1978 early Van Halen Live video clip

Eddie might as well have been an alien back then in '78........he totally threw most rock guitarists for a loop & they didn't know what to do or think 🤣
 
I actually saw this tour in Utah.

I was in high school listening to ELP, Yes, King Crimson and learning to play guitar jamming along to the records.

My buddy, who was a Kiss fan told me we had to go see this new guitarist that would just blow me away. I was skeptical. After all he thought Ace Freeley was the world’s greatest guitarist.

Never heard a guitar played like that!

Show ended, we ran outside where bus was parked. Huge snowstorm. Doors bang open and out comes band and entourage. I’m trying to get Eddies attention and Roth with a bottle of Jack faceplants into the snow right at my feet. Me and some roadie pick him up and drag him into bus.

It smelled like a garbage truck. Knee deep beer cans and trash. Pizza slices stuck on the windows. We threw Roth into a bunk and they kicked us off the bus.

I was 10 feet from Eddie and didn’t get to talk to him.

I’ve detested Roth since that night.
 
I saw V H. in Muskegon MI opening for Journey back in 1979 ... ! Neal Schon is GREAT, but Eddie owned that night !!!!
 
Man, cameras have come such a long way since. My bargain Samsung cell phone shot better quality footage and sound at last week's Muse concert. I wonder what setup the camera guy used. It can't have been easy. Think of all the amazing bands and tours we could have had good sounding footage off if they had had access to today's recording technology. All those great bands of the 60's and 70's, their performances now only living on in our memory because barely any bootleg recordings exist.

ChristThePhone said:
One has to admit DLR was (is?) one of the greatest stage performers of all times. What an unbelievable ego.
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I reckon that with great stage performance also comes great ego. And I suspect that while some narcissism is already present before, its the whole standing in front of thousands of fans cheering you on that amps it up to Olympian heights.
 
i was 4 when this happened... love dlr and evh - they are like opposites as performers. (in most concerts I've seen) dlr is amazing in studio but on stage drunk, missing cues, and more about untamed energy whereas evh, mike a, and alex could be in the studio if u didn't know. dlr just reminds me of that clown from metallocalypse ("I do cocain"). thank u so much for sharing a rare experience.
 
Really enjoyed this vid! More than 40 years ago... can’t believe it... EVH an absolute wizard with precision and energy... great stuff
 
I saw them a couple of years after this video was shot, and they were at the top of their game in those days. One of my guitar students was a huge Van Halen fan, so he treated me to 4th row seats, on Eddie's side of the stage. By that time I was teaching various Eddie parts to my students, but seeing him up close and doing it all so effortlessly was a mind bending experience.

As a side note, DLR was definitely wearing a stuffed sock in his spandex that night.
 
Saw them at the Palladium in NYC during this tour of 78. R&R would never be the same .
 
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I saw them twice in 74-75 in backyards in the Pasadena area. Didnt really know who they were then, obviously, but just knew that that kid (same age as me lol) could play the guitar like no other I had seen before. My father was a LA City fireman in neighboring Eagle Rock at the time. It didn't dawn on me until the mid 80's that that crazy band I had seen at those keggers was none other than VH.
 
Saw DLR era VH a couple of times here in Ottawa Canada (3rd / 4th album tours i think) - what I remember about both concerts was that the sound was really baaad, mainly because the PA was way too blisteringly loud for anything to be heard properly.

Seeing SH era VH in the early 90s in Montreal was not much better. Again - bad FOH sound.

Only at the last show I saw here in Ottawa 5 or 10 years ago did I finally catch VH with a reasonably good FOH sound - it was awesome and made up for the sound at the other 3. Those early shows were a real spectacle though - and the whole mystique of the band at that time was really cool - I remember feeling cool to be in a kind of special club of dudes at my high school that followed this band early on - I was really into it - walked around in my faded Jean Jacket with VH logo on the back - lol!
 
I'll watch the rest when I get some free time.

Watched thru Atomic Punk. Excellent!

I wish I had been able to see them in those days... But I was 10 in '78 and hadn't quite yet discovered KISS, much less Van Halen.
 
Man Eddie was off the charts at that time. It really is a sight to behold... so much talent and effortlessness. It's like a freight train.
 
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