Synth Glitch Creates On-Stage Disaster for Van Halen - Gizmodo Comments

Synth Glitch Creates On-Stage Disaster for Van Halen

Set to evil — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 22:54:35 EDT

Have the Rolling Stones killed! Do as I say!!!

Set to evil

Synth Glitch Creates On-Stage Disaster for Van Halen

JRo — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 08:53:43 EDT

Sammy Haggar and Michael Anthony are rolling on the floor laughing with tears in their eyes.

JRo

Synth Glitch Creates On-Stage Disaster for Van Halen

TheVelourFox — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 20:06:04 EDT

@nincompoop: That's just their natural showmanship and dedication. On the inside they're screaming confused obscenities. Poise under pressure.

TheVelourFox

Synth Glitch Creates On-Stage Disaster for Van Halen

Trackback — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 19:07:00 EDT

The Internet is unforgiving. Previous mishaps like this might be talked about, but now anyone with a built-in video recorder on their camera can spread anything to the whole world in minutes.

Trackback

Synth Glitch Creates On-Stage Disaster for Van Halen

nincompoop — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 05:11:27 EDT

Actually, the band don't seem to notice anything is amiss, AT ALL!

nincompoop

Synth Glitch Creates On-Stage Disaster for Van Halen

nincompoop — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 05:09:05 EDT

Christ all fuggin' mighty!

nincompoop

Synth Glitch Creates On-Stage Disaster for Van Halen

barrettrick — Sun, 21 Oct 2007 21:09:42 EDT

I think the problem was in Eddie's Guitar, not the synth.

Fellow musicians help me out, but after comparing two different shows I found both songs to be in the key of C#.

As any Eddie fan will tell you, Eddie uses different tunings for different songs.

Quite simply, Eddie forgot to change to his Frankenstein guitar which is tuned 1/2 step down from A440 for "Jump."

It is fun to watch him scramble around and "re-tune" his guitar on the fly.

To Dave's credit, he did not miss a beat.

Am I right fellow musicians/VH Fans????

barrettrick

Synth Glitch Creates On-Stage Disaster for Van Halen

Matlike — Sun, 21 Oct 2007 16:43:07 EDT

Thanks for not posting my comments. Is it that you don't want people to know the truth that it wasn't a synth glitch so they keep coming to your site?

Matlike

Synth Glitch Creates On-Stage Disaster for Van Halen

wooten — Sun, 21 Oct 2007 01:09:06 EDT

That stuff happens. Van Halen have been doing a great job on this tour. Though this was a pre-recorded track flaw, I have seen countless bands make mistakes live (and not just little mistakes) including bands like Rush, Bela Fleck & the Flecktones and many others. Using this video to say they suck just shows your lack of musical knowledge.

wooten

Synth Glitch Creates On-Stage Disaster for Van Halen

crackblind — Sat, 20 Oct 2007 22:58:25 EDT

@hudsong: Thank you. I didn't want to be that guy.

crackblind

Synth Glitch Creates On-Stage Disaster for Van Halen

Jay — Sat, 20 Oct 2007 15:37:19 EDT

Van Halen fans? I seriously doubt they noticed anything was wrong.

Jay

Synth Glitch Creates On-Stage Disaster for Van Halen

Matlike — Sat, 20 Oct 2007 15:30:30 EDT

It's not the track that is playing faster, it's Eddie's guitar which is out of tune and flat. That track is playing at the exact same pitch that it plays every show on this tour. Check it out.

Eddie's guitar is most likely out of tune from all of the whammy bar use which is normal.

Matlike

Synth Glitch Creates On-Stage Disaster for Van Halen

Matlike — Sat, 20 Oct 2007 15:19:39 EDT

The track is NOT playing faster, it's Eddie's guitar that is out of tune and flat. They play the same track at every show, and the track plays at the exact same pitch every show on this tour.

Matlike

Synth Glitch Creates On-Stage Disaster for Van Halen

Hypenotist — Sat, 20 Oct 2007 10:38:47 EDT

should have beat the sound guy with his bo staff instead of twirling it around like an aged mutant ninja turtle

Hypenotist

Synth Glitch Creates On-Stage Disaster for Van Halen

scarbrtj — Sat, 20 Oct 2007 08:25:36 EDT

@Havok154: lol ... "Grammar" is more better ;)

scarbrtj

Synth Glitch Creates On-Stage Disaster for Van Halen

OtterKing — Sat, 20 Oct 2007 07:53:31 EDT

aggghghghghgh it hurts my ears

OtterKing

Synth Glitch Creates On-Stage Disaster for Van Halen

pomophobe — Sat, 20 Oct 2007 05:39:26 EDT

Honestly what kind of douchebag brings out a kendo stick during a guitar solo? Only to follow that up with an oversized inflatable microphone?

Van Halen is less relevant Rip Taylor, only there's more than one of them and they suck completely.

pomophobe

Synth Glitch Creates On-Stage Disaster for Van Halen

pomophobe — Sat, 20 Oct 2007 05:36:09 EDT

these guys are complete twats anyway... did they not notice this in any sound checks?

pomophobe

Synth Glitch Creates On-Stage Disaster for Van Halen

RiceBandit — Sat, 20 Oct 2007 04:35:03 EDT

It looked like their last song of the night-- everyone there was probably deaf, anyways...

RiceBandit

Synth Glitch Creates On-Stage Disaster for Van Halen

Darkest Daze — Sat, 20 Oct 2007 03:44:01 EDT

@Havok154:
argh..."more worse". Grammer police, please realize that I already know that's not correct. Just remove the word "more".

Darkest Daze

Synth Glitch Creates On-Stage Disaster for Van Halen

Darkest Daze — Sat, 20 Oct 2007 03:42:58 EDT

I found Eddie's waddle to be more worse for the band than the sound quality.

Darkest Daze

Synth Glitch Creates On-Stage Disaster for Van Halen

lightshow — Sat, 20 Oct 2007 02:59:37 EDT

@MMFY: I did miss the VMAs, but I still heard about the fiasco (damnit). Note to self: before evoking hypothetical situations, ensure said situation is actually hypothetical. OK all good now.

lightshow

Synth Glitch Creates On-Stage Disaster for Van Halen

Grifter — Sat, 20 Oct 2007 01:53:29 EDT

Yo Triple X Rexxx.. Pretty funny eh? I mean I bet you never heard Kiss do something that bad. Synths?? Bah! You've got it bad... you've got it bad... bad without Michael!

Grifter

Synth Glitch Creates On-Stage Disaster for Van Halen

wonkydonky — Sat, 20 Oct 2007 00:01:55 EDT

Hehehehehe! Fan -tastic! Loved every second of that.

Almost exactly a 1/4 tone out -little you can do about it unless you play slide :D

Lower quality than even Government Cheese; Worse than having EVH himself do my dental work! As bad as the anti-shreds by StSanders, but less refined.

Schadenfreude Uber Alles; hee hee hee!!! :P :P :P

wonkydonky

Synth Glitch Creates On-Stage Disaster for Van Halen

scarbrtj — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 23:50:59 EDT

Chuckie baby!

.: G O N G :.

scarbrtj

Synth Glitch Creates On-Stage Disaster for Van Halen

astroglide — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 21:20:17 EDT

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.

astroglide

Synth Glitch Creates On-Stage Disaster for Van Halen

T-man — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 20:08:56 EDT

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

T-man

Synth Glitch Creates On-Stage Disaster for Van Halen

bimplebean — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 19:30:55 EDT

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

bimplebean

Synth Glitch Creates On-Stage Disaster for Van Halen

davehimself — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 19:25:24 EDT

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.

davehimself

Synth Glitch Creates On-Stage Disaster for Van Halen

Fierock — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 18:57:05 EDT

@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.

Fierock

Synth Glitch Creates On-Stage Disaster for Van Halen

AxCrusnik — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 18:30:31 EDT

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

AxCrusnik

Synth Glitch Creates On-Stage Disaster for Van Halen

hudsong — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 18:28:28 EDT

It's spelled "shudder"

hudsong

Synth Glitch Creates On-Stage Disaster for Van Halen

scotth0 — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 18:22:09 EDT

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

scotth0

Synth Glitch Creates On-Stage Disaster for Van Halen

MMFY — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 18:18:26 EDT

@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!

MMFY

Synth Glitch Creates On-Stage Disaster for Van Halen

Ezhax — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 18:17:51 EDT

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

Ezhax

Synth Glitch Creates On-Stage Disaster for Van Halen

MMFY — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 18:16:52 EDT

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

@oldmanstan: Dangnabbit. Beat me!

MMFY

Synth Glitch Creates On-Stage Disaster for Van Halen

MMFY — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 18:14:12 EDT

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

MMFY

Synth Glitch Creates On-Stage Disaster for Van Halen

theimmc — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 18:02:28 EDT

Charlie - you shutter to think?

theimmc

Synth Glitch Creates On-Stage Disaster for Van Halen

Mike918 — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 17:58:13 EDT

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

Mike918

Synth Glitch Creates On-Stage Disaster for Van Halen

ideaman2020 — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 17:34:32 EDT

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...

ideaman2020

Synth Glitch Creates On-Stage Disaster for Van Halen

DrewGradesPoo — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 17:06:21 EDT

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

DrewGradesPoo

Synth Glitch Creates On-Stage Disaster for Van Halen

NicleT — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 17:01:50 EDT

TabarnaK! This is so a mess!!

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

NicleT

Synth Glitch Creates On-Stage Disaster for Van Halen

jaczor — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 17:00:56 EDT

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

jaczor

Synth Glitch Creates On-Stage Disaster for Van Halen

thebear91 — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 16:58:23 EDT

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

thebear91

Synth Glitch Creates On-Stage Disaster for Van Halen

Zagato7 — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 16:58:16 EDT

@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.

Zagato7

Synth Glitch Creates On-Stage Disaster for Van Halen

thebear91 — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 16:56:56 EDT

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.

thebear91

Synth Glitch Creates On-Stage Disaster for Van Halen

dthejensen — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 16:55:16 EDT

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

dthejensen

Synth Glitch Creates On-Stage Disaster for Van Halen

TommySez — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 16:52:07 EDT

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

TommySez

Synth Glitch Creates On-Stage Disaster for Van Halen

DeadPlasmaCell — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 16:44:21 EDT

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

DeadPlasmaCell

Synth Glitch Creates On-Stage Disaster for Van Halen

NZRUSS — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 16:41:13 EDT

man, are they still around... sheesh.

NZRUSS

Synth Glitch Creates On-Stage Disaster for Van Halen

microe — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 16:38:06 EDT

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."

microe

Synth Glitch Creates On-Stage Disaster for Van Halen

oldmanstan — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 16:35:55 EDT

@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

oldmanstan

Synth Glitch Creates On-Stage Disaster for Van Halen

johnnyabnormal — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 16:24:19 EDT

Easy solution: Hire a keyboard player for the tour!

johnnyabnormal

Synth Glitch Creates On-Stage Disaster for Van Halen

rednecktech — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 16:22:20 EDT

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.

rednecktech

Synth Glitch Creates On-Stage Disaster for Van Halen

EBone — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 16:13:22 EDT

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

EBone

Synth Glitch Creates On-Stage Disaster for Van Halen

Realtor Dude — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 16:11:10 EDT

Please sir...

May I have another?

Realtor Dude

Synth Glitch Creates On-Stage Disaster for Van Halen

thedancingrogue — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 16:02:12 EDT

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

thedancingrogue

Synth Glitch Creates On-Stage Disaster for Van Halen

bez_online — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 16:00:37 EDT

@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.

bez_online

Synth Glitch Creates On-Stage Disaster for Van Halen

scooterman — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 15:45:54 EDT

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

Synth Glitch Creates On-Stage Disaster for Van Halen

abadomaX — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 15:33:18 EDT

giant microphone = rock god?

abadomaX

Synth Glitch Creates On-Stage Disaster for Van Halen

infmom — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 15:33:16 EDT

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.

infmom

Synth Glitch Creates On-Stage Disaster for Van Halen

xipher — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 15:32:37 EDT

i hope someone was fired for that

xipher

Synth Glitch Creates On-Stage Disaster for Van Halen

waffleking77 — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 15:24:40 EDT

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.

waffleking77

Synth Glitch Creates On-Stage Disaster for Van Halen

FЯeeMan is slowly cЯawling out of the new commenting system — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 15:24:09 EDT

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.

FЯeeMan is slowly cЯawling out of the new commenting system

Synth Glitch Creates On-Stage Disaster for Van Halen

bobdobbs — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 15:19:41 EDT

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

bobdobbs

Synth Glitch Creates On-Stage Disaster for Van Halen

UofITom — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 15:16:51 EDT

@mofo: That was the final encore

UofITom

Synth Glitch Creates On-Stage Disaster for Van Halen

tomaartist — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 15:16:41 EDT

ooooooooooooo
my ears won't stop bleeding.

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

tomaartist

Synth Glitch Creates On-Stage Disaster for Van Halen

ScotteusMaximus — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 15:13:58 EDT

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.

ScotteusMaximus

Synth Glitch Creates On-Stage Disaster for Van Halen

banmojo — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 15:11:45 EDT

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 :^&

banmojo

Synth Glitch Creates On-Stage Disaster for Van Halen

bigdirty — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 15:08:51 EDT

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

bigdirty

Synth Glitch Creates On-Stage Disaster for Van Halen

newgalactic — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 15:07:35 EDT

At least it ended quick. Better luck next time.

newgalactic

Synth Glitch Creates On-Stage Disaster for Van Halen

lightshow — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 15:06:22 EDT

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.

lightshow

Synth Glitch Creates On-Stage Disaster for Van Halen

newgalactic — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 15:06:17 EDT

@brijazz: NICE!!!!!

newgalactic

Synth Glitch Creates On-Stage Disaster for Van Halen

mofo — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 15:05:34 EDT

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

mofo

Synth Glitch Creates On-Stage Disaster for Van Halen

bobdobbs — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 15:04:13 EDT

Hah, revenge of the nerds.

bobdobbs

Synth Glitch Creates On-Stage Disaster for Van Halen

Adolf — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 15:00:52 EDT

Poor guys, a hellish musical mess indeed...

Adolf

Synth Glitch Creates On-Stage Disaster for Van Halen

brijazz — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 14:59:36 EDT

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

brijazz

Synth Glitch Creates On-Stage Disaster for Van Halen

bandit — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 14:59:20 EDT

I have no problem with this.

bandit

Synth Glitch Creates On-Stage Disaster for Van Halen

xplosivo — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 14:58:35 EDT

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?

xplosivo

Synth Glitch Creates On-Stage Disaster for Van Halen

tamoko — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 14:56:33 EDT

The show must go on!!

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

tamoko