CREDIT: Michael Buckner/Getty Images Alex Van Halen, David Lee Roth, Eddie Van Halen and Wolfgang Van Halen announce Van Halen’s reunion tour last August.
I
VAN HALEN
Sunday, Feb. 10
Philips Arena
Sold out
404-249-6400
www.philipsarena.com Monday, Feb. 25
The Arena at Gwinnett Center
$49.50-$149.50
770-813-7600
www.gwinnettcenter.com
MORE UNLIKELY REUNIONS WE’D LIKE TO SEE
1. GUNS N’ ROSES: The real article, not the current incarnation featuring frontman Axl Rose (pictured) and a host of semi-nobodies. That means Slash, Duff McKagan, Izzy Stradlin and drummer Steven Adler (not Matt Sorum). Hey—it’s got as much of a chance as the long-awaited GNR album “Chinese Democracy” finally seeing the light of day.
2. N.W.A.: There’ve been a couple of attempts at this one already, but with the right amount of Benjamins as incentive, we think it could happen—especially if you enlist Snoop Dogg and Eminem to fill in for the late Eazy-E alongside Dr. Dre, Ice Cube and MC Ren and DJ Yella.
3. CLINTON/GORE: Or, to be precise, Gore and Clinton. Imagine the uproar if Oscar-winning Al threw his hat into the ring and poached Hillary’s husband as his running mate. The political mess that would result would certainly make for an interesting race.
4. MY OLD COLLEGE BAND, TAO JONES: We only played five shows, and we weren’t very good. Plus, our lead guitar player moved to Arizona and joined a Grateful Dead cover band—a memory that chills my bones to this day.
5. THE 1980 U.S. MEN’S OLYMPIC HOCKEY TEAM: This team of amateur and college players went up against a dominant Soviet team made up of monster athletes—and won. They went on to win the gold against Finland, but it was the victory against our Cold War foes that brought a nation to its feet. Of the 20 players, 13 eventually played in the NHL, and five of them would play more than 500 NHL games.
BY KEVIN FOREST MOREAU
When the Eagles reunited in 1994 after more than 10 years apart, the popular soft-rock band famously named their mostly live comeback album “Hell Freezes Over.” The title was a knowing wink at the unlikeliness of such a reunion, a tacit admission that fans of defunct acts should never say never.
Certainly, there’s been no shortage of band reunions since then. Even acts that famously swore they’d never play together again have heeded the siren call of fandom, commerce or just plain ego. Aggro-rock outfit Rage Against the Machine reunited last year, and alt-rock forefathers the Pixies launched a massively successful reunion tour in 2004. Even Pink Floyd, whose onetime frontman and chief architect Roger Waters took the rest of the group to court for continuing on without him, mended fences, however briefly, for the worldwide Live 8 benefit in 2005.
But even that seemingly impossible truce pales in comparison to the reformations fans have witnessed in the last year. Talk about hell freezing over: Most famous of these reunions, obviously, is that of the Police, whose coming together generated tons of media attention, as much of it focused on the many declarations by frontman Sting that he’d have to be crazy to consider such an idea as on the momentousness of such a legendary pop band revisiting its considerable legacy.
That reunion alone would have made 2007 a banner year for pop music, but it’s got some competition for the title of the most improbable reunion of recent memory. The Eagles not only reunited late last year, they released their first full album of new material since 1980’s “The Long Run.” Van Halen has reunited with original lead singer David Lee Roth, the latest installment in an ongoing soap opera regarding the band and its two most famous frontmen (Roth and Sammy Hagar). The band performs one of two Atlanta shows on Feb. 10 at Philips Arena.
Equally surprising—if only because there didn’t seem to be much demand—was the recent regrouping of the Spice Girls. (That tour was recently cut short, more likely due to poor ticket sales than to member Victoria Beckham’s stated desire to go back to working on her fashion line.)
Most improbable of all, short of some kind of Beatles reunion, is the past and possible future resurrection of one of the most celebrated hard rock bands of all time: Led Zeppelin. Following the death of drummer John Bonham, the group disbanded in 1980. The three surviving members got together twice in the ’80s—once for the Live Aid benefit concert in 1985, and again in 1988 at a celebration of Atlantic Records’ 40th anniversary (with Bonham’s son Jason filling in on drums).
But acrimony between singer Robert Plant and bassist John Paul Jones seemed to permanently derail any hopes of another reunion—until last December’s one-off reunion (again with Bonham). Just last week, several media outlets announced—apparently erroneously—that the group would reunite once again at the Bonnaroo music festival. (The reports were quickly retracted or corrected.) At press time, speculation runs rampant that a reunion tour may soon be announced. It’s not a real reunion, of course—nor is Van Halen’s, since guitarist Eddie Van Halen’s son Wolfgang is sitting in for banished bassist Michael Anthony—but it’s close enough.
It’s a bit early to say what exactly, if anything, this confluence of extremely improbable reunions signifies—what it all means. In our ever-uncertain world, are we reaching more than ever for the comforting touch of the familiar? Is this trend some sort of societal last gasp on the part of retiring Baby Boomers and Generation Xers approaching 40, both groups desperate to relive their youth?
It’s tempting to fantasize that this recent reunion resurgence is the work of whatever invisible forces pull the strings that make the universe work; that the wizards who control our destinies are so sick of what passes for good pop and rock today that they’ve resorted to subtly manipulating the neural pathways of Sting, Plant and Eddie Van Halen, causing these accomplished artists to change their minds and rescue us from the mediocrity of Nickelback and James Blunt. But that doesn’t explain the Spice Girls, last year’s Smashing Pumpkins reunion, the rumblings of an upcoming Genesis reunion or the threat of New Kids on the Block getting back together.
No, it’s far more likely that these aging musicians just miss the electric thrill of the good old days when they were on top of the world, and are simply looking to line their retirement accounts with one last ego-stroke. It’s a perfectly understandable and natural urge, although it does mean we’ve got the specter of Fall Out Boy, Evanescence and Candlebox reunions to worry about 40 years down the road. But at least there’s a silver lining: In order to reunite, they’ll have to break up first. SP
http://www.sundaypaper.com/Blogs/GetThis/tabid/218/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/1600/Reunitedand-it-feels-so-good.aspx
Posted by host at 12:01 AM on Sunday, February 10, 2008