The show must go on!!

Shit, that truely sucks.. The curse of Sammy Haggar.

I was at the Greensboro show and I do not remember this at all. I feel pretty certain that I would have remembered something this horrific. (although I will say that the G'boro Coliseum isn't exactly the most acoustic perfect building on the planet.)

Are you sure this happened in Greensboro?

I have no problem with this.

You've got to roll with the punches, indeed.

Poor guys, a hellish musical mess indeed...

Hah, revenge of the nerds.

That was painful! Please tell me they got it fixed after the first song?.....

@brijazz: NICE!!!!!

Even though its much easier to transpose a voice part to a new key in real-time compared to an instrumental part, I think the whole group did their best to adapt to this glitch but Eddie really managed to pull the whole thing back together to a recoverable point. This type of thing is what being a real musician is all about - I wonder what Britney would do if her lip-sync track was out of tune.

The audience still enjoyed it because either they figured the band was loaded or they didn't care because the audience members themselves were loaded. Win-win situation.

At least it ended quick. Better luck next time.

I thought this would happen when they did the great new song "We're Back!" written for them by James Norton! -lulz-

Man, that musta sucked. Sounded godawful. But I've seen Dave screw up both pitch AND lyrics live in person (he was loaded) so this isn't new, just new cause :^&

wow...now i feel a little better about not getting tickets to the show. i had heard diamond dave wasn't up to his old form, but...wow.

ooooooooooooo
my ears won't stop bleeding.

i have flashbacks of mullets and handlebar mustaches.;+(

@mofo: That was the final encore

@bigdirty: "We're BACK! And Better than ever! We're BACK!"

wow. Was Van Halen always that bad live? I'm not complaining about the sound quality, as that was obviously screwed, but the performance itself was pitiful. I remember the videos being much better than that.

I saw Van Halen at the Cleveland show, and luckily nothing like this happened. In fact, the band sounded as great as ever, and David Lee Roth was spot on.

i hope someone was fired for that

You should have heard the clip of the Eagles at the new Nokia Theater. They didn't have a gizmo glitch to blame for how bad they sounded.

giant microphone = rock god?

I can't believe I listened to the whole thing. Did you? It was Like grabbing a charged power line and you can' let go- .... Then your dead. It was bad.

@scooterman: Ditto. That was like a combination of Chinese water torture and the "mind reconditioning" sequence in Clockwork Orange! As a musician, I have had my fair share of equipment malfunctions, but I never dragged an unwitting audience through an entire song like those sad bastards.

I can't unremember that! Thank you, Giz.

Please sir...

May I have another?

@bobdobbs: "A little bit older, but not much wiser..."

The fact is there are just not many bands out there that I have ever heard that sound good live. Music these days is so processed that I don't believe that anyone can sound as good live as they do on a recording. It is kind of like the actors and models you see on TV and magazines. Pictures are airbrushed and processed so much that you don't even recognize the people when you see them in person. Same thing with music. What you hear on a CD is all smoke and mirrors baby. That is why so many bands go with prerecorded stuff when they are live. I won't even go to a concert unless I get the tickets for free.

Easy solution: Hire a keyboard player for the tour!

@If Only This Was Fleshbot...: "I wonder what Britney would do if her lip-sync track was out of tune."

we already know the answer to that: google "britney spears vma performance", it wasn't the track but her forgetfulness/drug usage, but same effect, and it wasn't pretty

Alex: "Hey Eddie, did you get someone to program the keyboards for us since you booted Michael? You know he used to do that for us too."

Eddie:"Nah, Wolfgang can do it. Hey Wolfie, put down the Halo for a moment and get Jump ready."

Wolfie:"Ah Dad, do I have to?"

Eddie"You better, or I am going to make you eat that Jennie Craig food your mom sent you."

clickity, clackity, clickity.

Wolfie:"Done."

man, are they still around... sheesh.

Is this mother f*cker riding a giant inflatable microphone across the stage??

@rednecktech: You're listening to the wrong bands.

Did Van Halen fire their sound guy and replace him with an inflatable microphone?

They're broke $$ wise, they can't afford a keyboard player.

That look like the last song of the night, or the one before the encore...if they had one. About 3/4 of the audience was either deaf or drunk by the time this played.

Live almost always sucks when recorded. The stage kind of looked like it was low-budget.

@Rednecktech

Try going to a music festival like Lollapalooza, Bonnaroo, or Coachella...you might be surprised how good some if not most of the bands sound live.

They're broke $$ wise, couldn't afford a soundman or keyboard player. Even the stage looks low budget.

Van Halen is overrated as hell anyway, and WTF is up with that idiot riding an inflatable microphone, is that supposed to be cool?

TabarnaK! This is so a mess!!

It even not been shredded by StSanders. Take a look at this Eddie Van Halen shreds video, hilarious.

The bassist looks more lost than a bearded lady in the desert.

I'm pretty sure that 44.1K is not evenly divisible by 48K, much less a multiple of 12, so it's hardly surprising that this sounds awful.

There's really not much to be done when the backing track is off by [because I'm too lazy to do the maths] ((48-44.1)/44.1)*12 of a tone. I mean besides, you know, not playing...

I hope that this doesnt happen to Led Zeppelin that concert has to be perfect!

Charlie - you shutter to think?

Definitely sounded off lol! At least they acted professionally instead of having a "rockstar hissy fit"! :D

@If Only This Was Fleshbot...:
I assume you missed Britney's MTV Awards performance then? lol!

@oldmanstan: Dangnabbit. Beat me!

I was at this concert it was awesome this was the last song they preformed tho, but i couldnt tell it sounded like this until i watched this video.

O well it was still worth it tho

@xipher: Why do ppl always want OTHER ppl to get fired? Does it make your life better? And no, I won't get fired for posting this...better luck next time!

Yuck. Eddie's attempt at a rock star jump was petty weak as well. That was like a 6 inch vertical.

It's spelled "shudder"

Too bad he didn't have a capo. If he found the exact right spot to put it, it might have helped.

@AxCrusnik: unless it was out by something other than precisely a semi-tone.

They should have just pre-recorded the whole concert, I doubt the audience would've cared considering they applauded this.

I never fully understood the idea that its professional to plow through something that sounds like crap. Professional would be Eddie tapping Dave on the shoulder and saying "eff this man lets do something else." Then Dave walks up to the microphone and says "alright folks, obviously we've got a sick synth up here, so this next song is called Ice Cream Man!"
Professionalism is having a couple of numbers to fall back on. And not being afraid to do so.
This is why I don't go see geriatric versions of my fave adolescent rock bands. It is almost always an embarasing disapointment. Allman Brothers? sure, they've been playing like men since they were boys. Ozzy? Why not he has always just been like an evil old geezer on stage. But Van Halen? not a chance.

Please don't "shutter" to think when you take a picture with a fast shudder speed.

Q: What do you get when you put a little kid, an egotistical has-been, and a meth head on stage together?

I hate it when musical acts get old. Sometimes it's down right embarrassing. Check out 3:48 left when Eddie jumps in sync with the lyrics. I think he's got about 4" of vertical left.

Chuckie baby!

.: G O N G :.