Rock legends Van Halen come to the First Niagara Center tonight. Yes, Van Halen… not Van Hagar or, *shudder* Van Cherone… the real deal, one-of-a-kind, Van Halen.
Buffalo marks the twelfth stop on the tour and so far the reviews have been overwhelmingly positive. Most critics have gone as far as saying that this is the best Van Halen has sounded since they ruled the music world in the early 1980’s. This tour is in support of the newly released A Different Kind of Truth. As of this writing, I have only listened to the album once. It didn’t blow me away, but it was unmistakable Van Halen and I will be sure to give it another go this afternoon while I’m preparing for the show. Something of note: so far, the tour has not gone with a cookie-cutter setlist (nor have they played any songs from the post-David Lee Roth era, sorry “Right Now” fans). My research has found that each set has reserved space for three or four songs out of a pool of twelve (or more?) classics and deep cuts.
Funk godfathers, Kool & The Gang will be opening the show this evening. Everybody knows "Celebration" and "Ladies Night", but chances are you also know "Hollywood Swinging" and "Jungle Boogie" as well (who hasn't seen Pulp Fiction, really?).
The show starts at 7:30PM and tickets are priced at $77/$147.
This is sure to be a memorable evening and, as a guitarist, I am very much looking forward to seeing what EVH pulls out of his bag of tricks tonight.
Everybody wants some, I want some too. Whoa! Hey hey! Owwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!
