Something Was Missing

I went with a buddy the other night to a club to see a Van Halen tribute band called X Halen. They were strictly a David Lee Roth-era VH band - no songs after DLR left and was replaced by Sammy Hagar and That Other Guy.

Their David Lee Roth guy was pretty good - long DLR-like hair, sang very much like Roth (including sometimes too-frequent howls and screams in place of lyrics). And when he spoke between songs (again, too much) you could never tell that he wasn't a nice Jewish kid from Indiana - absolutely NO hint of his native Australian accent on stage. But when he was circulating through the small crowd between sets, he was obviously Australian.

The rest of the band was very good. The guitarist was excellent. So was the rhythm section. Their versions of the various Van Halen classics were very good. And the lead singer several times criticized the Real Eddie Van Halen for firing bassist Michael Anthony in favor of his song Wolfgang (I agree).

They hit most of the highlights from each of Van Halen's first five albums, with more emphasis on Van Halen and 1984 (after all, they probably had the most hits for the originals) than the others. I particularly liked hearing "Dance the Night Away," always one of my favorites, and a smoking version of "You Really Got Me" (thanks again Dave Davies).

But they didn't play "Running with the Devil."

It was weird. It was getting to the end of the show. They'd just done "You Really Got Me" and then "Jump." Then the faux David Lee Roth was rambling and vamping about songs they would play next, semi-coherently just like the real DLR. The bass player tentatively began with the "bmm...bmm...bmm...bmm" bass line that begins "Running with the Devil" but faux Diamond Dave said something about "we already played 'Panama'" (which they had). The guitarist did a couple of goofy riffs from "Panama". Somebody else yelled something, and our ersatz David Lee Roth started riffing about when it's hot you want something to cool you off... and they played "Ice Cream Man."

It was a great song. And then they took their bows and the lights came on. No "Running with the Devil?" Whaaa?

Unfortunately, that put a mild damper on a very fun evening with great music and a crowd full of oddballs. The most uncomfortable thing was how the mock Roth kept calling up a guy called (I think Jimmie) on stage to bring him some more Jack Daniels (iced tea I think). Jimmy works at the club - his shirt said Security.

Jimmy is also about three feet tall - he's a Little Person. It was a little weird - not clear whether the Aussie Diamond Dave (who was about five foot tall himself) was laughing AT Jimmie or WITH him.

In any case, I didn't know they made leather pants that small.