Van Halen
Fleet Center
Boston, MA
May 21, 1998

Set List

Review by William K. Mahler - mahler@gis.net

When I showed up at the Fleet Center, everyone was being searched for paraphernalia including my wife but not I and I was loaded with a recorder too. In fact as people were sitting around seeing that I was adjusting my clip on microphone, someone spoke with security guard whom replied to that someone "would you believe me if I told you that Cherone said he (meaning me) wrote 3?"

Opening Act: Kenny Wayne Shepherd Band

A decent band and many solos. Picture Shepherd and Van Halen together? Bassist is perhaps Cherone or a double? Here it comes again, deja voodoo.

Van Halen.

• Elephant Calls.
• Unchained (Better than the Mtv show)
• Without You (Much improved)
• One I Want (CD Speed)
• Mean Street (Simply better, little feedback, nice ending)
• When It's Love (Cherone absolutely does this song justice however, he should stop asking people to sing for they already are.)
• Fire In The Hole (That "heeey yaaaaa yeyaayeeyaa" is replaced with a sing - a - long repeat segment of "Fire In The Hole" and it was a weak version overall.)
• Why Can't This Be Love (Another much improved song with a word parley at the end.)
• Romeo's Delight (I think this song is why Cherone was probably hired. The high - hat and Cherone's vocals. If you have yet to hear him sing "Stone Cold Crazy" then I suggest you do so.)
• Drum Solo. (Flawless! As Edward was leaving the stage, Alex could be heard saying "do the dishes".)
• Dance The Night Away / Feel Your Love Tonight (The audience really likes this solid medley)
• Humans Being (Awesome!)
• Somebody Get Me A Doctor (Michael Anthony sings this song and it ends with a nurse with a nurse top and perhaps a thong bottom coming out and delivering a bottle of Jack Daniels to the singer.)
• A Year To The Day (Fine version with little change at first)
• Secrets Cathedral Eruption (most of) 316
• A Year To The Day (Remember the Jimmy Page effects during the "The Song Remains The Same, well Edward uses the video techniques used in it. Then, Edward threw something small and white that hit Cherone and Cherone could be seen asking, "what was that for?" Edward changed the re intro key into this song.)
• Right Now ("Right now I've got the world on a string on my finger" is what Cherone stated during the end of this song that was done rather well.)
• Ain't Talking About Love (Much fun in this song.)
• Encores:
• Josephina ("his is for one" etc, etc. Cherone states into this semi fast acoustic song.)
• Panama (This song was started literally as Josephina ended and the lights were yet to come up on the drum kit. A contest winner was allowed to come up and sing the middle part of which Cherone performed himself after.)
• Jump (Cherone tried to ride the light rigging up during the beginning of this decent version.)
• Dreams (Many people including myself were already leaving and as the crowd became louder, I took a seat above Michael Anthony's side of the stage to enjoy this song that Cherone really needed no help from Anthony at all on and was performed excellent.)

Nice night and almost 2 hours long too.

The show was great. Eddie was his usual self as he displayed the great talent and excitement that is expected. However, there was another thing that was out of the ordinary. It was Gary who had the crowd pumped up with every action he did. You name it, Gary did it. While all songs were great, some were truly spectacular. These spectacular songs include: Mean Street, Fire In The Hole, Romeo Delight, Somebody Get Me A Doctor (with Mike on vocals!), Year To The Day, Right Now, Panama, Jump, and Dreams.

I was skeptical of Gary's talents matching the past singers but I was soon so impressed that I think the band will prosper and come up with new and interesting ideas with Gary. It's great how Gary can sing both old and new songs with such emotion, action, and BALLS.

Mike was his usual self, except for the exceptional high notes in Somebody Get Me A Doctor, in which a babe of a nurse came out and trotted around in the cutest lingerie (I mean nurse outfit) I have ever seen. She later turned out to be sitting in the crowd near my cousin who was VERY impressed.

Al's drum solo was also spectacular with a kind of Congo theme to it at the end with Al pounding away on the skins with a lot of action and excitement.

Overall, I felt the concert was great and I look forward to when Van Halen comes back to Massachusetts when they visit Great Woods on August 13th. I wrote down each song as it was played, so I know the playlist is right.

P.S. Dreams was the greatest and last song of the night!

Above: My ticket

Well, all I can say is that we are reeling! Josephina blew us away. Van Halen Proved today why they are the best of the Best! Gary is without question, the best front end to this band we have seen! Edward is F%^&**^$ing unreal, I can't describe or even contemplate how he works his magic. WORDS CANNOT DESCRIBE WHAT YOU HAVE MISSED !!!!

The guys were great! We even got a second encore because "this guy (Gary) lives here," said Edward. I was very pleased with their performance from the opening to the end - Unchained to Dreams. The guys are coming back, can't wait to see them. The Fleetcenter was a packed house with fans admiring the greatest band that ever played. Thanks fellas. Keep it up.

Wow! What a rockin' concert! Let me just say that the band's stop at the FleetCenter in Boston was one of the most amazing shows I've ever seen. The guys were better than ever and Gary has the perfect voice. In one word: energy!

The set list rocked with a mix of both old and new songs from Fire in the Hole and Josephina to Unchained and Mean Street. The dynamic between all the members of the group, but especially Gary and Eddie, was amazing. Between blazing riffs and mind-blowing vocals, jokes were flying back and forth. The video wall enabled close-ups of Eddie's amazing guitar work and the lighting set a spine-tingling mood.

As with the previous shows, Panama and Jump brought an explosive end to what was an incredible performance. Gary's ties with Boston were evident as he was truly "at home" with the crowd. Van Halen, you better come back soon! Thanks for a memorable night!!!!

Just got back an hour ago and all I can say is WOWWWW!

I've seen them live since 1984 with DLR and I think tonight's show was at least comparable with that one (and that's saying a lot).

Now only did they play tunes I've never EVER heard them play in 14 years but they played them so well I'm still stunned.

Also just a brief comment, they had 2 encores tonight. They played Dreams as their second encore.

Can't wait til July 3rd when I happen to catch them next in San Diego.

Keep it up VH, you guys are the BALLS!!!!!

One word for you all: WOW. The FleetCenter rocked to it's foundations tonight. The smell of fresh beer and perfume filled the Center. What a great show the boys put on. I have never seen a concert before and this was a hell of a way to start out. I think since Boston is the hometown of Gary, they outdid themselves in a big way.

Kenny Wayne Shepherd opened up and he was excellent. He does look like a long lost Hanson brother though, but he was really amazing. Then Ed's elephant calls started to fill the Fleet. Then they stormed the stage and Gary said, "Hello Boston-guess who's back??" Then they quickly started into Unchained and into the greatest show on earth.

Cherone's a fruitcake. The guy is everywhere. He was pulling some dangerous stunts too. He jumped off the stage onto a bunch of wires that were hanging from the rafters. It looked like a black vine, and Gary jumped onto it and was swinging from it. Then he jumped onto a rafter that was lowered for lighting purposes. The rafter was raising when Cherone went over and jumped on. He let go from ten feet up. He sounded great live, much much better than on the album. Some great points of the show were:

1. Michael Anthony singing lead on Somebody Get Me A Doctor. This guy has a voice and half. He is nuts. Van Halen would not be Van Halen without him. He got the crowd going a bunch of times. It was funny when he was done singing SGMAD, a beautiful girl came out dressed as a nurse and served Mikey some Jack Daniels. Then he stuck his face between her boobs and shook his head. Speaking of Jack Daniels, Mike's famous Jack Daniels bass guitar made a welcomed appearance for Humans Being.
2. The crazy, whacked out, loud as all hell Boston crowd. When VH did their medley of Feel Your Love Tonight and Dance The Night Away, the crowd flipped. Everyone sang along to Feel Your Love Tonight. In fact the whole crowd sang along to all the songs, but this one in particular. They really dug it. My ears are killing me. I just got home and they are still ringing! It was soooo loud, the music, the vocals, the crowd...man oh man.
3. EDWARD VAN HALEN....need I say more? He was back to his old self. The one that does about eight million scissor kicks, is smiling non-stop and the same one who was fooling around and having fun with his bandmates like they were teenagers. His solo was great. He played Cathedral, then Eruption, then a cool, kinda new sounding 316, and he did his usual other stuff. But seeing Eddie IRL and seeing him doing what he cherishes was the greatest thing. There is no one like him. Thats all I can say about that. His performance went through without a hitch. He was perfect tonight. He's just amazing.
4. Gary Cherone...what a great performer. He is so animated and youthful. He got the crowd going with all his dangerous stunts that he was pulling. On a good note, he grabbed himself a lot less than he did in Sydney on the MTV special. He has such a great voice live and he proved it tonight. He rose above all my skepticsm. This guy ain't goin' nowhere soon. They love him and he loves them. There was one part during Panama, where Ed was trying to corner Gary in sort of a cat and mouse type deal. Gary couldn't get away! It was sooo funny how they all joked around. They are so funny.
5. Alex's drum solo. Everyone went nuts when he started out. I loved the whole spanish music he has playing in the background while he was playing. I was waiting to see Gary, Mike and Ed come out in a conga line. It was really great. The best drum solo I've seen from him.
6. The kick ass encore. They did Josephina, Panama, Jump. As, Ed and Gary sat down to do Josephina, he said, "Hey Boston, how do you like my new band?" Everyone laughed hysterically. It was wicked cool. And then Ed said, "How do you like our new back up singer?" again we all laughed. And when we thought that was it, and they were all done, nope! They come back out and Gary says, "Since this is my town, we're gonna do one more..you people make me proud of where I'm from." And I wanted to hear a certain song all night and they never did it, until now-DREAMS. They ended the show with their best tune, Dreams. This was the time of my life and I recommend everyone to give this concert a shot. It's worth the money.

If you're a VAN HALEN fan and you miss this tour, you definitely don't know what you're missing. It's like Gary's been with the band for years. I don't think I've ever heard anyone sing so clearly and right on the mark.

Opening up with "Unchained" was absolutly one of the best parts of the show I thought. The crowd was loud and I mean REAL LOUD! Then they went right into "Without You" and "One I Want". Mike sang on "Somebody Get Me A Doctor" and what they did with Mean Street was just awesome.

You could feel the vibe when they played those older songs that they haven't played in years. Gary made it clear that Boston is his home town, they even came back for 2 encores!! One of them, just Eddie and Gary came out. Eddie had his acoustic guitar and they played Josephina, just like that.

Gary's dancing around brings about a little bit different style of a show, but let me say this...

VAN HALEN STILL KICKS MY ASS EVERYTIME!!! See ya at Great Woods!

Well I finally saw Van Halen for the first time and I'm glad I waited for Gary. He Rules!!! This dude is amazing. He absolutely stole the show. The days leading up to the show I just kept thinking about seeing Eddie and Alex, but when the lights went down and the band came out I found myself totally focused on Gary.

I sort of hate to admit it but it's true. Go see this tour and you will know what I'm talking about. At first I thought it wasn't loud enough, but my friend said it was just right and as the show went on I tended to agree. They didn't have huge stacks of amps like most arena tours, but the sound quality was superb. The video screen was great but I found myself looking more at that than the band members. When they played Dance the Night Away they killed the screen, not sure if this was intentional or not but it was a nice touch. Although they should have flashed the VH logo as a back drop.

The set list was pretty much the same as the other shows. The highlights were Unchained, Mean Street, Without You, Somebody Get Me A Doctor, Dance The Night Away, Romeo Delight, Right Now, and Jump. And of course Alex's drum solo and Eddie's guitar solo.

This evening turned a skeptic into a believer. Yes, I’ll admit I had a few reservations about seeing Gary at the helm of the Van Halen juggernaut after watching MTV’s "Live at the 10 Spot" performance. I guess it was an off night.

After a long, but energetic set by Kenny Wayne Shepherd which ended in a righteous version of Jimi’s "Voodoo Chile/Purple Haze" I was ready to watch another guitar hero take the stage. I wasn’t disappointed.

From the opening chords of "Unchained," they had me. There they were, the three original members of VH and the new blood, Gary Cherone. Hearing the old and the new mix together was something of a history lesson in rock and roll. Songs like "Romeo Delight," and "Dance the Night Away" seemed to have new life, while newer tunes like "Without You," and "Josephina," bore the earmarks of new classics.

Some of the highlights of this show included Mikey singing a raucous version of "Somebody Get Me a Doctor," after which a "nurse" came out and played around with Mikey a bit. I don’t think she was from Mass General Hospital. Another great moment came when some lucky audience member was chosen to come on stage and do the talking segment of "Panama." He’ll have something to tell his grandkids. Finally the evening ended with not just one, but two encores ending in "Dreams," one of my favorite Sammy-era tunes.

Every member of the band was on tonight too. Eddie seemed to be dancing around the stage with every step he took. Alex, even though still favoring his neck, was pounding it out as usual. Mikey was all over everything, screaming and yelling, singing at the top of his lungs and generally having a great time. But….where was his "Ultra Bass" solo? And Gary.

Gary the jester, Gary the acrobat, Gary the balladeer, and Gary the rocker. They were all there tonight too. At times it seems like VH has more than four members.

I went to this concert expecting to seen a adequate rendering of some old favorites. What I got was a band that was out there playing like it was the first time they ever set foot on stage, captivating the audience and as the saying goes, "leaving ‘em wanting more."