Last night we hit the road and headed to Toad’s Place in New Haven, CT. Why? To see Mammoth WVH of course, with Nita Strauss as the opener.
This was the 3rd time I’ve seen Mammoth WVH (AKA Wolfgang Van Halen – son of the late great Eddie Van Halen), but the first time as a headliner. Previously, I saw him as an opener for GNR and an opener for Sevendust and Alter Bridge. It was a sold out show which is cool to see him gaining a larger following. Some people like to claim he only landed those large tours because his last name is Van Halen. While the name likely opened some doors, I think it only makes him have to work harder to show he can actually play great music…which is what he does!
Anyway, Nita Strauss opened the show with her band. If you’re unfamiliar with her just look her up online. She’s that blonde chick, who’s not hard to look at, shredding guitar on Tik Tok, Instagram and everywhere else. She also has a song on rock radio currently, and she’s been playing with Alice Cooper for quite a while. I saw her with Alice this past summer and it was a great show. This time around, I have mixed feelings.
First off, while Toad’s is supposedly legendary, I thought the sound mix sucked for most of the night. For Nita’s set, you’d think that since she’s a guitarist, that guitar would be the prominent instrument. But no, for me it was the drums and bass that just overpowered everything. My buddy Frank agreed. If you were there, I’d love to know your thoughts.
For the first 60% of her set, she played her instrumentals only. Maybe because of the mix, they just sounded unstructured to me. Drums, drums, drums, bass, bass, bass…a little bit of guitar poking through. Nita herself would shred on the guitar, smile, head bang, flip hair, repeat. I hate to say it, but it kind of became boring. However, she did stop to talk to the crowd in between songs, and she genuinely seemed to be having fun which always makes the show enjoyable for me. For the rest of the set, she brought out Kasey Karlsen from the NY band Deadlands to sing the songs that are normally done by guest vocalists on Nita’s non-instrumentals.
Again, I think sound quality was an issue as the vocals were definitely more background sounding and drowned out by the drums and bass. BUT…I will say I enjoyed this portion of the show more as the songs actually had structure and some defined melodies and hooks. I didn’t overly enjoy Nita’s set, but I truly think it was a sound issue versus her performance.
WVH was next, and to me at least, the sound issues continued for the first few songs. The drums again were overpowering but after about 4 songs it seemed to settle in and started to sound really good.
They opened with I’m Alright which is a solid tune. I didn’t write down the full setlist this time, but they definitely played Miles Above Me towards the beginning of the set. Like a Pastime and Optimist also made an appearance and he did a solo acoustic version of Distance which was really cool. During the set, though I can’t recall the order, they also played Take a Bow, Another Celebration at the End of the World and several other tunes off the first and second albums. All originals, no covers. Good times! They closed with Don’t Back Down as one of 2 songs in their encore which is such a great tune. And, he admitted leaving stage before the encore is stupid. “Why do we do this? It’s so stupid.” I couldn’t agree more, but then again, it’s tradition.
The thing I really like about WVH is that on the albums, it’s just him. All instruments and all vocals. His band is for touring purposes (and his drummer is a beast!). What I wish he would do, and perhaps he has at other shows, is showcase this and do one song where he jumps behind the drums and then plays the bass. Why? Because it would be fun, and it would be a nice F You to the haters who claim his last name is the only reason he’s on tour.
I believe this was the 2nd to last stop on the US headlining tour. But they’re heading to Europe and they’re also attached to other US tours over the summer including Metallica. Check the dude out if you get a chance. It’s a good solid rock show. Listen to the albums too! It’s a good time.
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