Van Halen Return With Intimate New York Club Show
Van Halen, one of the biggest selling rock bands in history, made a return to live action last night (January 5th 2012) for the first time in four years. The occasion was made all the more special by the fact that the Californian-formed group packed down into the intimate 250-capacity Cafe Wha? In New York. Taking to the stage, the group's vocalist David Lee Roth joked "Last time I stood on a stage this low I had to have the car back by midnight," before seriously adding "This is one of our best nights ever."
Rolling Stone reports that with Roth as front man alongside the Van Halen brothers Alex and Eddie - and now Eddie's son Wolfgang too - the group's other celebrated past-singer Sammy Hagar was all but erased from the set list, with none of the material recorded by the group during his tenure between 1985 to 1996 and then 2003 to 2005 included. That still left more than enough songs for an ample greatest hits selection though, with classics like 'Everybody Wants Some!!,' 'Dance The Night Away' and set opener 'Running With The Devil' all receiving airings among the many more.
The intimacy of the gig for a band used to selling out arenas worldwide became apparent when they told the crowd the room was too busy for them to go off for an encore, asking fans instead to merely pretend that they had - they then duly played 'Jump' before being ushered out a side door and away. The show acted as a warm up before the group's full returning tour which kicks off in February.
