Van Halen at the Rosemont, No April Fools

Eddie Van Halen and David Lee Roth have combined their talents to sell millions and millions of records. A lot more than the guy that replaced him in 1985, but that's another story. I grew up on KISS, AC-DC, the Stones, and Van Halen. Those were my bands. When Dave left in 1985, I was devastated. To me Dave was and still is the consummate showman, the best front man in rock. He is more than a little bit country and a little bit rock n' roll. If you could dissect him, you'd find that his mojo is made up of the same magical elixir found inside James Brown, Jim Morrison, Charlie Chaplin and Don Rickles.

I've seen Dave with Van Halen and solo more than any other artist, and I've seen a LOT of concerts. You can only imagine how happy I was when the news that the band was reuniting for a tour in 2007 was made public. If you could mulitply that by infinity, that's how thrilled I was when they announced a second tour and a new CD in 2012.

There's something in the blood of the Van Halen family that simply rocks. Eddie, Alex and now Wolfgang have this ability to capture your imagination like no other musicians. On the new CD, A Different Kind of Truth there are many memorable moments. The haunting close to As Is, the catchy She's the Woman and the explosive Chinatown are just a few strong points. Their musical elegance, and make no mistake about it; Eddie's sound is the greatest of all-time, and Alex and Wolfie accentuate it, combined with the lyrical genius of Diamond Dave provides you with perhaps the best straight-forward rock album in the past 15 or so years.

Here's a couple clips from their April 1st show. Sure they've slowed down a bit, certainly Dave's voice isn't perfect, but then it never was. Still, I'd rather pay to see them 20 times than to pay and see someone lip sync or use auto tune to try to sound good. I want the real thing. Van Halen delivered the goods.

If you want to rock, do yourself a favor and check them out.  To quote Dave, "When was the last time you did something for the first time?"