Customer Reviews

Van Halen: Live without a Net

5 star:		(36)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I've been a VH fan since 1979. The sheer energy they put form both live and on their studio works was second to none. Edward was the master guitarist of the up and comers and this DVD proves what he could do when he's not tanked!!. The band is having a great time and the tunes rock. If you liked the DLR years (and I do) but have a hate on for the post DLR years, you're missing a very good live DVD. Sammy was fronting the band at this point and time and he was a very good choice. Sure the band dynamic changed with him in and Dave out, but life goes on. VH in 1986 was a great live band with or without Dave and this DVD proves it. Sound is good as is the quality for the most part. If you like VH and you enjoy watching a band have fun live this DVD is for you.

This DVD features the complete New Haven concert from the tour to support the bands first album with Sammy Hagar. Live Without a Net takes you back in time to 1986 when the second incarnation of Van Halen was still green; A time when the band was full of energy, fun and love for one another. A time when the music was the most important thing for all of them. Indeed, this is a different band than what we see five years later on the Van Halen Live: Right Here, Right Now DVD from 1991. Here we see Sammy Hagar even picking up lead guitar duty on the keyboard ballads Love Walks In and Why Can't This Be Love. In addition to that two Hagar solo tracks: There's Only One Way To Rock and I Can't Drive 55 are incorporated into the bands set as if they were Van Halen songs. In the not too distant future egos would inflate and each band member would exist as a island on stage, but for the time being it's 1986 and this is Van Halen in their prime.

Only three stars because there's nothing special here. No special features and the new DTS and DD 5.1 audio mixes could have been better.

As a prior Van Halen with DLR fan I was pleasantly surprised by the energy and tightness of this show. Sammy Hager is way better than DLR and I think he shows it here big time. Eddie has never been better and the 5150 song riffs are awesome and tight. Camera work is good too as they jump around in tune with the songs quite well. Overall just a great time and really brings back some memories for me of the great rock concerts of the 80's.

I'm so glad they finally decided to release this on DVD! I had the VHS version for years and finally wore it out..This is by far the finest example of Van Halen in concert in my opinion..They are at the top of their form and Sammy Hagar is a perfect complement to the band..and besides that he plays a pretty mean guitar himself...check out his riff on Love Comes Walking In...

You can tell the guys are having a great time and that's what rock and roll is all about! High Energy and Good Times! This DVD brings back a lot of memories and it's hard for me to believe that it's been almost twenty years since this video was made...where did the time go..

Van Halen was the premiere band in the eighties and their high energy style was an anthem of the times! Just like Zeppelin ruled the seventies and the Beatles the sixties..for any fan of classic rock this DVD is a must have! Now the quality of the video is not as sharp or clear as I would have expected but it's still pretty durn good!!

5150!!

Eddie Van Halen was one of the guitarists who first inspired me to pick up a guitar and amaze me with his two handed tapping technique. So this DVD has its place in my DVD collection.

This DVD really highlights the band in their hey day, enjoying themselves and showing the energy playing in front of a crowd can bring induce. Despite the absence of Roth, they were still able to find success with 5150 and ride that wave of success and churn out plenty of 5150 tunes. Sammy still manages to sing a couple of pre-5150 tunes and shows he is not unfamiliar with a fret board.

The footage is good enough for me. The sound though is not the best, but considering this was recorded almost 20 years ago, you cant expect the same recording quality as today due to technological advances.

Anyone who likes Van Halen will appreciate them not just for their ability to compose good music, but also becuase Eddie is a legend amongst guitar circles for his innovative playing.

I think this shows Van Halen at best, having a good time, working the crowd and playing good music. Throw in some 80's fashion and glam and you've got an entertaining DVD.

I have been a fan of Van Halen since I was in the fourth grade, and when it comes to Van Halen, the worst decision the band ever made was to hire Gary Cherone to be the lead singer for the band after Sammy Hagar left (it was a dissapointment to see David Lee Roth go, but Sammy Hagar was a good choice as a replacement). So now, along with Van Halen's reunion tour that brought Sammy Hagar back and their new greatest hits album, another thing that was needed for that finally came to DVD is the "Live Without A Net" concert, which, while it was originally released on video, thanks to the great world of technology, it is now also available on DVD. This concert was filmed in 1986 at Connecticut's New Haven Coliseum, and this was when David Lee Roth had been fired from the group and Sammy Hagar had been hired as the new lead singer. As already mentioned, some die hard David Lee Roth fans might not like this. But if you like Sammy Hagar and you are a loyal Van Halen fan with either David Lee Roth or Sammy Hagar (the only Van Halen material not worth having is the Gary Cherone stuff) then you will probably like this DVD. The songs on here are songs that were originally recorded in a studio with both David Lee Roth and Sammy Hagar, and if you are fan of Sammy Hagar's solo material, then you are in for a treat: One song performed live on this DVD is "I Can't Drive 55", one of Hagar's most popular and best known solo songs. Here you will also get to see Michael Anthony's bass solo, Alex Van Halen's drum solo, and Eddie Van Halen's guitar solo (when it is time for Van Halen to do his guitar solo, after he smokes a cigarette, he does his solo with a cigarette at the top of his guitar). The best part on the whole DVD-by far. We have been waiting for this legendary concert to be released on DVD for years now-if you get the chance to buy this DVD, don't turn it down.

For the true fan this is incredible - All the songs sound great, the footage is great and Eddies solo is the best I have ever seen. I have picked up quite a few DVD's in the past of old material, but this solo section is the top of the line.

All in all, it is well worth buying if you had the VHS in the past and lost it - but if you still have the VHS its probably not worth buying since it is EXACTLY THE SAME VHS AND DVD. However, DVD sound quality would be cool I suppose if you have a large screen TV and sound system.

Awesome concert from start to finish.However nothing is better than Van Halen with David lee Roth.I love Van Halen with Sammy Hagar but he never even came close to David lee Roth.The Roth days is where there best music was ever written in my opinion.
However this is one of the best full length concert's I have
ever seen.No interview's it's just the entire 5150 show with an amazing drum solo from Alex,the bass solo is awesome as well.
Eddie's solo top's them all even though I'm a drummer myself,
I loved his solo on this video.For every Van Hagar fan is what
some fan's called them when he joined the band.This is a must
own for every die hard Van Halen fan.

This is one cool video if you are a Van Halen fan. Other reviewer's don't like the 80's look (yes, bandanas on the wrist) but that was the 80's...that was cool then... and they've captured it on video. Aside from the fashion, you get to see the on-stage energy of the band. Eddie's guitar work is totally awesome. The camera also focuses in on Alex, the drummer, and Michael, the bassist. A must see for any Van Halen fan or 80's rock fan.

First off I have to admit being partial towards this period of the group since this was the first tour of theirs I got to see. Having grown up, prior to this tour, on the DLR era of the band and then having him leave the group or get fired or whatever, I didn't think I would ever get the chance to see Eddie play live. Needless to say VH could have fallen flat on their face with a new singer but of course we know that wasn't the case. I won't get into the singer debate since it's not relevant at this point. I purchased this when it first came out on VHS so many years ago and played it till it wore out. So I was pretty happy to see it finally make it to dvd. First off, some of the comments already made are true, the disc itself is pretty bare bones. The menus are nothing special. There are no extras at all. Basically this is a meat and potatoes disc. Just the show and that's all folks. As for the video transfer, I have to agree its nothing to write home about. To my recollection, as has been noted before, this seems to be a prety straight transfer from whatever video source still exists from the original production. I agree maybe some cleaning up could have been done as I noted a few seconds of some sort of digital distortion in the final song, Rock N' Roll, but nothing too distracting. But all in all I recall the original video picture not being spectacular anyway so there is only so much you can do to bad video until you start messing with the original intent. On the other hand the sound quality I found a vast improvement over the hissy limitations of the orignial tape. The standard PCM audio is an improvement on just removing the hiss of tape! The real score is in the Dolby Digital audio which is great, but for me the surprise was finding the far superior DTS audio track as well! With improved separation and finally actually hearing bass, this was worth the price alone. Although the boys may have skimped on other dvd features we tend to take for granted nowadays its nice to see they still care about the sound! On the basis of the disc's features or lack therof, I would give it a 2 but the preformance well I have to give it the extra 2 stars for that. One might have to say Eddie and the band were in their prime in the Eighties and this show is a great snapshot of it. Having something to prove , or not, with new singer Sammy the band is in high gear throughout. Yes, you ony get 2 DLR songs but 5150 stands as a great rock album and you hear prcatically all of it here. Sure bass solos and drum solos are included which may get weary after viewing once or twice but if you love guitar at all you will be pressing repeat on Eddie's tour de force many many MANY times. Its a textbook guitar soloing 101 clinic for anything you heard in the 80s right from the master. I know I am biased from my favorable memories of that tour but having seen them on their reunion tour this month, and still kicking butt mind you, its not the same as before. This dvd is a great document of the band at a high point in their career still exhuberant and exploring the limits of their new collaboration. This dvd is really for the fans and if new people want to check them out I would really pay no more then $10-13 for it since it is a straight ahead simple no frills disc, but you would get your money's worth for sure.