Oct 17 RIP EVH

I lost a piece of my youth this week. My first big rock concert was in 1984, it was a cacophony of sound and sight. It was bigger than life and I was a fourteen-year-old kid in awe.

It was Van Halen.

David Lee Roth pranced across the stage, legs spinning higher than any man had a right to. Alex Van Halen pounded the drums with Michael Anthony pacing the rhythms. Above and beyond it all was the incredible sounds emanating from the magical fingers of Eddie Van Halen. I had never experienced anything like it.

I was in rock and roll heaven.

Now Eddie Van Halen has gone to rock and roll heaven to join the many other rock stars that have died too young. Watching all the tributes pour in this week for the virtuoso rock god I was brought back to those days in my youth; days when I was young and mostly innocent. They were the days when I was a teenager full of angst, and the biggest release I had was music. Hard driving rock and roll music.

My older sister sat beside me, she kept telling me to be quiet, to stop singing. I will never be quiet at a rock concert; some things will never change. I have always got caught up in the energy and excitement of live music. Seeing Van Halen at the peak of their career was a moment in time I will always hold on too.

Thirty-one years later I would have the fortune to see them again with Dave and Eddie live in Vancouver. It was a great time that I enjoyed with my brother from another mother, Keith. We had a fantastic time, one that was organically enhanced. At the time we didn’t know it would the last concert with my good friend. We also didn’t know it would be the last tour for the iconic guitarist.

It was another concert for the ages.

Eddie Van Halen played the guitar like no other. There has never been another virtuoso of the electric guitar like him, I doubt there will ever be another either. His fingers moved faster than humanly possible. The sounds and notes screaming into the air gave testament to the talent and skill he exuded.

Our world is poorer with his loss. My world was shaken when I read the news.

Now I reflect on that magical night in the Olympic Saddledome in Calgary. A night when a star-struck kid shared a moment in time with his rock idols. It remains a moment in time that I can take with me.

Edward Van Halen will live on forever in his music. He will live on in the memories of people like that fourteen-year-old kid inside my soul.

Rest in peace Eddie, keep on rocking in the heavens.