Hagar As A Frontman

[CureTheSane]

So every time there is a Roth Van Halen vs Hagar Van Halen debate, it usually ends with either

"Roth Van Halen is the only Van Halen, but I'd say that Roth was the better front man and Hagar the better singer"
"Hagar Van Halen is the better Van Halen, but I'd say that Roth was the better front man and Hagar the better singer"

So I've just watched VH Live in Tokyo 1989.
Now living in Australia, we never got to see VH fronted by either Roth or Hagar, but I did see Hagar solo in a club after he left VH

But I was pretty impressed with his stage presence in the 1989 YouTube concert.
Surely he was well up there with Roth.
From what I saw, in terms of energy, stage presence, keeping vocals on point, and having fun, he was exceptional.
Engaging the audience was lacking, but a bit of a hall pass given it was in Japan, so harder to do.

[shamus]

Roth wrote the book on fronting a party rock band and is peerless in that regard. The wardrobe, the look, the diva like braggadocio on the mike and theatrics on and off the stage. Pair that with his in concert gymnastics and genius lyrics and you are witnessing someone that will likely never be rivaled. Roth is the greatest of all time.

But Hagar is his own beast and is certainly more than just a voice live, he is an unstoppable force of nature in his own right and along with Steve Whiteman, I can't think of two other front man I would want for my band.

[CureTheSane]

12 hours ago, shamus said:

Roth wrote the book on fronting a party rock band and is peerless in that regard. The wardrobe, the look, the diva like braggadocio on the mike and theatrics on and off the stage. Pair that with his in concert gymnastics and genius lyrics and you are witnessing someone that will likely never be rivaled. Roth is the greatest of all time.

But Hagar is his own beast and is certainly more than just a voice live, he is an unstoppable force of nature in his own right and along with Steve Whiteman, I can't think of two other front man I would want for my band.

That is a pretty fair comment.
I saw SLR live, but that was when he toured solo with the stage set up with surfboard into the crowd, and boxing ring etc.
Mostly at that point it was Kiss style theatrics, which I wasn't complaining about.
Maybe with VH he was at a different level?
When I compare frontmen, I do so to Dee Snider. What he was able to do with an audience was amazing.

[melodicrock]

I've seen him live solo and with Van Halen - he's brilliant frontman. He's just not a zany lunatic, which is Roth's schtick. I prefer Hagar by a mile. 

[shamus]

9 hours ago, CureTheSane said:

That is a pretty fair comment.
I saw SLR live, but that was when he toured solo with the stage set up with surfboard into the crowd, and boxing ring etc.
Mostly at that point it was Kiss style theatrics, which I wasn't complaining about.
Maybe with VH he was at a different level?
When I compare frontmen, I do so to Dee Snider. What he was able to do with an audience was amazing.

Totally forgot about Dee Snider who could worm his way all the way to #2 for me. I'm assuming you've seen the documentary We Are Twisted Fucking Sister! What an absolute animal, Snider was/is. It's a shame most write them off as a cartoon band middle schoolers rocked out to. They were so much more before they went mainstream.

[CureTheSane]

4 hours ago, shamus said:

Totally forgot about Dee Snider who could worm his way all the way to #2 for me. I'm assuming you've seen the documentary We Are Twisted Fucking Sister! What an absolute animal, Snider was/is. It's a shame most write them off as a cartoon band middle schoolers rocked out to. They were so much more before they went mainstream.

Yes I have seen that.
I saw TS twice, once I think in '87 Melbourne, and once I think in '03 Milwaukee.

Very sadly, the shtick was exactly the same, which dissipated the memory I had of it in 87.
He was still on point ruling the crowd, just needed some new one liners.

Kind of cool to hate on Kiss at the moment, and particularly Paul as he is so outspoken on covid etc
But he will be remembered (rightly so) as one of the all time great frontment.
Same deal as Dee with the shtick, but at least he changed it up over the years, even if it did seem repetitive at times, he turned it into something that you expected and looked forward to.

My other pick for stage presence is outside the box for most here, but Robbie Williams was amazing, totally ruled the audience and put on an amazing show (this was the Escapology tour)

[Doggy]

Twisted Sister first tour in Australia was in 1985 with Boss as supported.

 

[CureTheSane]

There ya go, '85 then
Probably confused as Dee gave his personal guarantee that they'd be back and then never did.
I remember "We'll be back Melbourne. I know every band says that, but when Twisted Fuckin Sister says it, we mean it"
:(

 

[martinsane]

Tough to compare as they are polar opposites.

Like comparing Jewel and Bette Midler.

Hagar, a guitarist, songwriter and then a singer and Dave 2k% a front man/singer and maybe some songwriting to some degree as #2.

I never saw Dave with VH, but I did see him with Vai and Sheehan on the Eat 'Em & Smile tour and I did see Van Hagar on the Monsters of Rock tour.

That said, I'd rather see Roth 7 days a week singing the phone book than Hagar and that's no knock on Hagar, a competent musician, who I preferred in his earlier incarnation (s) with both Montrose and as an early solo artist (pre-VH) and not so much with VH. His work after VH is spotty at best.

 

BUT, that's my take.

[Doggy]

On 12/26/2020 at 7:12 PM, CureTheSane said:

So every time there is a Roth Van Halen vs Hagar Van Halen debate, it usually ends with either

"Roth Van Halen is the only Van Halen, but I'd say that Roth was the better front man and Hagar the better singer"
"Hagar Van Halen is the better Van Halen, but I'd say that Roth was the better front man and Hagar the better singer"

So I've just watched VH Live in Tokyo 1989.
Now living in Australia, we never got to see VH fronted by either Roth or Hagar, but I did see Hagar solo in a club after he left VH

But I was pretty impressed with his stage presence in the 1989 YouTube concert.
Surely he was well up there with Roth.
From what I saw, in terms of energy, stage presence, keeping vocals on point, and having fun, he was exceptional.
Engaging the audience was lacking, but a bit of a hall pass given it was in Japan, so harder to do.

Dave fronted Van Halen did played a one off gig in Australia. On the 14 of April 2013, it was the Stone Music Festival at Homestead in N S W