Van Halen!!!

I've been a Van Halen fan for a long time. I suppose my first album was 1984 (I turned 10 in 1985.) so I caught the tail end of the David Lee Roth years. We had gotten cable around that time and MTV played a lot of "Hot For Teacher," "Jump," and "Panama." I aslo followed David Lee Roth's solo career through the mid-late 1980's, certainly enjoying his presence on MTV. I will fess up that my room had a lot of DLR posters. Van Halen with Sammy Hagar had many, many mainstream rock hits so it was hard not to follow them as a teenager. I own almost all of Van Halen's albums (can't say I ever bought Van Halen III with Gary Cherone, but don't know anyone who did) and just really enjoy Eddie's guitar, Alex's drums, and DLR's vocals. I suppose it was a "childhood dream" to see David Lee Roth in concert and last night I fulfilled that a second time, but even better.
I was first able to see him after my freshman year in college (1994) - I learned he was playing club La Vela in Panama City Beach (I was in staying in Tallahassee for the summer) so I grabbed two tickets and a friend and hit the show. Honestly I don't remember much other than I had a really good time. He played his big hits and a few of the old Van Halen hits as well. Never did I think he would join back up with the Van Halen brothers for a tour. But of course - 30 years after VH's first release, why not. David Lee Roth has always won the polls for the best VH frontman. Put any of the the feuds aside to make tons of money! So when my brother had an extra ticket to the show in Denver for last night, I was totally there! (Sorry you couldn't make it, Elissa!)
Here's a summary of last night's Van Halen experience:
4:30pm - leave Jason's house and pick up Rick and Laura
5:30pm - Arrive at Hacienda Colorado for some fantastic mexican food with another of Jason's coworkers and his wife.
7:30pm - We are now at the Pepsi Center and pick up our tickets from will call and find out where we are sitting. Section 146, row 8. I'd say less than 40 feet from the stage on the side, and just slightly above stage height. Can we say awesome seats?!!!
8pm - the opening act Ky-Mani Marley with some Reggae tunes. Don't know if he is a "true" Marley or not, but it was a nice, 30 minute set.
9pm: Out comes David Lee Roth, Eddie Van Halen, Alex Van Halen and Wolfgang Van Halen (replacing Michael Anthony). What followed was two hours of rock-n-roll, singing along, and ear-to-ear smiles. And for being 52, David Lee Roth still looks fantastic (sporting the smooth chest now). Everything they played was from the album 1984 or earlier, but wow - did they have a lot of great songs from 1978 through 1984. A classic Van Halen reunion. They all looked liked they were having a blast the entire show. The Pepsi Center looked to be sold out and it was nice and loud. I had earplugs in for the first few songs, but took them out since they filtered out the crowd noise and I could hear myself sing (not a good thing). I figure I don't go to rock shows very often so I'd live with the loudness in true rock-show fashion. Worth it!

Check out this link for some pics of the show from the Rocky Mountain News:
SLIDESHOW
Bottom line: I got to see Van Halen with David Lee Roth. sweet! Not to mention it was a very entertaining show. Definitely one for the personal history book.