I own a grand total of zero VH bootlegs.I wouldn't know which one to search for first, and I'd probably pick up some crappy audience taping where the only thing audible is static and feedback.Who can tell me what to search for and why you feel that particular boot is a "must have",to a VH collection?

Most of my collection is Dave era boots, so Aaron you'll like that. http://www.vhlinks.com/vhlforum/smile.gif

Make sure and check out http://www.vhboots.com, it is an incredible resource for VH bootlegs. If its in existence, Ron's site will have something about it.

My personal favs:
"Demo Daze" - A ton of early studio demos, recorded as early as in 1974 with Mark Stone on bass, not Michael Anthony for a few tracks. Very raw versions of some of the VH songs we have known to love like "In A Simple Rhyme" and "Take Your Whiskey Home." Some unreleased songs as well, like "Take It Back" featuring Mark Stone on bass and backing vocals.

"That's All Folks!" - The pre "VH1" Warner Bros. demo, an absolute must. There are other titles for this bootleg, with basically the same material on them.

"Young & Wild" - The band's last performance at the Pasadena Civic Center on December 20, 1977. Great quality and a great preview of the band right before the release of "Van Halen." There are other boots with different titles, with the same show.

"1976 Live: Goldenwest Ballroom" - A great show from May of 1976, an excellent soudboard recording with the band doing unreleased originals, some covers, and other early material. Another must.

"Listen To This Jimmy" - The 1983 US Festival show. Not the greatest VH performance, but a great quality disc of the most infamous VH show ever. Other titles for with the same show.

"Dawn Of 5150" - Early sessions for the album "5150." It's basically early vocal tracks by Sammy, but the basic musical tracks are the same. No solos or backing vocals yet, and many of the songs are in their un-edited form, like "Summer Nights," "5150," and "Best Of Both Worlds." Also the unreleased "I Want Some Action" is on it.

There are a lot of there great discs, I just named a few of my favs off hand. That should give you somewhere to start.

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Webmaster
VHLinks.com - Your Van Halen Internet Resource Guide
http://www.vhlinks.com

Thanks Brett.Why was the 1983 US Festival show, the most "infamous ever"?

Well at the time Van Halen was paid $1,000,000 for this one show, which at the time was the most money any band had ever earned for a single performance. I really have no idea if they still have that record or not. The show was a huge festival in front of 300,000 fans. Dave was very trashed, screwed up the lyrics on nearly every song, forget a lot of them, Eddie's playing wasn't stellar, and the band wasn't very tight. It's more fun to actually see the video of the show, but you can get the general feel from the audio. Basically, it was the biggest show in the band's history I guess you could say, and they were exactly in top form for a band that just made $1,000,000.

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Webmaster
VHLinks.com - Your Van Halen Internet Resource Guide
http://www.vhlinks.com

Oh come now, none bootleg-lovin' nuts as any recommendations for Aaron!??! http://www.vhlinks.com/vhlforum/sarcastic.gif Let's help the guy out!

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Webmaster
VHLinks.com - Your Van Halen Internet Resource Guide
http://www.vhlinks.com

Brett's right Aaron- His list has somemust-haves. I started my collection with the 12/20/77 show. The early Dave era boots show the evolution of his so-called "Lead Singer's Disease". Compare his onstage banter on a show before their first world tour, and the first show of the second world tour and you'll hear a much cockier, confident Dave. Oh, BTW, that's another great show, the 3/25/79 Fresno show. Search out a copy of "Live And Loud" instead of "On Fire In Fresno". The sound quality is much better and there's 2 more songs. I'd also suggest "Unchained Monsters" as the best-sounding VH3 show, and "Club Days-Goldenwest Pt.2" if you wanna hear more cover songs like I do. Also, use this VHlinks to find sites with mp3s of songs from various boots. It's a great way to sample what's out there. And yes, the US Festival video should be essential too. Happy hunting!

my favs: golden west 76,young and wild 77(my first boot back in 94) magic mountin 77,sonic tokyo 78,oklahoma city 78,diamond daves last daze 84,dawn of 5150(but the hiss is kinda bad whats up with that?), one in a million holland 93, feelin the balance 95, i have more but these are my particular favs.......also remember that boots only run in limited editions so older titles probably arent going to be available, but maybe under differnt names sometimes.

These are the one's I find in my stereo all the time...

Dave era

Blueprint - A must have
1977 Whiskey A Go Go show
1979 Houston, TX
1983 US Festival - Soundboard, excellent show
1984 Castle Donington

Sammy Era

Dawn of 5150
Rockin My Hometown - Killer show
Blastin - A+ sound quality
Factory of Music - Again, killer sound

Gary Era
Wolfgang Attack - Best audiance recording around, great show
Unchained Monsters - Soundboard show
Waited For the Day - Soundboard, good show

"On Fire In Fresno" is really only good for the Gene Simmons' demos that are on the first few tracks. Kpl is right, if you want a real good sounding copy of the complete 3/29/79 show, get "Live And Loud" instead.

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Webmaster
VHLinks.com - Your Van Halen Internet Resource Guide
http://www.vhlinks.com

Brett..Tha address you gave goes nowhere. I just got a video today with the VH 1 "videos" ,dance the Night Away, and 3 live songs from Fair Warning.Also some Japanese stuff but its mostly lip synching. Funny...I live abut 20min from the Golden West Ballroom... I saw a Live in Brazil vid too from the Diver Down tour. Seen it? Is it any good? Oh yeah.. Also an Amsterdam from 1984 tour...I think.

Oops, the comma in the my post screwed it up.

Here it is again:
http://www.vhboots.com

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Webmaster
VHLinks.com - Your Van Halen Internet Resource Guide
http://www.vhlinks.com

Being a fan of the Dave era, I've got to say that Van Halen Assaults Montreal is a great bootleg. Dave's intro to Ice Cream Man is a real cool salute to Montreal. Also I recently got Van Halen Assaults Quebec from the 1984 tour and it is really cool. Eddie plays the solo to Jump on keyboards and for me it just doesn't work. Maybe I'm just partial to these because I'm a Canadian, but I love them both.

Club Days I
Club Days II
Looney Toons Merrie Melodies
the Pasadena Civic '77 show
Houston '79
Japan '79
any Japan '78
any 77 show
Rainbow Ballroom '80(a smokin' cover of Jimmy Reed's "Bright Lights Big City" whoa that's a jam)
In Search of Paradise Lost(Dave solo with acoustic set incl "Wake up lil' suzie" and "I've just seen a face")
any south american show 82 or 83
the US Festival
any 84 gig(Ed did a blues riff jam)

"Rocking My Hometown", recorded live in Costa Mesa, California 1993 is a great Sammy era boot. Though it's an audience recording,it's missing 1 song, "Mine All Mine", which was the show's opening tune. It also has VH performing "Unchained" That tune can be found on 1 other VH bootleg, "Won't Get Fooled Again", which was recorded in Germany 1993.

As for the Dave era, "I'm So Glad", recorded live in Caracus, South America 1983 is really great, as is "Diamond Dave Goes Home Again", recorded in Indiana 1984. "I'm So Glad" has so-so sound quality, but the set list is outstanding. Another cool Dave era boot is "1980 London Invasion", really clear. "Listen Up, Eddie" from Los Angeles 1981 is another great find, since it's from the "Fair Warning" tour.

I'm in the process of getting my first boots at the moment... I've selected these ones..

-Looney Tunes
-Shouting Out Loud
-Daves Last Stand
-Balance tour in Japan
-Wolfgang Attack

Its not a done deal as yet so if anyone can gimme a little feedback on these (especially 'shouting out loud','daves last stand'& 'Balance tour in Japan' - I dont know a lot bout these ones) and wether I oughta rethink any of these.. would be much appreciated... thankies http://www.vhlinks.com/vhlforum/smile.gif

[This message has been edited by Goo (edited January 03, 2000).]

Good choices,
Wolfgang Attack - Killer audiance recording, great show.
Loonie Tunes - Best Compilation of Unreleased Van Halen Available, a must have.
Dave's Last Stand - Killer show from the 84 tour, good recording.
Havn't heard the other 2, I think the Balance tour Japan is really good too.

cool, thanks Greg http://www.vhlinks.com/vhlforum/smile.gif

I'll press ahead when the guy gets back to me...lookin forward to getting my hand's on 'em

Does anyone have any good sounding Cherone era cds of the three tour to sell or trade? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Does anyone have any good sounding Cherone era cds of the three tour to sell or trade? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Well,"good-sounding" from the III tour? That is a classic example of an oxymoron. Nothing sounded good on that "tour," except Ed and Al and Mike. Actually, the only thing that SOUNDED GOOD ON THAT TOUR THE NIGHT I SAW IT(free tix)WAS KENNY WAYNE SHEPHARD. Teacher's Pet:You don't get outta my face and make it fast, I'm gonna put my foot right in your ass.

Teacher's Pet-
Best Gary era boots IMO...
Unchained Monsters - soundboard Pennsylvania show, killer sound quality
Wolfgang Attack - one of the best audiance recordings of the 3 tour

I got Wolfgang Attack on 2 cdrs & Unchained Mosters on cassettes. I can record you those shows if you'd like, but there's no selling of bootlegs allowed on this site. Usually if someone doesn't have anything to trade, they can send the person recording blank tapes or cdrs or whatever, but monetary transactions are a big time no no. Feel free to send me an email if you're lookin for those shows, I'll record them for ya...
kronostd@hotmail.com

Yesterday I listened to Live and Loud, the boot from the first show of the VHII tour in Fresno, California. This is an awesome bootleg. Great sound quality from the soundboard and a great performance from the whole band.

Here you go:

US Festival(Diver Down era)

Demo Daze(Early Club Days)

The Good, The Bad & Van Halen(Woman And Children First Tour) My favorite

Listen Up Eddie(Fair Warning Tour) This is actually the first concert I ever went to as 13 year old at the Forum in Los Angeles.

Live at Magic Mountain(cool thing about this is the lost tune-"Angel Eyes" which is an acoustic ballad done by Diamond Dave.

Stay away from the 1984 stuff, its not that great, unless anyone has a selection for me?

Im not crazy about the Sammy era boots but I like 5150 Leftovers, and Breaking the Balance is ok.

The only Cherone era I own is Unchained Monsters which is a must. The band is as tight as ever and they do all kinds of classics.

I just listened to The Good, the Bad and Van Halen this afternoon and it is an awesome bootleg. In light of all of the recent rumors, I found it funny that Dave mentions David Coverdale. Twenty years of foreshadowing.

Glenn-
Where is that I'm actually listening to it right now and don't recall that. Let me know. Also, isn't the intro to Runnin' with the Devil killer?

Do you have Demo Daze? If so what do you think of Don't Call Us? I think thats a great cover with a lot of power.

Unfortunately I don't have Demo Daze. In the London Show, it's about four or five songs in. Dave says it's time for a dedication but first he mentions that David Coverdale and Whitesnake had to cancel recently because of a sore throat. Then Dave says that you can drink the beer, but don't drink the water. My boot of this show came with the cover art of the Good the Bad and Van Halen, but the music is actually the updated one called 1980 London Invasion. Maybe that's why you haven't heard that part. I'll listen again tomorrow and get back the info in a couple of days as to where exactly it is.

Club Days II is incredible, baby. Van Rothin' doin' Kiss and Zep and even "Man on the Silver Mountain."

is anyone familiar with the san diego shows in 88? i have most of it but the part i dont have is the encore of mike anthony singing mmm my generation, whola lotta rosie and born in the usa.

Geller, Dave makes the statement about David Coverdale during the start of Bright Lights, big City.

here i am posting a request for the best and i scroll down and here it is! Ok... i don't have any of my old boots anymore(someone stole my 'Die Laughing' and 'at the best(?)')i just have the videos that are mostly out there (except the 78, and 79 shows) so if anyone can help ME out please let me know

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Sammy wrote 6 good songs with VH but Dave wrote 6 GREAT albums!

Send me an email, I'll send over my list & maybe I have some shows you're lookin for.

I think you shold try to find Greensboro-81, who i think is one of the best !
I only got it on tape, but i think i seen it on cd somewere.

New York-84 (both shows) is spectacular, and if you want some early stuff, get Paris-78
They do a great version of Rooms to Queens on that one

I have the Paris '78 show--what is Rooms to Queens?

I think "Covers band from Pasadena" is an absolute must have for any Van Halen fan--this shows the roots of an amazing live moster of a band,baby. The set list is incredible. WOW WOW WOW WOOOOOOWEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Eat Us And Smile!!!!!!

still tracking the better roth era- here are the ESSENTIAL hagar era:

"i can't tell you..""a.k.a. got the magical fingers" ou812 tour stellar soundboard ! excellent chemistry between sammy and ed MUST_HAVE!!!

"rocks the beer hall" same show as the 95 payperview and some of the london wembley stadium tracks you find on "blastin'"

I hear that Van Halen Assualts Quebec(4-21-84) is too cool--they do Summertime Blues!

I want to get my hands on the '82 show in Canada(I think Montreal) where they play Panama(first time live?).

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Eat Us And Smile!!!!!!

"On Fire"--Roth/Halen/Halen/Anthony

"It's a sin to be rich,but it's a lowdown dirty shame to be poor..."--Lightnin' Hopkins

Ladies and Gentleman, Loons has left the building.

[This message has been edited by Loons (edited April 15, 2000 at 11:57 AM).]