The news of Eddie's death, while not unexpected, is still a sad deal. He fought cancer for a long time, and still performed through a lot of it. His mastery of the guitar was second to none.
I got to see Van Halen perform in Little Rock when they were touring for the 1984 album. That is still the most dynamic concert I have ever seen. The whole show, from David Lee Roth's antics on stage, to Eddie Van Halen's guitar work, was amazing. I've been to many, many concerts since then and nobody has topped what Van Halen did that night. And I'm glad I got to see Van Halen in their prime.
To make the concert even more interesting, there was one heck of a fight between two knuckleheads on the floor right before Van Halen came out. The combatants were really beating on each other. The security people acted like hockey refs by clearing everybody away and letting the two peckerwoords slug it out until they fell to the floor. As soon as that happened, the security guys jumped in and broke up the fight. It was a unique way to get ready for what turned into a great show.