and alcohol abuse, and Sammy and Alex cut the deal for the 2004 tour.

That tour deal included Hagar getting complete control of the Cabo Wabo Cantina business and no longer having to pay the brothers an annual percentage of profits. The brothers got a fat fucking check up front for giving up their share of. Again, this entire arrangement is completely separate and not at all linked to the Tequila business Sam started and later sold for mega bucks.

In summary, Mike got fucked but everyone else got exactly what they wanted.

However, when Sammy left VH or was fired, part of the "breakup" legalities included Hagar having to pay the brothers a percentage of profits from any additional "Cabo Wabo" Cantinas he opened in the future. Which he did after opening, I believe, two other Cantinas. Skip ahead to 2004 when Alex was broke and Ed was basically in a perpetual haze of hard drug and alcohol abuse, and Sammy and Alex cut the deal for the 2004 tour.

That tour deal included Hagar getting complete control of the Cabo Wabo Cantina business and no longer having to pay the brothers an annual percentage of profits. The brothers got a fat fucking check up front for giving up their share of.

Thanks for the info.

Was this mentioned in Sammy's book, because I don't recall this part at all?

Roth is so unbelievably bad in the videos posted here that I have really lost about all respect for Eddie and Alex. This tour is an outright money grab, nothing more. As long as there are fools who will pay to see this............the brothers must be having a good laugh behind closed doors.

I caught the performance on Kimmel last night and it was well, not good. Eddy was on, but a good % DLR's vocals were waaaaaaaaaaaaaay off key......

Could be the nose injury. Trying to sing without breathing properly can be difficult. Of course, it could be that he actually does suck, what do I know!

Roth is so unbelievably bad in the videos posted here that I have really lost about all respect for Eddie and Alex. This tour is an outright money grab, nothing more. As long as there are fools who will pay to see this............the brothers must be having a good laugh behind closed doors.

Some people will pay to see anything and if that is what they want to do it is their choice and prerogative. I don't blame the VH brothers for accepting those people's money. Anyone who has seen youtube of the last tour would already know Roth is shot. If they still wanna go and spend their money for that they are perfectly allowed to do that.

People have been paying to see Ozzy Osbourne live for years and his voice has been totally shot since after his very first solo tour.

However, when Sammy left VH or was fired, part of the "breakup" legalities included Hagar having to pay the brothers a percentage of profits from any additional "Cabo Wabo" Cantinas he opened in the future. Which he did after opening, I believe, two other Cantinas. Skip ahead to 2004 when Alex was broke and Ed was basically in a perpetual haze of hard drug and alcohol abuse, and Sammy and Alex cut the deal for the 2004 tour.

That tour deal included Hagar getting complete control of the Cabo Wabo Cantina business and no longer having to pay the brothers an annual percentage of profits. The brothers got a fat fucking check up front for giving up their share of.

Thanks for the info.

Was this mentioned in Sammy's book, because I don't recall this part at all?

This information was included in the first version of Sam's autobiography that was never published...It was shelved, basically rewritten, and then published a few years later with the assistance of a completely different co-writer. In addition, Sam has also stated in interviews years back about the fact that he had to pay the brothers a share of his profits from the Cantina business (again, not the Tequila business which Sam started and owned jointly with one other partner i believe).

Sam conveniently never re-wrote these details into the version that was actually published. My guess is because it doesn't show him in a particularly glowing light and making these details public may also have violated a no disclosure clause in the actual settlements themselves and could possibly have led to litigation or a lawsuit as a result.

Let me be clear that I'm not a Sam hater, just passing along info. that Sam, and Mike Anthony to some extent, have clarified in interviews over the years.

well if the reason Roths voice was so bad was because he (somehow) managed to break his nose just before their big debut performance....well that doesn't bode well for the fans paying the big bucks for upcoming shows;and if the reasons' because he simply 'sucks'....well thats no better for these poor fans going to sit thru the show.
Btw I thought Ozzy sounded remarkably well with Black Sabbath recently,they all did. The only annoying thing maybe was the "Come On,Make some Fu*#en Noise"bit. Could do without that! considering the fans were practically already ripping the seats out of the stands!

[Edited on 4/9/2015 by bettyhynes]

well if the reason Roths voice was so bad was because he (somehow) managed to break his nose just before their big debut performance....well that doesn't bode well for the fans paying the big bucks for upcoming shows;and if the reasons' because he simply 'sucks'....well thats no better for these poor fans going to sit thru the show.
Btw I thought Ozzy sounded remarkably well with Black Sabbath recently,they all did. The only annoying thing maybe was the "Come On,Make some Fu*#en Noise"bit. Could do without that! considering the fans were practically already ripping the seats out of the stands!

[Edited on 4/9/2015 by bettyhynes]

i agree about ozzy. i saw them on that sabbath tour and ozzy sounded pretty good. probably because most of the sabbath songs are lower in range than his solo stuff

I've heard that live Ozzy has some off stage help with vocals.

As far as Roth goes, he was never a good live vocalist but has gotten worse in recent years.

"Come on, Dave - gimme a break!"

, but I think it's mostly just that he's lazy and puts no effort into the craft of singing. Ironically, at a time when the "schtick" is way overplayed and he could actually get away with being less a "rock star" and far more an actual singer. If he'd simply put forth some effort and work with a vocal coach and sing in his register, he'd sound far better....Not to mention he still smokes cigs and weed by the bale...That can't help his 60 plus year old voice.

[Edited on 4/1/2015 by Chain]

Well put and I totally agree. If Dave would just put forth the effort into singing,practice and vocal coach it would help. I have listened to the new live cd and when he does actually sing, he does sound good and has in the past.

If people are expecting Roth to be a great vocalist in the live setting, they missed the boat about 35 yrs ago. He never has been known for that,so dont expect it these days. I like Dave and enjoy his stage presence and what he brings to the VH band. Dave is Dave and always will be. He is and was a big part of that band and why they were and are popular. He was a front/showman first.
Yes I do agree that he needs some work these days, but he can do it if he only wants to.
I am not here to kick this guy in the groin for what he always has been.
If you dont like him, dont listen.

I like the Sammy stuff just as well, but if I had to pick, it would be the Roth era. Would VH be as big as deal right now if Sammy got back in? Maybe, but to the degree that it is now with Roth....not sure. I think the majority of the "lifer" VH fans want to hear the classic Fair Warning, Women and Children First . ADKOT I thought was very good and has that classic VH vibe.
It would nice to hear Sam with VH again, but I dont think that will be happening again. If any axe that is going to be buried it will be the VH bros probably puttingi t in Sam's back! 😉

Beyond Roth's poor singing,off timing,showboating...I just can't get beyond the Vest he's wearing on Ellen and his 'extremely' sparkling wide teeth. I guess thats mean ,but after seeing him with a broken nose while they had Hollywood Blvd closed off & the 1000's of fans waiting, I guess thats either very Sad or totally unprofessional...add to the fact they're charging Big bucks for their shows.I think if they're going to use the guy he should go thru rehab first & probably play some small,intimate shows for awhile & find himself & connect with the audience.Maybe he's not to blame but some greedy agent or manager that set the whole circus up as a final cash-cow. We've seen too many tragically lost in the past on the same ride like Hendrix,Joplin,etc

pretty much agree wwith some of what's been said around the current incarnation

but as I always said, i don;t care who sings, I'm there to hear Eddie

and damn does he kick ass lately

pretty much agree wwith some of what's been said around the current incarnation

but as I always said, i don;t care who sings, I'm there to hear Eddie

and damn does he kick ass lately

Absolutely is he kicking ass...As I mentioned earlier in this thread, it's amazing to see and hear him now over ten years after he looked and sounded like walking death on the 2004 tour. It really is quite a recovery if you consider that it wasn't just substance abuse but a few other health issues that he overcame as well.

Given the state of Roth, I sort of hope that maybe this is the last go around for the band VH and maybe, just maybe, we'll get a cool project with just the Brothers with maybe various singers doing some original music and not sold as "Van Halen."