EDDIE VAN HALEN ON THE BAND’S LIVE ALBUM: “THERE ARE MISTAKES..BUT THAT’S HOW IT SOUNDED THAT NIGHT SO WE JUST LEFT IT”
The Pulse Of Radio reports that Eddie Van Halen told Guitar Worldmagazine that he was fine with leaving mistakes on Van Halen’s new concert album, Live: Tokyo Dome In Concert. Eddie stated, “There are mistakes. After it was mixed I listened to a few parts and went, ‘Okay, I f–ked that up.’ But that’s how it sounded that night so we just left it. It’s like a photograph of that evening and we didn’t Photoshop it. When you fix parts or mistakes, it’s not a real live experience any more.”
Eddie added, “There’s this uncontrolled energy. It’s never really right or perfect, but it creates tension. It’s like, ‘Okay, who’s going to blow it?’ When you keep waiting for someone to f–k up but no one does, it keeps you on the edge of your seat. It’s the real thing.”
Van Halen’s Tokyo Dome Live In Concert was released on March 31st. The band will be hitting the road starting July 5th in Seattle, WA. Please click here to see the band’s tour schedule.
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Mistakes, that’s what makes us “Humans Being!” 😉
At least the record sounds honest. And, quite frankly, Roth sounds a hell of a lot better than Paul Stanley does now. In fact, I’ll go out on a limb and say this: Roth’s range is better than it used to be. He does more scoodly doo wah yip yappin’, but then that was always Roth. No squeals or yelling like a jungle animal anymore, but I’ll take that over Paul Stanley pretending he wants the audience to sing because he can’t do it himself. I still refuse to see VH without Mikey, but I did listen to the record and it isn’t bad at all in my opinion. For 2015, it really isn’t. The set list was good, too. No Hagar songs. You gotta love that at least.
No dis on Dave, but Dave couldn’t sing Sammy’s songs even if Eddie wanted him to. Roth is my 2nd favorite front man of all time, right behind Steven Tyler, but I also love the Red Rocker, from Montrose to The Circle! Sammy wrote ALOT of good and great songs while he was in VH, along with Eddie. I would love to hear (instrumentally of course) Eddie, Al & Wolfgang jam on Poundcake again, or ANY of the songs from “For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge,” my favorite Van Hagar album! Of course, no dis on Wolfgang, but would really love it more if Mad Anthony was back in the band. But Eddie’s happy with his son, and Michael’s happy with Hagar, so I guess it’s time to dream another dream, because it looks like as far as a reunion goes, “The Dream Is Over.”
Hey, I can appreciate that it’s a live album, and everyone knows Dave was never a “singer’s” singer, he’s mostly an entertainer.
My deal is that he doesn’t seem to take singing that seriously to begin with, so obviously VH with DLR is a very visual band….but then we’re minus the massive energy of Michael Anthony.
Does he sound great for his age? I guess so, Dave’s in great shape, but his range is long gone now. I guess is what it is, an OK VH live album with Dave singing.
I more interested to hear what any of the new material sounds like, if it comes.
“Massive energy of Michael Anthony”?
Don’t get me wrong, he’s a great bass player (saw him in a small club on the very first leg of the Chickenfoot tour, before the album was even out; what a treat) and he is without doubt a classy guy who took the short end of the stick from his old band, but that was almost TEN years ago. I think the cult of Michael Anthony is reaching ridiculous proportions. I’ve seen VH with and without, and I’m sorry, even with the added vocal presence, this isn’t like seeing Maiden without Bruce, or Sabbath without Dio/Ozzy.
If you didn’t know the backstory, or if you didn’t SPECIFICALLY go to hear him, you wouldn’t know there was a difference.
Bill F.: Listen to the first couple VH records with the balance set to just Michael’s playing. The man is a locomotive monster.
That would be correct Mr Rock and Roll..just saw The Circle tonight and Sammy was singing his ass off, but Mike Anthony was a freakin beast…energy, looks good, sounds good and he was a HUGE part of VH…their loss. And anyone knocking on Sammy needs their hearing checked. The guy is unbelievable singing Zepplin and all his old hits, was spot on…he blows Roth off the stage and always has. Played some mean guitar tonight too.
well,although i like eddies attitude about the honesty.im more of the mind set,that its not a bootleg,so why not clean it up a bit,remember when you go to a live concert you here with your eyes,not your ears,so what may have sounded like a great show when your there,may not sound as good when you hear it back on record.so i have no problem with a little nip and tuck once its being recorded.if i want a bootleg of the show then i will buy that mistakes and crappy sounding lead singer and all,but if im buying a band released record,i want it to sound good live or not..