We (me and my husband, who now knows beyond a shadow of a doubt that I'm completely insane but still chose to let me back in the car LOL) got to LA around 3:30 and got checked into the uh...lovely...Ritz Milner Hotel. Thank you so much for the recommendation LOC, it was quite a place. Vintage LA hotel, that's for sure. Eh, it had "character." So we got our pre-drink on in the room, hung out for a while until I couldn't stand the suspense anymore and we walked over to the Staples Center. Went into the FOX sports bar and got some overpriced chicken taquitos (of course they were called a lot fancier name than that, but you get the idea). And no, Lou, they did not play the Early Days DVD in there. I kept looking around, hoping to see a familiar face from the internet, but no luck. Probably a bunch of you walked right past me, but I never knew it. Finally, it was time to go pick up my 4 star tickets. Included in the swag bag were a couple magnets, bottle openers, and pins. Someone in line behind us said at other shows the 4 stars got t-shirts too, but we didn't. I went ahead and bought one of the official shirts since I didn't see any of the "unofficial" shirt guys anywhere around. Don't know where LOC found his. While we waited in line (with no camera, because everything we'd seen and read said in big bold letters NO CAMERAS) we happened to notice a sign which said regular cameras were fine, just no video cameras. FUCK!! So all my pictures are from my cell phone and I still have to figure out how to get them out of there, so I'll have to get back to you on that. Anyway, we still didn't know where we were sitting because the tickets said row 14. We went in and at first they thought we were in section one, row 14, which would have totally sucked. But it turned out we were in section two, row 14. Apparently they start counting the rows inside the pit and there are 11 rows in there. So we ended up in the 3rd row dead center in front of the ramp. When I realized where our seats were, I scampered to the front like I'd been called down for The Price Is Right. LOL. LUTS, judging by your video, you must have been no more than 10 feet away from us (please, please, please tell me you got the guitar solo). I was in phone contact with StillEddiesAngel (Angie) and actually tracked her down to her seat up in section 119. I forgot to bring my phone with me, but luckily she had a camera, so she got a picture of us together. I'll post it as soon as she emails it to me. While I was talking to her, a guy walked up and said "you look like SoCalChelle" LMAO! I'm so sorry, I've totally forgotten what he said his username was, but he said he was from vhlinks. I got back to my seat just in time for Ky-Mani Marley (I think...fuck, now I don't remember if I talked to Angie before or after the Marley guy went on). Well, anyway, he was ok, and he had the good sense to get off the stage fairly quickly. There was no blimp, no fanfare, no fair warning whatsover...just BAM! all of a sudden, screaming guitars, pounding drums and Dave waving the banner. Setlist remains the same, no Secrets, no surprises. Eddie did a funny thing during the motorcycle starting competition...he kept spinning his whammy bar around and it made a sound like a motor that wouldn't start. Pretty funny. Maybe it was where we were sitting in relation to the speakers or something, but every once in a while, the sound got kinda...I don't know how to describe it....my husband says garbled, but that doesn't seem quite right. It was just kinda blurry, if sound can be described as blurry. It didn't affect my enjoyment of the show in the least however, it was just kind of strange. Maybe we were hearing the real background vocals on top of the piped in vocals and in came out weird. Maybe it was just due to being a place designed for basketball games, not rock concerts. I don't know. Anyway. Dave looked incredible. Eddie looked AMAZING. Alex, to me, looks goofier and goofier the older he gets (sorry Al's Gals). But he still bangs the hell out of those drums. And Wolfie, well, I can't honestly say he fills Mikey's shoes, but the interaction between him, his dad and his uncle is cool to see. I went in to this show totally prepared for the fact that my voice would be completely gone today due to screaming my face off all night. But the screaming only lasted for about half the show. At some point, I just became lost in the music. The years melted away and all that was left was a 14 year old girl who had never got to see a Van HALEN concert. There was Dave, strutting and smiling until you thought his face would crack wide open. So close you could feel the air stir when he walked by. And there was Eddie Van Halen, and he was getting ready for his guitar solo. The guitar solo that he blew last time I saw him in 2004. And this time he was right there in front of me, so close I really COULD have thrown something at him if he'd asked for it. I knew this would be an emotional moment for me. Eruption was the song that inspired me to QUIT playing the guitar when I was 14 and to this day I stand awe struck whenever anybody plays it. But I'd never been this close to Eddie playing it. I stood there staring, mouth hanging open, tears streaming down my face. Dammit, I'm tearing up right now just thinking about it. I just stood there with the cell phone/camera held out lamely in front of me, totally mesmerized and physically unable to move. There he was, in that classic pose, playing Eruption and I couldn't take a single picture. But that's ok, the image is burned into my memory forever. And when it was done, the booming voice of David Lee Roth yelling, "EDWAAAAAARD VAAAAAN HAAAAAAAAALEN!!!" And then they played the rest of the show, but I was still in lalaland. It was a dream, it must have been a dream. I still can't get my mind around the fact that they actually pulled it off, they held it together long enough for me to see it, as Dave would say, right in front of my naked steaming eyes. I paid a whole helluva lot more money for my tickets than LOC did for his and it was STILL worth every freakin penny. It was everything I could have hoped for. THANK YOU Van Halen for not leaving 2004 bad Van Hagar as the last memory I had of you. THANK YOU for coming back in 2007 and kicking my ass!
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