TOP FIVE Tours You Wish You'd Seen

[letsgetrockin']

I just posted for the first time in the "First VH Concert" topic, and it got me thinking: a lot of us never saw many of the band's tours at all! (This is particularly true of those of us who, like me, are too young to have seen them with Dave. I guess if I had been allowed to see them when I was eleven AND if had not been living in a cultural backwater . . . but no such luck.)

My question for y'all is what are your Top Five Tours You Regret Missing (All Eras)? Please mention which tours you actually saw as background. I saw MOR '88, FUCK '92, and VH3 (twice, thank god since it's been a long drought). Anyway, if I had a time machine:

1. Fair Warning Tour 1981
2. Invasion Tour 1980 (Talas opening)
3. 1984 Tour
4. Black Sabbath featuring Special Guests Van Halen 1978
5. Embryo Tour: Any backyard party Dave, Mike, Alex, and Eddie played in 1974! (Perhaps not a tour, but if I had a time machine . . . !)

Honorable mention: World Vacation Tour 1979; Hide Your Sheep Tour 1982 (Hey, I have the Largo '82 and US Festival video boots, okay?); RH, RN Tour (I would have liked to hear Sammy sing Unchained).

Obviously, choosing just FIVE is hard!

[ March 09, 2003, 05:10 PM: Message edited by: letsgetrockin' ]

[pogmothon]

I saw the RH/RN tour. As a matter of fact, the tour started in MI and Pine Knob. GREAT show, but no Unchained. Just the same old Jump, Panama, and Girl you really got me.

[loser]

oakland
argentina
montreal
brazil
us festival

[pogmothon]

1. 2000 @ Pine Knob
2. 2001 @ Pine Knob
3. 2002 @ Pine Knob
4. 2003 @ Pine Knob
5. 2003 @ Pine Knob (second night)

[ouncie33]

Originally posted by letsgetrockin':
I just posted for the first time in the "First VH Concert" topic, and it got me thinking: a lot of us never saw many of the band's tours at all! (This is particularly true of those of us who, like me, are too young to have seen them with Dave. I guess if I had been allowed to see them when I was eleven AND if had not been living in a cultural backwater . . . but no such luck.)

My question for y'all is what are your Top Five Tours You Regret Missing (All Eras)? Please mention which tours you actually saw as background. I saw MOR '88, FUCK '92, and VH3 (twice, thank god since it's been a long drought). Anyway, if I had a time machine:

1. Fair Warning Tour 1981 (Talas opening)
2. Invasion Tour 1980
3. 1984 Tour
4. Black Sabbath featuring Special Guests Van Halen 1978
5. Embryo Tour: Any backyard party Dave, Mike, Alex, and Eddie played in 1974! (Perhaps not a tour, but if I had a time machine . . . !)

Honorable mention: World Vacation Tour 1979; Hide Your Sheep Tour 1982 (Hey, I have the Largo '82 and US Festival video boots, okay?); RH, RN Tour (I would have liked to hear Sammy sing Unchained).

Obviously, choosing just FIVE is hard!

Actually, my cousin's ex-boyfriend claims to have seen VH play a back yard party. He said that he didn't think much of the band but knew that they had a hot guitarist. This guy was a guitarist himself so I guess he'd know. However, I didn't really know this guy well enough to tell if he was telling the truth!

[letsgetrockin']

Originally posted by pogmothon:
1. 2000 @ Pine Knob
2. 2001 @ Pine Knob
3. 2002 @ Pine Knob
4. 2003 @ Pine Knob
5. 2003 @ Pine Knob (second night)

LOL! You're right, of course!

I had a fantasy about a reunion album and tour (this was back in late 2000 or early 2001 when the boys getting Roth back again was "the worst kept secret in rock n' roll") called "2001" for which the key art would have been a still from the Stanley Kubrick film with the prehumans surrounding the alien's black obelisk--with a silver Classic VH logo on it. Hey, Warner Bros. owns the film's distribution rights, maybe they could have talked the Kubrick estate into allowing it! (This was also back when the thought of Van Halen not being on the WB roster was impossible to fathom.)

It just made sense that since VH gave us a Orwellian "1984" they follow it up (17 years later) with a Kubrickian "2001." An opportunity missed? (If so, one of MANY . . . )

[ March 04, 2003, 10:43 PM: Message edited by: letsgetrockin' ]

[51501984]

I`ll start by listing the years I`ve seen them:
80
81
82
84
86
88
91
93
98
My parents weren`t gonna let me go to any concerts in `78 or `79 but it would have been awesome to see them then . I probably could have went to the Us Festival in`83 if I would have begged . Other than that I wish I would have seen `em `95 [img]graemlins/cry.gif[/img]

[letsgetrockin']

Originally posted by ouncie33:

QUOTE]Actually, my cousin's ex-boyfriend claims to have seen VH play a back yard party. He said that he didn't think much of the band but knew that they had a hot guitarist. This guy was a guitarist himself so I guess he'd know. However, I didn't really know this guy well enough to tell if he was telling the truth! [/QB]

I'll bet the number of people who claim to have seen VH in someone's backyard is like a regional version of the number of people who claim to have attended Woodstock in '69. The number of claims grows further beyond any possible real figure every passing year!

Still, what a cool scene that must have been! You can't really fault the fibbers for pretending to have been a part of it all.

[letsgetrockin']

Originally posted by 51501984:
I`ll start by listing the years I`ve seen them:
80
81
82
84
86
88
91
93
98

Wow. I don't think you NEED a time machine! You didn't even miss five tours! I guess we can send you to a rainy night at the Starwood in '77, and let you stand next to Ted.

[MAX]

Originally posted by letsgetrockin':
RH, RN Tour (I would have liked to hear Sammy sing Unchained

Dude, that tour actually really turned me off towards VH for a few years. Thank The Good God above that I didn't have to witness Sammy Hagar's "Unchained" Live, everyone I know that heard it said that it blew. Sammy Hagar has stated several times that he was not comfortable singing that song. Really, that tour was absolutely [img]graemlins/sleep.gif[/img] (At least when I saw it). It looked like the band was completely bored and just going through the motions IMHO. It really sucked when I walked away from a concert and thought that Vince Neil(solo) with Steve Stevens blew 3/4 of my musical hero's off the stage.

[letsgetrockin']

Originally posted by Ou812max:
QUOTE]Dude, that tour actually really turned me off towards VH for a few years. Thank The Good God above that I didn't have to witness Sammy Hagar's "Unchained" Live, everyone I know that heard it said that it blew. Sammy Hagar has stated several times that he was not comfortable singing that song. Really, that tour was absolutely [img]graemlins/sleep.gif[/img] (At least when I saw it). It looked like the band was completely bored and just going through the motions IMHO. [/QB]

That's sad, but I know what you mean about being turned off the band. Your description of a bored act going through the motions describes exactly the '92 show I saw in Minneapolis. It was just joyless (a contemporary Rolling Stone concert review had it right, unfortunately, warning as much).

After that and I had my guard up against future letdowns. The RH, RN tour didn't hit Minneapolis (that I can recall). But when I saw the footage of the 1995 opening show on MTV that was even MORE lackluster than the FUCK show I gave the Balance Tour a pass when in came to MN.

Since the Seventh Seal monks cameoed that night, I kind of regret it, though . . .

[Glenn]

I'd like to have seen the shows they played at the end of the Fair Warning tour with the Rolling Stones in Florida. Now THAT's a double bill!!!! [img]graemlins/thumb.gif[/img]

[5150guy]

Uh, let's see...

Every VH tour.


I was only alive for a month or something that DLR was in the band. VH hasn't played Calgary since the FUCK tour(Van-Halen.com is useful for something ), when I was six years old.

[Raldo]

1. 1984 Tour
2. 1978 Tour
3. 1981 Tour
4. Any of the South America shows
5. US Festival

[theodore templeman]

Originally posted by loser:
oakland
argentina
montreal
brazil
us festival

...ditto...