What band can party harder than Van Halen?

In the early evening of November 1st, 2007, a sense of excitement seemed to fill the air of downtown D.C., in spite of the usual grueling rush hour traffic. And for a good reason, because Van Halen was about to play a show at the Verizon Center.

It was going to be a rather special Van Halen on top of that. After all the lineup changes through the years, the band had come nearly full circle now – with David Lee Roth on lead vocals, Eddie on lead guitar and Alex on drums. The only difference was that Eddie's son, Wolfgang, replaced Michael Anthony on bass.

The concert certainly had the vibe of the Van Halen of old, since all of the songs were from 1978-1984. Two Van Halen blimps teased the audience before the band started. Then shirtless Eddie started playing the brown-sound guitar riffs of the opening song, "You Really Got Me," which drew an immediate cheer from the audience. The overall sound of the song was very good, as it generally was throughout the night.


The second song, "I'm The One," didn't seem to get quite the same level of response in spite of its lightning fast speed. But that was quickly remedied by the third, "Runnin' With The Devil." "Romeo Delight" and "Somebody Get Me A Doctor" were next. Then followed a slew of other classics and favorites: "Beautiful Girls," "Dance The Night Away," "Atomic Punk," "Everybody Wants Some," "So This Is Love?," "Mean Street" and "Pretty Woman."


From what I could tell, David sang all the words to the songs perfectly and did not skip words like he is known to do. During the songs, David, Eddie and Wolfgang strolled about on a huge S-shaped ramp that started from behind the stage and extended around part of the audience. One of the amazing and funny things to watch was David mouthing engine noises into the microphone and Eddie duplicating them on guitar.

Then came a surprising highlight of the show – Alex's drum solo. It was intense, bombastic and unrelenting. But it was also technically very impressive. Seeing Alex's solo has already made me reconsider my "favorite drummers" lists. ;-)

After the drum solo, they continued with "Unchained," "I'll Wait," "And The Cradle Will Rock," "Hot For Teacher," "Little Dreamer," "Little Guitars," "Jamie's Cryin'," "Ice Cream Man" and "Panama." The keyboards on "I'll Wait" were filled in by automatically playing tracks. "Hot For Teacher" was every bit as intense as the studio version and was probably played even faster than it. Before "Ice Cream Man," David came out playing an acoustic guitar (which he played surprisingly well) and started one of his long, quirky rants.

Following "Panama," Eddie played an extended guitar solo. It included the "Women In Love" intro, "Cathedral" and "Eruption." He made an interesting fugue sound during part of the solo. Overall, his playing skills were mostly in top form, although I wish he didn't change around some of his signature melodies so much.


After the guitar solo, the final song was one I was anticipating, "Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love." Then the lights went out. But it seemed they couldn't end the show without playing one of their biggest "fetish" songs. And sure enough, they came back and played "1984" and "Jump" for the encore. It was a major spectacle to watch David carry a giant inflatable microphone along the ramp and then ride it on stage. LOL.


All in all, this was quite a concert. The energy of the show was spectacular. All of the band played well, although Wolfgang can use some coaching in the stage presence department. David was such a strong front man that he almost stole the show on many of the songs. He displayed his goofy sense of humor and stage antics on just about every song. He and Eddie at least showed that they were having a blast up there. Even Wolfgang joined in the fun at times.

So then, is a Van Halen concert a must-see? I'll let you decide. :-)


Sam Bhattacharya
http://www.sambhattacharya.com

Concert Review: Roger Waters Dark Side of the Moon

This is a review of the Roger Waters concert held at Jiffy Lube Live in Bristow, Virginia on September 23, 2006. The venue is 37 miles southwest of Washington, D.C. The concert was scheduled to begin at 8 p.m.

I went to the concert with two of my rock'n'rolling friends. We were excited, as this was our first Roger Waters concert. We arrived at the venue about an hour early to avoid the time of peak traffic. Jiffy Lube Live has a capacity of 25,000. Not surprisingly, we faced long delays as we entered and later exited the parking lot.

As we headed over, it was already approaching twilight on the warm, fall evening. Our seats were in section 304, which is located towards the back in the left half of the venue when facing the stage. I took many pictures inside the venue both during and in between songs performed by the band. The level of light inside was rather low most of the time. That made it a challenge to take pictures with my camera, as it was necessary to use long exposure times (and a very steady hand!).

Before the concert began, it was amusing watching the stage screen, which showed a radio being tuned to different stations by someone's hand having a smoke and drink.

Then came the opening song, "In the Flesh," drawing loud cheers from the audience. It was a powerful opener and played pretty faithfully to the studio version from "The Wall." Roger Waters did a fine job with the vocals on this song, as he did for all of the songs generally.

Other highlights of the first set included "Mother," "Have A Cigar," "Wish You Were Here" and "Shine On You Crazy Diamond." The guitar solo in "Mother" was played with emotion, as was the saxophone solo in another song, "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun." A cool, starry image was displayed during the first set.

Two other songs, "Leaving Beirut" and "Sheep," had overtly political messages. A huge pig balloon floated over the crowd during "Sheep," the last song of the first set, and then disappeared in the sky.

The second set began with "Speak to Me," which then led to "Breathe." Highlights from the second set included the Pink Floyd classics "Time," "Money," "Us and Them" and "Brain Damage." We were finally beginning to understand why this tour was called "Dark Side of the Moon." The band did a great job in making these iconic songs come alive. "Money," the well-known odd-meter song, was pulled off perfectly.

After that great set, the audience naturally wanted more. Roger Waters returned for the encore, which included the great cult classic, "Another Brick in the Wall, Part II," and "Comfortably Numb." Both of these songs featured extended guitar solos. Most of the audience remained standing during the encore.

All in all, it was an enjoyable concert. All of the singers and musicians on stage put forth great performances. The special effects were amazing. I personally enjoyed the second set and encore more than the first set. But that's mainly because I was more familiar with those songs.

I also think the experience gave us a glimpse into the mind behind one of the biggest bands in rock music.

Sam Bhattacharya
http://www.sambhattacharya.com

My 10 favorite Classic Rock bands

Over the years, I have listened to quite a lot of music from different genres. My favorite music is classic rock.

It isn't easy for me to narrow down the huge number of great classic rock bands to my 10 favorite. However, the following list gives you a good idea of which ones I enjoy a great deal and have influenced me the most:

Rush
Led Zeppelin
Yes
Van Halen
Jimi Hendrix
Pink Floyd
The Beatles
Boston
Journey
AC/DC

Sam Bhattacharya
http://www.sambhattacharya.com

How I wrote the lyrics to "A Song"

I finished composing all of the music to what became "A Song" before I wrote a single lyric. At that time, I had no idea what to write about. I even considered keeping it as just an instrumental. But the more I listened to it, the more I felt the musical structure needed words to accompany it.

I had previously taken stabs at writing poems, but this was the first time I was writing song lyrics. The music I was hearing as I listened to it sounded vibrant and inspirational. So, I tried to come up with lyrical concepts that reflected those moods. My initial concepts were scattered all over the place and just lacked any kind of direction.

Later, I began to think it might be more effective to focus on events in my own life. Shortly after that occurred to me, the idea light in my head turned on and I was able to narrow down the concept to what I should write about: MUSIC and how songs I listened to when I was growing up had inspired me in so many ways.

At that point, things slowly started falling into place. But I came to realize that it would be pointless to write only about myself. It was important for me to reach out to other people as well.

That led me to be a little more imaginative and to present A Song as a kind of force that can take You to soaring heights and anywhere else You want to be. In writing this way, I was making use of a literary device called personification. All that was left for me to do was to make sure these words complemented my music effectively and that I was able to sing them credibly.

That pretty much describes in a nutshell how I wrote the lyrics to "A Song." The whole process took me about two months. And here are the lyrics for your convenience:

Once, I heard a song
The radio play
Its music moved
My spirit
Took me away

And the energy
Of its melody
Seemed to bend
Space and time
Left me reeling
With a restless
State of mind

Heard the sound
Of the music
Charging in
To pull me through
And set me free

The song
Carried me
High in the sky
To get a
Bird's eye view
Then I searched
Among a thousand
Faces until
I found you

Do you
Feel the force
Of the music
Charging on
To rescue you
And set you free?

Let the song
Set you free
The music will
Take you anywhere
You want to be

Your spirit
Takes on the world
Recharged
Every time
The radio
Plays the song

Thanks for reading. I hope you enjoyed it.

Sam Bhattacharya
http://www.sambhattacharya.com