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May 2nd, 2008
John Paul Jones Arena Charlottesville, VA
Above Left to right: 1) Wolfie, Alex, Eddie and David 2) Wolfie, Alex and Eddie 3) This is far up as we were...worst tickets EVER (well equal to the Redskins Game and close to the Eagles tickets) 4) All of them 5) Ending with confetti, large blow up microphone and when they sang "Jump"
Neither Scott nor I have ever seen Van Halen in concert before so when we went to get tickets and were sold out we were bummed; especially since Van Halen has a reunion with David Lee Roth (we may never see that again for many reasons). The band has problems; family issues, band members fighting, Eddie being ill etc so who knows how much longer they'll be. One day I entered a contest and won free tickets! My excitement went higher when I was told it was a party bus and they'll provide transportation. Then something went amiss. Valerie Bertinelli came out with her book (expose) and Eddie became ill and all tours were cancelled! A few days later they rescheduled and we were set to go but then again ANOTHER cancellation the night before. So I was ready to pack it in when they scheduled yet again. This time however, no party bus. Instead we had to fork out for a hotel room and gas to get there (and it's about a three hour ride). Our hopes were almost dashed again, because the radio station lost the tickets. However we received them by FedEx the next day. Are the rock Gods against us? No photos allowed inside the venue.
The concert was ok. It took place at the John Paul Jones Arena in Charlottesville. It's a nice looking venue (clean, has restrooms, a couple places to buy food and drink, some merchandise areas. It's large and so get as close as you can with your tickets so you can enjoy it more. They aren't jumping and doing as much as they used to. Dave sounded good. Eddie and Alex had the longest solos I've ever seen. The stadium had LOTS of empty seats. We figured it would be because of the two cancellations a lot of people probably forgot about the reschedule or couldn't go and returned their tickets. I wish I'd of done that. But ours were free and we probably couldn't. If we could, we probably could have gotten BETTER seats the same night as floor seats and first level were open. Actually somewhere between 1/2 and 2/3 full only. We had the worst seats of any concert EVER. This is not an exaggeration. We were the very top row and next to a pillar and the side where the amps were hanging, so we could not see the screen. I tried to be optimistic, but it's probably one only time I'll ever get to see them and this? NOT impressed. My only other disappointments for tickets were the Redskins game when were in the top level. At least that was on the 40-50 yard line about and not the very tippy top (close though). The worst disappointment though in tickets was the Eagles, where we paid 60.00 for fan club membership and ended up half way around the arena in the second level. This upset me because the tickets were EXPENSIVE as is, the seats sucked and the people next to us bought their tickets that night and were where we were. But on the bright side, we're headed for Journey, Cheap Trick and Heart and we have 4th row seats. Yay. SOME bands are just better to their fans.
Parking is 15.00 so be prepared for that. Food is expensive. 5.00 for a soda etc.
Photos aren't good because we were so far. Our camera is decent but it's the best I could do... cameras were not allowed though so you get what you get.
Links:
Live Nation Concert Promotions
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