Van Halen 2012 at the BOK Center

So, if you've been tuning in here at all the past week or so you know that I took a road trip to Tulsa, OK to catch Van Halen and Kool and the Gang in concert on Van Halen's "A Different Kind of Truth" tour at the fabulous BOK Center on Tuesday night. Kool and the Gang opened to a sparsely populated arena, but by the end of their set had some of the drunk white dudes up dancing in the aisles. Those guys still do some nice choreography and put on a good show. It was an 11 man ensemble featuring a couple of saxophones, trumpet, trombone, bass, guitar, keys, drums, etc. You name it they had it. After their performance which started promptly at 7:30 there was a break (one break coming up!) and Van Halen took the stage to "Unchained" followed by "Running With the Devil" which got the party started. The highlights of the hour and 50 minute show for me included those first two songs, "Panama," "Ain't Talkin' Bout Love," Eddie's guitar solo, and I even came out of the concert surprisingly humming "Women in Love." The band played four songs off their new album - "Tattoo," "She's the Woman," "Chinatown," and "The Trouble With Never." I was ok with "Tattoo," and I'm a big fan of "She's the Woman," but I'd preferred that they'd just stuck "Chinatown" and "The Trouble With Never" back in the Van Halen bag. The only song they didn't hit which I would have liked to hear was "And the Cradle Will Rock" (see setlist down at the bottom for the full list of songs). Otherwise, as expected Dave has a tough time hitting the high notes and even staying on track on some of the songs, but what do you expect from the 57 year old Roth? He's part vaudeville actor, part ringmaster, part lounge singer, but I give him tremendous props for the physical shape he stays in and the effort he puts forth during the concert. He let out a few vintage kicks and can still get about 75% of the way on his splits.

Eddie's solo was truly one of the highlights of the show. Doing his first tour sober, according to an interview he did recently, Eddie was truly awesome once again proving that the hand is faster than the eye... way faster. I caught myself just hoping they'd get through the first verse or two of every song so I could watch the master shred. Eddie alone was worth the money.

As for the rest of the band, Eddie's song Wolfgang was solid on bass. He doesn't have the charisma or seem to hit some of the high notes as well as Michael Anthony, but all in all Wolfie does the job and kind of stays in the back ground letting the spotlight shine on Dave and Eddie. Eddie's brother Alex has to be one of the most underrated drummers ever because his drum solo was incredible and he just continues to give Van Halen that distinctive thunder to the background of many of their great songs. Alex reminds me of a mad scientist in the back with his sunglasses on as his once perfect hair starts to unravel due to the force of his banging. All in all it was a great night hanging out with some great friends and enjoying some great music. Here's some clips from last night's show... "Hot For Teacher"... Eddie doing what Eddie does best... shredding! Even Kool and the Gang put in a solid 50 minute set... Long live Van Halen! The setlist for the show: Unchained Runnin' With the Devil She's the Woman Romeo Delight Tattoo Everybody Wants Some!! Somebody Get Me a Doctor China Town Hear About It Later Oh, Pretty Woman (Roy Orbison cover) Drum Solo You Really Got Me (The Kinks cover) The Trouble with Never Dance the Night Away I'll Wait Hot for Teacher Women In Love Girl Gone Bad Beautiful Girls Ice Cream Man (John Brim cover) Panama Guitar Solo Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love Encore: Jump