Christian death metal band Living Sacrifice have about as much in common with Van Halen as with Shakira. But that doesn't mean the dudes in the band, especially singer Bruce Fitzhugh, don't retain a special love for the arena rockers from their youth, back in the days when Sammy Hagar was happy singing "I Can't Drive 55" and Gary Cherone was six years from being more than words. Who knows? Maybe Van Halen's decision to come back to life in some way encouraged Living Sacrifice to reunite for the first time since their 2003 breakup. And he and his bandmates are praying they can live conjure a mere spark of the excitement of the Van Halen Reunion tour. Fitzhugh explains:
Van Halen was supposed to be my first concert.
I was 12 and I begged and begged my parents to let me go. But they were smart: they knew what happened at heavy metal concerts in 1984. It is weird how different things are now at big arena shows. The ban on smoking in venues has changed a lot of things, for sure.
Anyway, in 1984, Van Halen was it. I remember hearing about the "Hot for Teacher" video before I had seen it. And it was described to me in every detail, from Eddie playing his solo while walking down the library table to how kid actors portrayed the Van Halen dudes. I probably watched MTV for hours on end just to catch it. I sat through all of the pop crap that was huge at the time just for those three odd glorious minutes of those dudes making one of the coolest videos of all time. Rock bands doing tongue-in-cheek clever choreography to rocking songs did not start with OKGO! No, Van Halen may have been the first.
So alas, I did not get to go and see them in all their glory in 1984 with David Lee Roth’s flowin hair and high jump splits off the drum riser and Eddie Van Halen - the guitar god that he was (and still is) - young and not yet insane. Afterward, I heard about it for weeks and weeks after from everyone at school. I was bummed.
The irony is that I did get to see my first metal concert that same year and only because my friend’s mom agreed to take us so I had adult supervision. It was Judas Priest on their "Defenders of the Faith" tour. Yeah, sure, they were a much safer band than Van Halen to go see live in my first arena concert experience! They ruled. Great White was the opener and I had no idea who they were or that there was even an opening band. They came out and I freaked. This isn’t Judas Priest! Then someone filled me in. "Oh, Okay, 'opening band.' Sweet, I am learning things."
So in 2008, I went to see Van Halen with Roth and I must say that they rocked it. Roth is physically ripped. Not as much hair now, but he looked amazing. They sounded great and played really well. I waited 26 years for this! When I first heard about the tour, I was bummed for Michael Anthony. I think it's a shame he is not a part of the tour, and he seems like a much more reasonable, down to earth dude than Eddie or Roth. Oh, well. Wolf played well and did not showboat at all, as if he played out of respect for Anthony. No solo from him either, which is always a good idea -- skipping the bass solo.
Best of all, Van Halen played some tunes from the Roth era, and not just the "singles." They did "Atomic Punk," "Mean Streets," "Everybody Wants Some," "Little Guitars," "Somebody Get Me a Doctor," "Show Your Love" and "Unchained."
I just never thought I would see these songs played live by these dudes ever. It was really, really good.
Now I am just waiting for Zeppelin to commit.
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