This is unreal. Must watch rock n roll history right here. One can't overstate how fresh, authenticate, and talented these guys were in 1978. As pioneers, they totally changed the rules of the game.
@@Scion3Sevensnot trying to to be pissy lol but eddie pretty much reinvented the sound of the electric guitar im no fanboy of VH but you have to give credit where credit is due when it comes to what eddie did to guitar
@@gball6755 same old soundbite "reinvented" - no, a bunch of kids buying Gutiar Mag with no background in Jazz or other Rock guitarists using ' tapping ' very sparingly way before evh - he had a talent, and some VH I like in small doses - but the band was so uncreative and boring it was mind-numbing after a while - and the stage show was a joke, catering to kids who all want to be on stage and playing air-guitar at home but with empty lives
@@Scion3Sevens dude it’s fine to dislike a band but u don’t gotta be hateful, their stage presence was a result of them loving what they do, would you rather them just stand there with blank faces? and eddie never claimed to invent tapping, he revolutionized it. every guitar player after Van Halen 1 wanted to be exactly like him, and whether you like it or not there’s a piece of eddie van halen in almost every piece of guitar music since he made his mark on music period.
Yes, I actually was tripping on acid at the Philly Spectrum when they opened for Black Sabbath. It was over our heads and otherworldly. I love the Magic Mountain bootleg. That raw tone and virtuosity!!!!
Ahhh Young padawine ...Philadelphia Spectrum Coliseum -- Me a very handsome young lad 15 years young --Van Halen opening act for Black Sabbath Never Say Die tour- Can't tell you I remember it all because I was under Gold Colombian spell !! But Yeah !! Awesome !!!
@@simoncrawley7430 No, it is truthful. You fanboys are awful. Eddie's hero for example, crushes him and his basic rock riffs, that he repeats, yes, on fire, but it is the same stuff over and over, one trick pony. There are so many styles and great players... ed was just one more on the list. Tapping was around a hundred years before him.
What an amazing arttifact. There was nothing, just no nothing like this before. It was like a burning meteor in the sky, the energy, the 100% velocity and virtuosity that re-lit rock from the edge of obsolescence and irrelevance and started a whole revolution in hard rock and metal. Amazing to see this incandescence
Senior in high school. Fall 1978. One of my classmates gave as his presentation of life changing moments the concert he saw with Van Halen that summer. He then played the first album in class.
@@AllofJudea You're probably a Hop Hop poser or Katy Perry fan ,if you think it was just coke.Just in case you never noticed there is a LOT of potent musical skill on that stage not just showmanship fool!
They were great and EVH changed guitar, but rock was far from obsolescence. Boston, Rush, Kiss, Sabbath, AC/DC, et al were also huge and awesome in 1978. Punk was killing it too.
This should be in the Library of Congress in their historic recordings collection. As for Diamond Dave, maybe he did/does have an exaggerated opinion of himself, but what a showman he was. I don't think anyone has been a better front man.
Imagine if Sammy started with the band doing clubs. I’d love to see him try to get a #1 album or a #1 song. These songs and the rest of the album wouldn’t have the same impact even though Eddie would be put Eruption on it. I’m just saying Dave was a good singer and great performer. Also 1984 would have been #1 album but any album would be #2 behind Thriller!
Saw them twice in '78. The first show was just shocking. This was the opener. We had never seen a band this tight and never heard guitar like that. And Roth was almost as incredible as Ed. It's no wonder he has no voice left. I was a huge Sabbath fan but they were an afterthought that night.
I saw the Sabbath/Halen bill in Detroit. VH was the future but Sabbath was great that night as well...Actually in 1978 people didn't really know who they were.
Saw this tour in Milwaukee. I was 18, a big Black Sabbath fan and this was as close to heaven that I could possibly get. At the time lol. DLR really stole the show that night…..
@@COTG666 Not always. I'm speaking from experience. And I don't think that's what Ed or the the rest of the band was into...doing blow while performing on this "debut" tour? Nahh! They were more focused on their craft at this time. There was a lot to be proved and a lot to loose. I'm pretty sure the coke and drinking while performing came later in their career. That's my opinion.
What? I saw them in the clubs many times and ED didn't MOVE as much as do the guitar poses and play with his back to the dudes when he was tapping. After the hiatus and LP recording they had to train him on how to work a big stage and he NEVER looked natural - that stupid scissor kick jump was just not cool; Pete Townshend he wasn't. 👀
00:40 On Fire 01:11 I'm The One 04:00 Atomic Punk 06:33 Alex Drum Solo 08:34 Ain't Talkin 'Bout Love 13:24 Eddie Solo / Eruption 17:00 You Really Got Me 22:18 Bottoms Up!
What an absolute gem of a find this video is thank you so much for uploading! This should be in a time capsule so in another 50 or 100 years people can still look back and witness the genius and pioneering masterpiece that this truly is.
Thats why he set the kramer down and the Explorer magically appeared after the solo! Man ther dissonance he got out of that cab when was up against the stack! pure beauty!
@@Chef_Jeff69 you are of course correct. I was just trying to remember off the top of my head. I went back and watched believe I was wrong in both accounts as the shark makes an appearance as well!
Holy freaking cow! How could any band come on stage and follow a performance like that? Incredible musicianship right off the bat. VH were ready to conquer! That crowd had to know they were witnessing legends in the making.
Saw this concert in Seattle at the coliseum in 78 with several friends.... still remember it to this day. Eddie was on fire, newly emerged guitar slinging one of a kind player that blew us away. Ahhh the 70's
Saw this show in Jacksonville Fl, they opened for Sabbath...1978. Saw them less than a year later headlining after VH II released...1979, again in Jacksonville Florida. Both shows were epic.
I don't give a shit who says what about Dave Roth back then he was f.cking amazing as a frontman and his screams were reminiscent of Ian Gillian! The band were smoking tight! THANK YOU for uploading this classic rock gold!
Imagine you are an aspiring guitar player, into Rainbow, Uriah Heep etc., and then in some concert the opening band's guitar player rips you a new one, and you cannot remember how you made it home save and sound. Plus... you cannot tell anyone about it, because no one would believe you. Gee. What marvelous footage!
If you read Alex's book, he details how VH loved hanging out with Sabbath but they also knew they were destroying the Sabs' career by being such a good opening act
Jake E Lee got revenge when Ozzy played before Van Halen & upstaged them so severely, that Roth up & quit Van Halen after the 84’ Monsters of Rock tour…🤟🏼
Imagine being Black Sabbath having to go on after that high energy, virtuosity filled, party atmosphere, fun song Van Halen performance! There's no way!
My favorite thing about DLR was his song writing and attitude. His lyrics really fit with the music. And onstage there aren't many that can match his energy.
Ed was pretty good at backing vocals as well. Difficult for Dave to sound the same in the studio as he did live with all that gyrating but his voice was pretty solid until about ‘82.
Saw them multiple times between 78 and 83....and many afterwards, but that first 5 years was like nothing youve ever seen on Rock guitar...their best ever no question
The infancy to the Van Halen Invasion, leaving all sorts of "wtf's??!!!" on faces all over the planet. And THIS is why it didn't take long for no headlining act wanting to follow them as the warm up band. King Edward... wow.... thank you for all the wonderful, ferocious and jaw-dropping music that made all of our ears happily bleed with great pleasure and go up in smoke with intense volume. I know I speak for many, but we miss you sorely. May you always shred in peace.
1978 Van Halen footage is incredible historic footage. To think a few months earlier they were a bar band. I always wondered what a vh 1978 show looked like , incredible!thank you for this post
Diamond Dave is all in! His vocals are absolutely the best! People are judging Dave about his vocals now and I get it, but when you look at the past and have been following him as I have you can appreciate where he has begun . Thank you to whoever the taper was and the editor for who put this all together! so appreciated! Long live VH!!
This is magic. Even then Dave was singing at the top of his range and out of breathe. A credit to the guys skill that's he was able to do that as long as he did. Thanks for posting this gold
Entertaining was a must, but actually singing was optional for Dave lol Literally...he goes long parts of songs where he's not singing at all😆 (but when he does, he sounds great!)
There is lots of room on the floor. I would have thought it would be completely packed but they were just getting going on the way to become the biggest rock band of the 80's. RIP EVH. Gone but never forgotten. Thanks for the vid!
The show hadn’t started yet in that footage. Remember, lots of people mingled in the lobby/outside,,bought-shirts etc. before the show started. Concerts were a social event.
@@glengamble526 Valid point. Were they opening for Black Sabbath? That's kind of a weird team up but it was the early days. Party rock meets the masters of metal. Heh.
@@alienresearchlabTheir first major support slot on a world tour - Sabbath "Never say die" tour.I'm from Belfast, but went over to see them in Sabbath's hometown Birmingham, England.This support band swaggered on to about 4ft of stage space (Bill Ward's kit was huge) and blew the minds of everybody there!🤘
Edward was playing the yellow/black when I saw them and I remember him making me wince in pain but it was so unbelievably good. One of the best shows I have ever been to. 1978 I was 16. I started playing guitar that year.
Hardly! Ed cringed when Malmsteen showed on the scene, not meant to favor either one, just saying. Both were blatant egotists. Iommi (Black Sabbath), same tour, could smoke Ed, but he always had class. . . . . Ed, never did. -Witchbreed
@@Cluless02 You're wrong, other guitarists had to step-up their game after EVH came on the scene. You see a ton of mimicking from late 1970s thru the 1980s from other guitarists.
Dave was a force of nature, driven by the fire of youth, and he kept trying to do a version of that physical stage act as he got old. It couldn't work forever. But we'll always have clips like this at least. I wish there were more, but thanks for posting it.
I hear ya Craig, I bought there Debut title album, when it came out, I was 10, EDDIE was a FORCE TO BE WRECKONED WITH! SO MANY JEALOUS PEOPLE/GUITARIST , ALL THEY WHERE WAS THREATENED BY HIM , NO ONE HURD WHAT HE HURD, HE WAS AND ALWAYS WILL BE , THE GUITAR KING 👑 ALWAYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This was the most incredible show I ever saw! Opened for Sabbath in Philadelphia…..one of the few life changing moments I can recall…especially at 15 years old! It was like getting hit by a Mac truck!
I listened to this twice consecutively. Played it through my Bluetooth speaker, it was 30 minutes of in-your-face rock and listening to the beast guitar playing of EVH. This was a treat. Thank you!
Fucking love this. Saw my 1st concert when I was 14 years old in 1977 and which was Led Zeppelin at Madison Square Garden. Second concert was Black Sabbath in 1978 with an unknown opening band called Val Halen. I saw this exact tour and dropped my first hit of LSD at that show. It blew my mind. At age 61 still digging my rock n roll🤘. Thanks for the video. You rock!!!👊
My first concert was Led Zeppelin in 1977 also! In Oakland California. Day on the Green. July, Sat. 23rd & Sun. 24th. I saw the Sunday show. That’s wild. Both of us, our first concert; and it’s Led fuckin Zeppelin! One on each coast. ALSO, I was 14 and now 61 as well. Damn! Long lost brothers! HA! Anyway, Cheers to you & yours!
Awesome thanks for posting this, I mean bro this was what 77?, no one had EVER heard of seen ANYTHING like this they were the true innovators Ed was the real deal and Dave was the ultimate front man! Like thousands of other guitarists Ed and Michael Shienker were huge influences on me as a guitarist RIP Edward!! 🤘🏼🎸
The greatest rock band ever. This is when diamond Dave could actually sing for the most part. He was a great front man. Edward was just starting to show the world how great he was. Michael Anthony, tremendous underrated background vocalist, and a damn good bass player. A monster on drums. May you rest in peace Edward I was there for the beginning of your career until the very end and I’m just hoping that maybe I’ll be lucky enough to meet you on the other side
This footage was incredible so much energy and a new wave of guitar playing had begun and Edward was the leader the sound and video are incredible on this thank you for sharing if only we could go into a real time machine to see the show with the historic Echoplex in the bomb
Imagine the car ride back home after this concert......"What the hell did we just experience??" Thank you EDWARD VAN HALEN for changing the music world forever.
The first time I saw them was in Detroit in '82...was the diver down tour. It was a life changing concert. Nobody to this day has put on a show like the younger original VH. Eddie was a legend
Thank you 🙏. A few years ago I kept trying to watch this but the quality was so bad. I hope more of these concerts are upgraded to HD which I didn’t know was possible for these recordings . it looks AMAZING . Thank you again !!!
I ....still....can...not....believe...that this clip is almost a half century old! My!....how time flies! And yes kids, Van Halen was that powerful of a band ....live! 😂😅😢😮
1978. If you came in with them then then nobody else gets what it was like at the beginning. This footage is fantastic. I got off the train with 1984, saw them that year and it had become a show. Imagine trying to follow them in 1978. Great songs and Roth was at his peak.
This is pure awesomeness. I remember when that first VH album came out. My friend down the street got it. we played it when i went over. We played it over and over. I wish i had made it to the live show. They were so good live.
I saw them for the first time at 15 years old in 1980 and every tour after with DLR so until '84. We stood for the whole show, nobody wanted to sit down...too much energy. So glad to have been born when I was.
I was a bellhop at a hotel in Austin Tx from 1978-1980. Van Halen stayed there and I met and talked with the guys in the band. Alex and Michael were just regular guys, Eddie was shy and introverted and Dave was already the Diva that you expect him to be.
im blown away. this literally almost brought me to tears seeing Eddie play. the earliest I was able to see them was when my cousin took me to see the Fair Warning Tour in Cleveland at the old Colesium. They were incredible!!!
I missed the 70s shows, but finally got to see this supernova of a band in Huntsville AL in 81 - there is NOTHING that can compete with this band in their prime - they were and are unmatched - I still get the chills when I see this - count yourself very lucky to be alive for this!
Disco was fine actually - the bomb was dropped on the old generation of rock - zeppelin, sabbath, purple - their days were done. This was the new wave of rock - atomic punks indeed.
Sort of the Nirvana of their time. Not quite the earth shattering impact of ushering in Grunge like Nirvana did, but really close. I remember hearing Van Halen for the first time and saying Wow that's really awesome! And when hearing Nirvana for the first time saying what in the holy f*ck was THAT and how do I get more and nothing will be the same after. Anyway, huge Van Halen fan and this recording is incredible and they sound exactly like their recordings, as they should. Dave and Eddie are some of the best live performers ever existed.
When the Sellend Arena opened the crowd rushed the door. This smaller kid in front of us was getting crushed and was turning purple. So we lifted him up so he could breathe. Has fate would have we ran in to him before the show. He yells out, those are the dudes that saved me. Good times!!!
Anyone who doesn't love Van Halen you had to be there I grew up in the seventies this was in the midst of the Disco era also. And when the Van Halen album hit it was incredible nothing like it. Like I said you had to be there and live it. Van Halen rule for many years I saw them plenty of times. My favorite band of all time.
Outstanding capture of such unbridled enthusiasm and reckless abandons! The groovy "Bottoms up" guitar solo and outro at the end of the show! A glimpse of what was to floor us next by The Mighty Van Halen!
What an absolute gem of a find this video is thank you so much for uploading! This should be in a time capsule so in another 50 or 100 years people can still look back and witness the genius and pioneering masterpiece that this truly is. There has never truly been any match or anyone that really even comes close to Edward Van Halen.
Wow! Can you imagine Ozzi having to follow this? Telling his band,” they’re better than us”, Haha What a concert. I saw this tour when I lived in the Netherlands 78. They blew us all away with this new sound. Saw them many times after this. They rock on then and today
Awesome, thanks so much for these beautiful memories, this was the VH I fell in love with in the summer of 78. I love the intro of his solo on the studio version of Ice Cream Man sneaks into the 2nd solo of I'm The One. You were like a 10 year old waiting for Christmas day if you were a guitarist in 78 to 84 waiting for VH to come to your area.
March 30th, 1979. O'Connor Field House (basically a big concrete bunker) Caldwell, ID. Their fifth stop on their first world headline tour. I was 16. Between the people throwing empty beer bottles from the roof, to the overturned car next to the entrance, we knew we were in for a night. The hightlight was when a tube amp exploded behind the stack of speakers stage right. After the obligatory "WTF WAS THAT!" moment, Alex kicked off a ~10 minute drum solo while the roadies grabbed an amp from the warm up band and hooked everything up. Needless to say, the party proceeded with even more enthusiasm.
I'm impressed by how much these songs sound like the album (or even better.) Lit AF in 78! No guitarist had played like that before. 16:00 - 18:00 history was made.
Damn?? I have enjoyed this Hell Raising Concert to the Max! I'm Fkn 65 and sure do remember when Van Halen came aboard the Kick Ass Rock Scene in 78! I was 17 at the time. They were The Mighty Van Halen with out a doubt! When VH hit the Stage hang on Bro's and Sis's!! I never got to see them. I lived in Bham Ala but had gotten married and had Twins so that cancelled stuff for a little bit! Can't say enough about that Band and thanks for that killer Music y'all delivered! 😊. I'm still sad about Ole Play the PISS OUTTA OF THAT GUITAR 🎸! RIP Eddie! 🎸💥🎶🔥😐🇺🇲
Amazing footage! Ed is so spot on definitely the top of his game, just shockingly amazing for the time, most younger players won’t really appreciate just how amazing it was hearing VH for the first time It was a bright neon laser in a grey landscape of what we knew as the best rock available, the radio station program managers told us what and who was the best and we bought it, of course all those bands were and are stellar but Van Halen’s introduction just came from a whole different dimension It was the shock and awe that left your ears ringing and us guitarists scratching our heads trying the figure out how the hell he was getting those sounds that are just taken for granted today
This is amazing. you also see how they’re a little unsettled, amped up and jumping around like they are sped up, not the footage, they were just supercharged in this early big audience performance. And Dave using the echo a bunch. Amazing!
@15:50... Watching Ed play that fretboard is like watching a cat toy with it's mouse. Swatting it around, letting it get away momentarily and then swatting it back to life to just have fun with it some more. Incredible... RIP King Edward And thank YOU for posting this history lesson for all of us to enjoy...
It's hard to explain to people that weren't alive when VH broke how earth shattering they were. What Ed did was a mystery. We had never heard anything like it. I suspect that is how Hendrix must have been at the time he came out.
Saw them on Thanksgiving night 1978. This is exactly how I remember it too. My favorite VH tour. I was sitting almost exactly where this camera was filming from but just a little higher up. Literally how my mind remembers it.
![Van Halen - Live in Fresno 1979 [watermark removed & upscaled to HD]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/PtxY3Y5hl2A/mqdefault.jpg)
This is unreal. Must watch rock n roll history right here. One can't overstate how fresh, authenticate, and talented these guys were in 1978. As pioneers, they totally changed the rules of the game.
What exactly did VH pioneer again? Hmmm? Fanboy over-the-top.
@@Scion3Sevensnot trying to to be pissy lol but eddie pretty much reinvented the sound of the electric guitar im no fanboy of VH but you have to give credit where credit is due when it comes to what eddie did to guitar
@@gball6755 same old soundbite "reinvented" - no, a bunch of kids buying Gutiar Mag with no background in Jazz or other Rock guitarists using ' tapping ' very sparingly way before evh - he had a talent, and some VH I like in small doses - but the band was so uncreative and boring it was mind-numbing after a while - and the stage show was a joke, catering to kids who all want to be on stage and playing air-guitar at home but with empty lives
@@Scion3Sevens dude it’s fine to dislike a band but u don’t gotta be hateful, their stage presence was a result of them loving what they do, would you rather them just stand there with blank faces? and eddie never claimed to invent tapping, he revolutionized it. every guitar player after Van Halen 1 wanted to be exactly like him, and whether you like it or not there’s a piece of eddie van halen in almost every piece of guitar music since he made his mark on music period.
@@gball6755 nobody is being 'hateful' - stick to the topic
Who ever filmed this with sound is the greatest person on earth ! They did have 8mm sound camera's Sankyo Sound XL-60S Super-8 Film Movie Camera 1978
for this era? It's amazing@@michaelraub9351
@@michaelraub9351 Really ? how old are you 15 LOL !
This is mind-blowing!!!! Atomic Punk fucking blows the roof off!
@@michaelraub9351 Mcfly …. It was 1978 raw recording
8mm film spliced together with the soundboard recording I believe. Its an awesome job!
1978. Can you imagine witnessing that EVH solo back then? What a seminal moment vs everything else out there. Mind blowing.
It blew our minds. Everyone was looking at each other in complete disbelief. There was just no relating the sounds to anything we had heard before.
Yes, I actually was tripping on acid at the Philly Spectrum when they opened for Black Sabbath. It was over our heads and otherworldly. I love the Magic Mountain bootleg. That raw tone and virtuosity!!!!
I didn’t see this tour but I saw them in ‘79 and it was what you would imagine it to be.
And then you are Black Sabbath and you have to go onstage after this.
Ahhh Young padawine ...Philadelphia Spectrum Coliseum -- Me a very handsome young lad 15 years young --Van Halen opening act for Black Sabbath Never Say Die tour- Can't tell you I remember it all because I was under Gold Colombian spell !! But Yeah !! Awesome !!!
My name is ruben Rodriguez, I was there , they opened up for Black Sabbath , it was a great show and the times were very different than today
Seen this same show in San Antonio Texas they totally blew Sabbath of the stage.
I remember this I was there too
@@jesuspi3ce My name is Mudd. I wasn't there but I'm still enjoying this video. Nice to meet you Gus and ruben Rodriguez.
You are One lucky man to have that memory ✌️💛🤘
Dammit I was 8 years old. But hey my first concert and date? Van Halen 1984.
Eddie was way ahead of everyone and still is. RIP legend
Often imitated, never duplicated. NEVER!
Nope. Good guitarist, far from the best. Fanboy adulation getting in the way of taste/common sense.
@@Scion3Sevens troll alert....
@@Scion3Sevens That's just such a stupid, stupid thing to say.
@@simoncrawley7430 No, it is truthful. You fanboys are awful. Eddie's hero for example, crushes him and his basic rock riffs, that he repeats, yes, on fire, but it is the same stuff over and over, one trick pony. There are so many styles and great players... ed was just one more on the list. Tapping was around a hundred years before him.
ABSOLUTELY GREAT TO SEE THIS EARLY VAN HALEN CONCERT..
First concert I was allowed to go to, and It blew my mind! They were phenomenal live!
Bless whoever found this absolute treasure.
Ahmen!
Fuck yes. absolutely . we are so lucky to be able to go back in time to see this shit.
Awesome upload thank you! Best quality early vid I've seen!
What an amazing arttifact. There was nothing, just no nothing like this before. It was like a burning meteor in the sky, the energy, the 100% velocity and virtuosity that re-lit rock from the edge of obsolescence and irrelevance and started a whole revolution in hard rock and metal. Amazing to see this incandescence
Senior in high school. Fall 1978. One of my classmates gave as his presentation of life changing moments the concert he saw with Van Halen that summer. He then played the first album in class.
It was the coke.
@@AllofJudea You're probably a Hop Hop poser or Katy Perry fan ,if you think it was just coke.Just in case you never noticed there is a LOT of potent musical skill on that stage not just showmanship fool!
They were great and EVH changed guitar, but rock was far from obsolescence. Boston, Rush, Kiss, Sabbath, AC/DC, et al were also huge and awesome in 1978. Punk was killing it too.
@@batphink2655 haters gonna hate. Screw em'
😎✌️
This should be in the Library of Congress in their historic recordings collection. As for Diamond Dave, maybe he did/does have an exaggerated opinion of himself, but what a showman he was. I don't think anyone has been a better front man.
DLR and Robert Plant the two greatest front men in Rock history.
@@JWPCMH, i’m definitely not disagreeing but i would just like to add bon scott. thanks
@@mikebockey4125 Bon Scott & the Volts... ☇🎤🎸😎🤘
Imagine if Sammy started with the band doing clubs. I’d love to see him try to get a #1 album or a #1 song. These songs and the rest of the album wouldn’t have the same impact even though Eddie would be put Eruption on it. I’m just saying Dave was a good singer and great performer. Also 1984 would have been #1 album but any album would be #2 behind Thriller!
@@mikebockey4125 He's in my top 5 for sure.
Saw them twice in '78. The first show was just shocking. This was the opener. We had never seen a band this tight and never heard guitar like that. And Roth was almost as incredible as Ed. It's no wonder he has no voice left. I was a huge Sabbath fan but they were an afterthought that night.
I saw the Sabbath/Halen bill in Detroit. VH was the future but Sabbath was great that night as well...Actually in 1978 people didn't really know who they were.
Saw this tour in Milwaukee. I was 18, a big Black Sabbath fan and this was as close to heaven that I could possibly get. At the time lol. DLR really stole the show that night…..
@@jody8526937 I was there for the sabbath show in Detroit too! I remember Ed's guitar was mixed real low, a bass heavy mix.
@@viewoftheaskew Am I crazy or did Sabbath put on a great show? Everyone loved VH but Sabbath held their own. Very short VH show.
@@edpoole6700I was there too... Can't remember if it was the Arena or Auditorium. Think it was September or October 1978.
Sometimes people forget how light on his feet Eddie was… The whole band/show was so physical, virile, athletic, and all in the happiest of ways🤘🏽🤙🏽🤘🏽
Like a Las Vegas stage show
Cocaine helps...
@@COTG666 Not always. I'm speaking from experience. And I don't think that's what Ed or the the rest of the band was into...doing blow while performing on this "debut" tour? Nahh! They were more focused on their craft at this time. There was a lot to be proved and a lot to loose. I'm pretty sure the coke and drinking while performing came later in their career. That's my opinion.
What? I saw them in the clubs many times and ED didn't MOVE as much as do the guitar poses and play with his back to the dudes when he was tapping. After the hiatus and LP recording they had to train him on how to work a big stage and he NEVER looked natural - that stupid scissor kick jump was just not cool; Pete Townshend he wasn't. 👀
Thanks for sharing your groupie experience with Ed and the band.
I was 12 years old and remember saying I want to play guitar like him. 46 years later, I still cant! RIP EVH!
I've been playing for 50, and I always say when I can play Hot For Teacher all the way through I'll be a real guitarist.
I was sixteen/seventeen when I said that sir lmao I’m 18 😭.. and like you I struggle but hey every day trying is one day closer to perfection
Man after that eruption solo trust me, no one can play like him!
I Mean some can get pretty close!
I started playing when I was 7. Only took me 30 years to play like Eddie.
@AndrewGrey22 I want to build off his like make it my own js like how he learned a lot of his stuff from led Zep and Cream
DAVE In the early yrs was like a physical embodiment of what V.H. Was all about great times ,awesome music and having fun ..RIP KING EDWARD...
Terrible singer. Period!
YEAH! What Sammy Hagar would NEVER be!!
@@vidsforsquids Bruh he 100% was, Live Without A Net is all the proof you need
nonsense@@wob6776
yeah..... except he screwed up the 2nd song 😂
00:40 On Fire
01:11 I'm The One
04:00 Atomic Punk
06:33 Alex Drum Solo
08:34 Ain't Talkin 'Bout Love
13:24 Eddie Solo / Eruption
17:00 You Really Got Me
22:18 Bottoms Up!
With a snippet of "Bottoms Up" right at the end of it, too.
Thanks, I will add that!@@chriscampbell9191
What an absolute gem of a find this video is thank you so much for uploading! This should be in a time capsule so in another 50 or 100 years people can still look back and witness the genius and pioneering masterpiece that this truly is.
This comment should be pinned for the setlist ;)
They didn't even do Running with the Devil..their opening song on their first album. Confidence level red lining!!
OMG, this is rock music being reinvented before our eyes... like the Beatles on Ed Sullivan, simply incredible. Long live EVH!!!
The greatest accomplishment of this show is that the floyd rose tremelo didn't even exist yet!😮
Thats why he set the kramer down and the Explorer magically appeared after the solo! Man ther dissonance he got out of that cab when was up against the stack! pure beauty!
He wasn’t with Kramer yet. That was a Charvel body with a CBS style Strat neck. Gibson decal on the headstock BTW
@@Chef_Jeff69 you are of course correct. I was just trying to remember off the top of my head. I went back and watched believe I was wrong in both accounts as the shark makes an appearance as well!
@@richardclark. No worries! Love this old footage. They were on fire back then. 🤘🏼
If we are splitting Hairs that explorer is actually a ibanez destroyer, possibly Aces old one 😊
Wow! He was the King from day one 🤟🤟
FACT
Holy freaking cow! How could any band come on stage and follow a performance like that? Incredible musicianship right off the bat. VH were ready to conquer! That crowd had to know they were witnessing legends in the making.
Black sabbath did say Halen blew them away
Saw this concert in Seattle at the coliseum in 78 with several friends.... still remember it to this day. Eddie was on fire, newly emerged guitar slinging one of a kind player that blew us away. Ahhh the 70's
Saw this show in Jacksonville Fl, they opened for Sabbath...1978. Saw them less than a year later headlining after VH II released...1979, again in Jacksonville Florida. Both shows were epic.
Holy Shit! Eddie doesn't miss a note. Just amazing.
I don't give a shit who says what about Dave Roth back then he was f.cking amazing as a frontman and his screams were reminiscent of Ian Gillian! The band were smoking tight! THANK YOU for uploading this classic rock gold!
Who is Ian Gillian? Never heard of him...
@@Innerspace100damn please be joking😂
Oh cmon now. Look it up . Google it.
@@jerryyeaaah15 We know Ian Gillan, but we've never heard of Ian Gillian.
@@notinconceivable6974 ah 🤣 right
Imagine you are an aspiring guitar player, into Rainbow, Uriah Heep etc., and then in some concert the opening band's guitar player rips you a new one, and you cannot remember how you made it home save and sound. Plus... you cannot tell anyone about it, because no one would believe you. Gee. What marvelous footage!
I can never get enough of these live videos. Makes me miss Eddie even more
All was right with the world with these guys around and Eddie playing. Good God he was incredible. What a maestro.
Jimi and Edward....thank you for the music, memories, and forever changing rock & roll.
I was at that concert! Drove my 73 Charger from P'ville to Fresno with my buddies. My ears are still ringing - even with hearing aids.
I think I lost 40% of my hearing at a VH concert in 1981
@@jonn8163 HAHAHA me too!!! 👍😂🤣
I had a ‘73 Charger too. Loved that car.
73 Charger. I had 2 71's and a 73. 👍
Nice!
Imagine trying to follow THAT?! Jesus, they were great. Thanks for posting.
There's no following them lol
For real! Holy sh!t! 😂
That's why they didn't open for Sabbath for but a few shows.
If you read Alex's book, he details how VH loved hanging out with Sabbath but they also knew they were destroying the Sabs' career by being such a good opening act
Jake E Lee got revenge when Ozzy played before Van Halen & upstaged them so severely, that Roth up & quit Van Halen after the 84’ Monsters of Rock tour…🤟🏼
Imagine being Black Sabbath having to go on after that high energy, virtuosity filled, party atmosphere, fun song Van Halen performance! There's no way!
I saw this tour,Black Sabbath was on life support for the Never Say Die album Van Halen blew them away!
Black Sabbath were at the end by this time ...they still God fathers of heavy metal
How about Journey trying to play after that set. VH toured with these guys too. Mind blowing for 1978.
A drunken drugged out Ozzy following that?
I saw them open for Sabbath and almost half the audience left after they were done.
Mike’s backup vocals really filled out their sound and helped Dave sound way better than he actually does. Dude deserved better.
My favorite thing about DLR was his song writing and attitude. His lyrics really fit with the music. And onstage there aren't many that can match his energy.
Roy, he's not helping Dave sound better at this particular show. He sounds great. But I agree with you about Mike deserving better.
And when Sammy joined the Band. Michael and Sammy. Wow. Michael made Sammy sound great
They did Mike dirty and by all accounts a sweet guy .
Ed was pretty good at backing vocals as well. Difficult for Dave to sound the same in the studio as he did live with all that gyrating but his voice was pretty solid until about ‘82.
Saw them multiple times between 78 and 83....and many afterwards, but that first 5 years was like nothing youve ever seen on Rock guitar...their best ever no question
I saw them in 78’ in Michigan…..
UNBELIEVABLE……..!!!
Yes, saw them too. The Roth years were the best. 👍
❤❤
I totally agree. I saw them twice in 1978 and twice in 1979. It was like they were shot out of a cannon.
Saw them in Toledo in 1979, on Alex' birthday. Best show I ever saw at the old Sports Arena.
The infancy to the Van Halen Invasion, leaving all sorts of "wtf's??!!!" on faces all over the planet. And THIS is why it didn't take long for no headlining act wanting to follow them as the warm up band. King Edward... wow.... thank you for all the wonderful, ferocious and jaw-dropping music that made all of our ears happily bleed with great pleasure and go up in smoke with intense volume. I know I speak for many, but we miss you sorely. May you always shred in peace.
1978 Van Halen footage is incredible historic footage. To think a few months earlier they were a bar band. I always wondered what a vh 1978 show looked like , incredible!thank you for this post
Diamond Dave is all in! His vocals are absolutely the best! People are judging Dave about his vocals now and I get it, but when you look at the past and have been following him as I have you can appreciate where he has begun . Thank you to whoever the taper was and the editor for who put this all together! so appreciated! Long live VH!!
The Roth years were the best. 👍
People are harsh on these singers as they reach old age, nobody's voice can last that long
DLR couldn't sing ever. If it wasn't for VH he would have never made it with any other band. 😢
This is magic. Even then Dave was singing at the top of his range and out of breathe. A credit to the guys skill that's he was able to do that as long as he did. Thanks for posting this gold
Best I've heard Roth sound live vocally, tbh.
Entertaining was a must, but actually singing was optional for Dave lol Literally...he goes long parts of songs where he's not singing at all😆 (but when he does, he sounds great!)
There is lots of room on the floor. I would have thought it would be completely packed but they were just getting going on the way to become the biggest rock band of the 80's. RIP EVH. Gone but never forgotten. Thanks for the vid!
The show hadn’t started yet in that footage. Remember, lots of people mingled in the lobby/outside,,bought-shirts etc. before the show started. Concerts were a social event.
@@glengamble526 Valid point. Were they opening for Black Sabbath? That's kind of a weird team up but it was the early days. Party rock meets the masters of metal. Heh.
@@alienresearchlabTheir first major support slot on a world tour - Sabbath "Never say die" tour.I'm from Belfast, but went over to see them in Sabbath's hometown Birmingham, England.This support band swaggered on to about 4ft of stage space (Bill Ward's kit was huge) and blew the minds of everybody there!🤘
Edward was playing the yellow/black when I saw them and I remember him making me wince in pain but it was so unbelievably good. One of the best shows I have ever been to. 1978 I was 16. I started playing guitar that year.
That’s the guitar he put in dimebags casket
A lot of "Known " guitar players of the era went home cried themselves to sleep after that tour . Long live King Ed !
Hardly! Ed cringed when Malmsteen showed on the scene, not meant to favor either one, just saying. Both were blatant egotists. Iommi (Black Sabbath), same tour, could smoke Ed, but he always had class. . . . . Ed, never did.
-Witchbreed
@@Cluless02🤡
@@Cluless02 You're wrong, other guitarists had to step-up their game after EVH came on the scene. You see a ton of mimicking from late 1970s thru the 1980s from other guitarists.
@@Cluless02For all of Malmsteen’s technical prowess his music just isn’t memorable.
Dave was a force of nature, driven by the fire of youth, and he kept trying to do a version of that physical stage act as he got old. It couldn't work forever. But we'll always have clips like this at least. I wish there were more, but thanks for posting it.
He got injured doing those stunts too. Even in his more youthful iteration.
@15:55 Yeah...I'm crying...damn I miss him. Whoever filmed this....THANK YOU and God bless.... :)
I hear ya Craig, I bought there Debut title album, when it came out, I was 10, EDDIE was a FORCE TO BE WRECKONED WITH! SO MANY JEALOUS PEOPLE/GUITARIST , ALL THEY WHERE WAS THREATENED BY HIM , NO ONE HURD WHAT HE HURD, HE WAS AND ALWAYS WILL BE , THE GUITAR KING 👑 ALWAYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This was the most incredible show I ever saw! Opened for Sabbath in Philadelphia…..one of the few life changing moments I can recall…especially at 15 years old! It was like getting hit by a Mac truck!
This is my first time this. It’s incredible
This footage is absolutely priceless.
I listened to this twice consecutively. Played it through my Bluetooth speaker, it was 30 minutes of in-your-face rock and listening to the beast guitar playing of EVH. This was a treat. Thank you!
Fucking love this. Saw my 1st concert when I was 14 years old in 1977 and which was Led Zeppelin at Madison Square Garden. Second concert was Black Sabbath in 1978 with an unknown opening band called Val Halen. I saw this exact tour and dropped my first hit of LSD at that show. It blew my mind. At age 61 still digging my rock n roll🤘. Thanks for the video. You rock!!!👊
My first concert was Led Zeppelin in 1977 also! In Oakland California. Day on the Green. July, Sat. 23rd & Sun. 24th. I saw the Sunday show.
That’s wild. Both of us, our first concert; and it’s Led fuckin Zeppelin! One on each coast. ALSO, I was 14 and now 61 as well. Damn! Long lost brothers! HA! Anyway,
Cheers to you & yours!
@@silentp9933 That's awesome. Your reply made my day!!!
How was Iommi on acid?
I wonder whatever happened to Val Halen.
❤❤
Awesome thanks for posting this, I mean bro this was what 77?, no one had EVER heard of seen ANYTHING like this they were the true innovators Ed was the real deal and Dave was the ultimate front man! Like thousands of other guitarists Ed and Michael Shienker were huge influences on me as a guitarist RIP Edward!! 🤘🏼🎸
'78
Stole my moms car to go see these guys lost my shoe in the parking lot found it after the show I was 14
@@Chrisdrumz 🤘🏼
@@victormichalak2271hahaha hell yeah
The greatest rock band ever. This is when diamond Dave could actually sing for the most part. He was a great front man. Edward was just starting to show the world how great he was. Michael Anthony, tremendous underrated background vocalist, and a damn good bass player. A monster on drums. May you rest in peace Edward I was there for the beginning of your career until the very end and I’m just hoping that maybe I’ll be lucky enough to meet you on the other side
This footage was incredible so much energy and a new wave of guitar playing had begun and Edward was the leader the sound and video are incredible on this thank you for sharing if only we could go into a real time machine to see the show with the historic Echoplex in the bomb
Imagine the car ride back home after this concert......"What the hell did we just experience??" Thank you EDWARD VAN HALEN for changing the music world forever.
The first time I saw them was in Detroit in '82...was the diver down tour. It was a life changing concert. Nobody to this day has put on a show like the younger original VH. Eddie was a legend
That was my first time seeing them too. Did you go Friday Saturday or Sunday?
Agreed VAN HALEN 78/84 PURE GOLD.......
Thank you 🙏. A few years ago I kept trying to watch this but the quality was so bad. I hope more of these concerts are upgraded to HD which I didn’t know was possible for these recordings . it looks AMAZING . Thank you again !!!
Just Awesome . Thanks Heavy Jams
I ....still....can...not....believe...that this clip is almost a half century old! My!....how time flies! And yes kids, Van Halen was that powerful of a band ....live! 😂😅😢😮
There's a reason they were introduced as "THE MIGHTY VAN HALEN!!" 🙂
1978. If you came in with them then then nobody else gets what it was like at the beginning. This footage is fantastic. I got off the train with 1984, saw them that year and it had become a show. Imagine trying to follow them in 1978. Great songs and Roth was at his peak.
This is pure awesomeness. I remember when that first VH album came out. My friend down the street got it. we played it when i went over. We played it over and over. I wish i had made it to the live show. They were so good live.
You had to have been around to fully appreciate what it was like to hear/see eddie for the first time in 1978. Ill never forget it.
I saw them for the first time at 15 years old in 1980 and every tour after with DLR so until '84. We stood for the whole show, nobody wanted to sit down...too much energy. So glad to have been born when I was.
Right there with that....
This is relevant that Van halen killed disco And The beginning of a legacy for years to come
@@markfitzpatrick3760 Yes, VH drove a stake right thru the heart of disco and the world is better off because of it. 👍
I was a bellhop at a hotel in Austin Tx from 1978-1980. Van Halen stayed there and I met and talked with the guys in the band. Alex and Michael were just regular guys, Eddie was shy and introverted and Dave was already the Diva that you expect him to be.
That's freakin awesome. Thanks for posting!
This is the best live tone I’ve ever heard from Ed. A love Dave in this, so much energy but not over dramatic.
This is GOLD,please preserve for future generations to see.
im blown away. this literally almost brought me to tears seeing Eddie play. the earliest I was able to see them was when my cousin took me to see the Fair Warning Tour in Cleveland at the old Colesium. They were incredible!!!
I missed the 70s shows, but finally got to see this supernova of a band in Huntsville AL in 81 - there is NOTHING that can compete with this band in their prime - they were and are unmatched - I still get the chills when I see this - count yourself very lucky to be alive for this!
Van Halen dropped the bomb on disco in 1978. Badly needed and greatly welcomed.
Disco was fine actually - the bomb was dropped on the old generation of rock - zeppelin, sabbath, purple - their days were done. This was the new wave of rock - atomic punks indeed.
Sort of the Nirvana of their time. Not quite the earth shattering impact of ushering in Grunge like Nirvana did, but really close. I remember hearing Van Halen for the first time and saying Wow that's really awesome! And when hearing Nirvana for the first time saying what in the holy f*ck was THAT and how do I get more and nothing will be the same after. Anyway, huge Van Halen fan and this recording is incredible and they sound exactly like their recordings, as they should. Dave and Eddie are some of the best live performers ever existed.
Don't forget.....VH had a couple of disco songs......if your a fan you know which ones .
@@ZenEndurance
Your comment is dependent upon your age and what generation you grew up in.
It's all a matter of reference point ;)
Exactly. Where the heck is my old "disco sucks" t-shirt?
VH hasn't gotten the high level documentary treatment they deserve (yet), so seeing video like this is a real gift. Thanks!
I thought I went back in this precious time.. thank you 🙏🏼
Saw them in 1981. That was my FIRST concert ever. I was in the 8th grade. Life changing experience for sure
When the Sellend Arena opened the crowd rushed the door. This smaller kid in front of us was getting crushed and was turning purple. So we lifted him up so he could breathe. Has fate would have we ran in to him before the show. He yells out, those are the dudes that saved me. Good times!!!
Since KKDJ wasn’t on the air yet and you couldn’t win tickets from them my only question is…
Did you buy your tickets from Gottschalks?
Anyone who doesn't love Van Halen you had to be there I grew up in the seventies this was in the midst of the Disco era also. And when the Van Halen album hit it was incredible nothing like it. Like I said you had to be there and live it. Van Halen rule for many years I saw them plenty of times. My favorite band of all time.
Thanx so much for uploading this. It takes me right back to when the first VH album came out and I was never more blown away .
Eddie's brilliance on display, way ahead of his time. I miss you Eddie, we met in Boston in 1981
Love the camera man at the end….”Hey sit down, I’m trying to illegally record, man!” LMAO
hahahah!
Haha haha, yeah loved that too... 🤣
Thank God he did illegally record it!!
Just read Alex's book, "Brothers". Loved it. Thanks Alex....marvelous just like you and brother, Edvard!
Este concierto de 1978 de VAN HALEN es oro puro !!!!!
Outstanding capture of such unbridled enthusiasm and reckless abandons!
The groovy "Bottoms up" guitar solo and outro at the end of the show! A glimpse of what was to floor us next by The Mighty Van Halen!
What an absolute gem of a find this video is thank you so much for uploading! This should be in a time capsule so in another 50 or 100 years people can still look back and witness the genius and pioneering masterpiece that this truly is. There has never truly been any match or anyone that really even comes close to Edward Van Halen.
R.I.P EDDIE THE MOST EXPLOSIVE GUITARIST IN HISTORY.........
Wow! Can you imagine Ozzi having to follow this? Telling his band,” they’re better than us”, Haha What a concert. I saw this tour when I lived in the Netherlands 78. They blew us all away with this new sound. Saw them many times after this. They rock on then and today
The greatest band ever. Thank you Dave, Edward,(R.I.P) Alex and Michael for being the soundtrack for the rest of my life!
Holy shit! Been a fan since the first album in '78 and never got to see VH live in Australia. This is absolute gold, thank you!!
My God. Absolutely historic. Never to be repeated. Once in a lifetime
Not a whole bunch of video out there from this era. Amazing! Thanks for sharing!!
I bought my first car on the day of this show. A 1969 Firebird convertible. I paid $550 for it.
Lol, now a descent seat at a concert would cost u that meanwhile ur concert Tix were probably 10.00? Lol
If you've still got it I'll give you DOUBLE what you paid for it!
Probably one of the best vidoes I've seen... great job!!!
This is one of the BEST videos I’ve ever seen on YT. Great moment in rock history for sure!
Me,as well.
❤
Awesome, thanks so much for these beautiful memories, this was the VH I fell in love with in the summer of 78. I love the intro of his solo on the studio version of Ice Cream Man sneaks into the 2nd solo of I'm The One. You were like a 10 year old waiting for Christmas day if you were a guitarist in 78 to 84 waiting for VH to come to your area.
March 30th, 1979. O'Connor Field House (basically a big concrete bunker) Caldwell, ID. Their fifth stop on their first world headline tour. I was 16. Between the people throwing empty beer bottles from the roof, to the overturned car next to the entrance, we knew we were in for a night.
The hightlight was when a tube amp exploded behind the stack of speakers stage right. After the obligatory "WTF WAS THAT!" moment, Alex kicked off a ~10 minute drum solo while the roadies grabbed an amp from the warm up band and hooked everything up. Needless to say, the party proceeded with even more enthusiasm.
I saw this same show in Oakland on Dec. 2nd, 1978. What a flashback this is. Thank you for sharing!!!
Eddie accenting each phrase and riff with his body movements is a joy to watch. Furiously into his playing.
Ed playing..at 78
It's the real Phenom..
Amazing....awasome..
stylish..inovatif. .atraktif..
Thanks Ed.
Miss u
RIP
I'm impressed by how much these songs sound like the album (or even better.) Lit AF in 78! No guitarist had played like that before. 16:00 - 18:00 history was made.
An audience member in 78-Hey that guitar player is pretty good!
Bob Phillips of Bakersfield filmed this Fresno Show. I know a lot of useless trivia. Thanks Bob!
I'm so glad Bob filmed this and thanks for sharing, this was great !!
I discovered Van Halen in 1978 with Eddie and David, and also the same year AC/DC Angus and Bon Scott. What a great year
Damn?? I have enjoyed this Hell Raising Concert to the Max! I'm Fkn 65 and sure do remember when Van Halen came aboard the Kick Ass Rock Scene in 78! I was 17 at the time. They were The Mighty Van Halen with out a doubt! When VH hit the Stage hang on Bro's and Sis's!! I never got to see them. I lived in Bham Ala but had gotten married and had Twins so that cancelled stuff for a little bit! Can't say enough about that Band and thanks for that killer Music y'all delivered! 😊. I'm still sad about Ole Play the PISS OUTTA OF THAT GUITAR 🎸! RIP Eddie! 🎸💥🎶🔥😐🇺🇲
They are on fire,thank u for sharing video killer quality,eddie playing in heaven for sure
\
Amazing footage! Ed is so spot on definitely the top of his game, just shockingly amazing for the time, most younger players won’t really appreciate just how amazing it was hearing VH for the first time
It was a bright neon laser in a grey landscape of what we knew as the best rock available, the radio station program managers told us what and who was the best and we bought it, of course all those bands were and are stellar but Van Halen’s introduction just came from a whole different dimension
It was the shock and awe that left your ears ringing and us guitarists scratching our heads trying the figure out how the hell he was getting those sounds that are just taken for granted today
This is amazing. you also see how they’re a little unsettled, amped up and jumping around like they are sped up, not the footage, they were just supercharged in this early big audience performance. And Dave using the echo a bunch. Amazing!
Michael sang more than Dave lol. The 3 part vocal harmonies were epic👍👍👍
I saw them in 1978 in Missoula, Montana. It was incredible show
@15:50... Watching Ed play that fretboard is like watching a cat toy with it's mouse. Swatting it around, letting it get away momentarily and then swatting it back to life to just have fun with it some more. Incredible... RIP King Edward And thank YOU for posting this history lesson for all of us to enjoy...
It's hard to explain to people that weren't alive when VH broke how earth shattering they were. What Ed did was a mystery. We had never heard anything like it. I suspect that is how Hendrix must have been at the time he came out.
Eddy was definitely an innovator and those never die
Saw them on Thanksgiving night 1978. This is exactly how I remember it too. My favorite VH tour. I was sitting almost exactly where this camera was filming from but just a little higher up. Literally how my mind remembers it.