Here goes an review by a fan called mogwai73:

In the summer of '98, it was clear that I was already crazy enough to cross the ocean (I'm from Portugal) to watch Van Halen live in Toronto, and also to visit an old friend of mine who moved there some 10 years ago and who's also a big VH fan. The day of the concert is unforgetable... here we are, two crazy fans, watching our favourite band together some thousand miles away from our hometown.

I was supposed to watch the band play in Paris but Alex's injury prevented me from making that "short" trip. Now, while Kenny Wayne Shepherd was playing (and wwoooww... does he play!), I was feeling that watching Van Halen in Lisbon opening for Bon Jovi in '95 was the best I'd ever experienced... until the guys jumped on the stage !... And when I heard the intro riff to "Unchained", I clearly remember thinking "this is it... I'm really here!"; and immediately I realized that Gary was the man for Van Halen. What energy !!!

After that, the new album's opening single was played brilliantly and I simply loved the end of it with a phrase from The Beatles' "We Can Work It Out" which is glued to the songs last words. Gary was singing "his" material perfectly but what everyone found remarkable is how much effort he put on singing both David and Sammy's songs. He went back to Dave's catalog to recover some gems.

The full setlist was:

Unchained
Without You
One I Want
Mean Street
When It's Love
Fire In The Hole
I'm The One
[Drum Solo]
Jamie's Cryin'
Humans Being
Somebody Get Me A Doctor
Year To The Day
[Guitar Solo]
Right Now
Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love

For the encore:
Josephina
Panama
Jump

The drum solo was quite a surprise. Alex has pre-recorded an instrumental piece and improvises over it. It goes from a jazzy sound to rock and it was as beautiful as unexpected. And then, let's go back digging into the old Van Halen. And in the "not-so-old" Van Halen catalog, Gary found one of the crowd's favourites, the song from the movie "Twister" that Sammy never got to perform live, "Humans Being". This song is so powerful and the solo was nothing less than spectacular.

Instead of having a solo of his own, Mike led the band in "Somebody Get Me A Doctor" with Gary helping on the backing vocals. Gary seemed like he was having a blast, singing, running, jumping, always getting connected with Eddie (mainly), but also with Mike (lots of shared vocals) and Alex.

During their performance of "A Year To The Day", Edward plays a high feedback note before the chorus; but before the second chorus the stage was empty... meaning it was Eddie's moment. A bit of "Cathedral", "Spanish Fly", "316", "Little Guitars", "Eruption" and a lot of improvisation showed why the man rules. Nothing more to say... one image (with sound, please) was definately worth a thousand words.

Saving the best for last, "Right Now" was immense (with the pre-recorded piano intro bulding up) and "Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love" teared the whole place down. The show could not be over.

A low-volume start with "Josephina" led to an amazing finish with the two biggest successes of Van Halen's "1984"... "Panama" and "Jump". The band had to say goodbye but no one could stop jumping during their final song...

© Olho Nu, written authorization expressed by mogwai73
Reproduction authorized with explicit copyright notice