Blast From The Past: Van Halen/Vince Neil Band – July 27, 1993 – Atlanta, GA

In 1993, Van Halen was touring behind their craptastic “For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge” (huh huh, FUCK, get it?) album but on this leg they were supporting their even more lame “Right Here, Right Now” live album.  They took out Vince Neil as their opening act who was touring for his first solo album after having been kicked out of Motley Crue.  Vince was, well, Vince.  Not even Steve Stevens on guitar could save this sinking ship.  They opened with “The Look In Her Eyes” and the look in MY eyes was my eyes rolling around.  This was going to be painful.  After an hour of really crappy songs and an even crappier Motley Medley, they were finally off the stage.

As for Van Halen, at this point I had really begun to realize just how lame Van Hagar.  In all honesty, this show had some pretty cool moments.  I remember the band taking the stage after a crappy lackluster set by the Vince Neil Band and opening with “Mine All Mine” which was really kick ass to be honest.  This has always been one of my favorites so it was great to hear them coming out kicking some ass.  The show had it’s ups and downs but for the most part the set list was weak as fuck.  I never liked hearing Hagar doing David Lee Roth songs.  It’s kind of like having the Jonas Brothers singing Megadeth songs or something.  It just lacked that punch and power but in all honesty, the show was fun as hell.

I remember how fucking ridiculous it was that Michael Anthony got a bass solo.  Who the fuck wants to see that idiot running around banging the fuck out of his bass while rolling around like drunk bafoon?  I do remember though being really impressed with Eddie’s guitar solo of Eruption that ended with him playing “316” which was really pretty cool.  Surprisingly enough, Sammy’s little acoustic set of “Give To Live” and “Where Eagles Fly” was really cool and made me realize that he was really capable of writing some pretty great songs on his own.

Looking back on it, Van Hagar was a fun fucking band.  They were having the times of their lives on stage and it was totally obvious that they really liked each other.  The chemistry was amazing and the energy was completely off the charts.  It’s just too bad that the chemistry and energy couldn’t be used to create truly great music.  This live performance was just that.  It was a performance and it was a really great one.  Unfortunately, a great performance can only make up for lack luster material so much.

Van Halen Setlist

Mine All Mine, Why Can’t This Be Love, Poundcake, Judgement Day, Panama, Love Walks In, Runaround, Bass Solo, Top Of The World, Pleasure Dome / Drum Solo, Dreams, Right Now
Give to Live, Eagles Fly, Finish What Ya Started, Best Of Both Worlds, Guitar Solo, Unchained, There’s Only One Way to Rock, Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love

Encore:
Jump, You Really Got Me, Rockin’ in the Free World

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