He had barely finished executing the first of countless roundhouse karate kicks, and was just about to adjust one of the several oversized hats he would don when "Diamond" David Lee Roth decided to address the elephant in the Mohegan Sun Arena May 21.
"Better late than never, as the Bible says," the Van Halen frontman proclaimed to the adoring masses who held on to their original March 26 tickets—and crossed their fingers—waiting for this evening's make-up concert to come to fruition amidst a seemingly ceaseless stream of cancellations and postponements.
"Or was that Shakespeare?" Roth finished.
Actually, Dave, the phrase is traditionally credited to noted English writer John Heywood. But far be it from any of this spectacle's attendees to let a little thing like a fact get in the way of dancing the night away to the sounds of the little party band from Pasadena cum multi-platinum rock stars.
A fact∨ even an official explanation, for that matter. To date, an Edward Van Halen "medical condition" remains the sum total of all of the details from the VH camp regarding the tour derailment. Whatever the ailment, the sure-fingered six-stringer certainly seems to have made a full recovery, barreling through multi-fret runs, volume swells and muted pick slides of "Somebody Get Me A Doctor" and slapping and tapping his way through the ominous "Mean Streets" intro.
The road miles have done Edward's son/bassist Wolfgang Van Halen wonders, too, as Eddie's offspring is not only faithfully reproducing but now embellishing many of the thunderous bass lines in the band catalogue this go-round, and appears much more comfortable on stage.
In contrast, Roth has yet to find a room he hasn't been able to completely dominate—let alone be comfortable in—and the nightly grind has enabled him to add a few more choice lines to patented between-song banter ("What, is it too early for a booty call?" he asked at one point, singling out a female concert-goer) and hone some of his call and response sequences with Edward.
With all the "moving parts clean," to lift a line from "Panama," the band has even begun slamming the set list into overdrive—wandering off into lengthy revivals of The Who's "Magic Bus" and Clapton's "Crossroads."
Meanwhile, as the brothers Van Halen turn back the clock to pre-"Red Rocker" Sammy Hagar days, fans of Falcon Ridge Festival faves Red Molly needn't hearken back any further than November, 2006 to witness what is still the most revealing portrait ever captured of the New York-based trio.
As guitarist/vocalist Abbie Gardner explains, that's the year—and month—her band was featured in the now infamous Naked Folk Calendar.
"I still consider that both our career highlight and lowlight," jests Gardner. "But it was very tasteful and for a great cause—musicians' health care."
On Thursday, May 29, Red Molly visits Noho's Iron Horse to celebrate a new CD, Love and Other Tragedies.
Last up, as the folksy folks see Red this weekend, journeyman guitarist Dave La Valley (Dead Reckoning, Deja Blue) reports that he'll be utilizing his extensive blues background and contacts to help raise some greenbacks for a medical condition that popped on his personal radar screen—and in his mailbox—some 15 years ago.
"My son was born with a condition called ectodermal dysplasia," he explains. "So naturally, I joined the National Foundation to fight it and started receiving the newsletter. As I noticed how many new members there were each month and the extent of the problem, I knew I had to do something."
That something has evolved into Cold Sweat, a multi-band blues bill featuring no less than Mark Nomad, Chris Piquette and others at the Waterfront in Holyoke on Friday, May 30. For tix or more info, visit Falcetti's on Boston Road in Springfield or call (413) 896-9846.
Send correspondence to Nightcrawler, P.O. Box 427, Somers, CT 06071; fax to (860) 698-9373 or email Garycarra@aol.com.
