Hi there,
As most of you already know,
wahwah is the "Eddie" in a UK Van Halen band called
Unchained .
Well, I went to see them on Friday night, and met
wahwah and the other band members and witnessed them live.
Wow, they were fantastic ! I can't compare them to The
Atomic Punks or Hot For Teacher, because I haven't seen them live. However, I'll just have to compare them to Van Halen, since that is who their tribute is to.
Well, they certainly captured the spirit of Van Halen, and they played songs that you'd never have the chance of hearing live again, no matter what the line up.
There were lots of Dave-isms, and I really liked the way that they did drum solos, Eruption was played, and even a phase where "Eddie" tapped out some notes on the guitar, and "Dave" sang the same note himself. This really made it feel like the spirit of Van Halen was living on.
My only gripe was that most people in the crowd did not know who Van Halen are, or more importantly, did not know the songs. This is no fault of the band. At one point, a guy asked me what the significance of the Hammer Guy on the drum kit was. Then, when I was singing to Unchained, which was awesome, one guy turned to me and said, "Jesus, do you know all the words ?" I said, "Yeah, of course, this is the best song Van Halen did !" He then said, "What, so you're
ACTUALLY a
real Van Halen fan ? I replied with, "Errr, yeah, of course !" Which kinda shocked him !
My other gripe is that some git with a massive red Range Rover totally blocked me in, and when he moved it it still took me feckin' ages to get out. I'll never know how the hell I got into that gap ! I was so wound up when I left the place, I went the wrong way down the M4, thus taking me an hour longer to get home. Ah well.
wahwah and I talked afterwards, and were in agreement that it would be great to be in a
Van Halen tribute band in California, because you would be guaranteed of a reception from the crowd, but it's more difficult here.
Anyway, I could , but let me summarise by saying they were awesome. I had a great night (even though I wasn't drinking). So thank you for letting me hear those songs live once again !
I have 72 MB of video and pictures available. However, I want to ask
wahwah whether I can post the stuff for you all to see. It is his band, after all, and I don't know how sensitive they are to how they are portrayed to everyone.
So,
wahwah I will send a Private Message to you (you will see the flashing "letter" on the top of the website when I have sent it to you. Just click on it to read my message to you. In there will be a link to all of the videos and pictures that I got that night, including Eruption, in 3 15s parts.
Unfortunately, I forgot how to work my bloody camera, and couldn't figure out how to film clips of longer than 15s, until right at the very end. So you've just got loads of 15s clips of everything...
Anyway, I'll await
wahwah's response (once I have sent the PM), and then we'll see what he says about posting the stuff here for everyone else to see/hear...
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