My best Van Halen story....

[jomama1]

The year was 1988. I was 15 years old, and a huge Van Halen fan. I couldn't go to the Monsters of Rock show in Foxboro because my father was getting re-married that day and I was forced to go to his wedding. Don't even get me started on the 80s-style powder blue tuxes my brothers and I had to wear. Talk about adding insult to injury. Needless to say, during the entire irritating experience, I was imagining the MOR concert. Not to be defeated, though, my metal buddy and I got tickets to the show in Oxford, Maine, and his mother agreed to drive us up there from Rhode Island. The traffic was so bad that by the time she dropped us off and we got into the speedway, Dokken was about halfway through their set. It sucked missing Metallica, but I was mainly there for VH.

What a day. I remember at one point being down deep in the crowd, closer to the stage, and the crowd just surged, like a tide, and it just swept me up and almost crushed me. I'm not very big, and it was actually quite scary. I vividly remember a really big guy in front of me, also caught in the tide, seeing my distress and looking at me with real sympathy. I never forgot that. Then, later, there were torrential downpours, thunder, lightening. Scary sh*t. Thunderstorms in Maine are no joke, let me tell you. I remember the Scorpions literally sloshing through water onstage. They would come out and play a song or two and then have to leave the stage for like 30 minutes, then they'd come back, play a couple more songs, lighting would start again and they'd leave the stage. I think their set ended up taking at least 2 hours total (maybe more), most of that offstage. It sucked, because from everything I've read, they normally put on a great show that tour.

I recall huddling under the awning of a vendor cart or something with my buddy, trying to stay out of the rain, even though we were already soaked to the skin. It was pretty miserable at times, truth be told. Just to give you an idea as to how bad the weather was that day, by the time Van Halen came on there were only a few hundred people left, maybe a thousand. From 60,000 down to a few hundred. I remember seeing Eddie peaking out from behind the stage before they came on, maybe seeing how many people were left. I also remember that when they started, Sammy said that they'd play their full set (which got me excited), but they didn't. They played for maybe an hour, which wasn't enough for me, but it was better than nothing. If I recall correctly, it didn't rain during their set, they played well, and I felt pretty happy watching them. It also felt kind of cool being one of only a few hundred die hard fans who stuck it out to the end. A hellish day, in many ways, but what an experience.

Flash forward to Van Halen's show on October 17 at the Providence Civic Center. My mother had scored 10th row seats and backstage passes(!!!) through an acquaintance (thank you forever, mom!), so I was super excited...even if I was going with my family, none of whom where VH fans; I have no idea why they went, to be honest, and it felt dorky to be going with my family, but whatever. 10th row, and backstage passes!!

Anyhow, remember that these were the days when people would throw banners and t-shirts and panties and all kinds of sh*t on the stage at VH shows? Well, about a month or so before the show, I went to the mall and made up 5 t-shirts, all of which said, on the front, "I SURVIVED MONSTERS OF ROCK, OXFORD ME, JUNE 25, 1988", and on the back of each one I put one of their names, and the fifth one just said "Van Halen." So, at some point in the show, I huck the one with "Van Halen" towards the stage. I see it land and breathe a sigh of relief that it made it okay. Later on, between songs, Sammy picks it up, and I get really excited. He's picking up my shirt! He's picking up my shirt!!!! He looks at it and laughs, which made me even more excited. But it doesn't end there. He brings it over to Eddie, shows it to him, and Eddie laughs, too! EDDIE VAN HALEN is laughing at a shirt that I made!!! Holy sh*t!!! Then Sammy asks the audience who made it. I go apesh*t, screaming that it's me, but I'm 10 rows back, and obviously he can't see or hear me. So, screw this, I bolt for the stage. A huge security guy tries to stop me. I scream hysterically, "That's my shirt!!!" He guffaws, but I just sprint past him. I get up to the barrier and am screaming at Sammy that it's my shirt. He looks at me and says something like, "You made this?" I scream, "Yes!!" But then I see him look a few yards to my left. Someone over there is claiming that THEY made the shirt, which was a total lie, of course, but Sammy couldn't know that. I was so pissed! By this time the entire show has come to a halt because of my t-shirt, and Sammy is looking between me and the liar. At that point he waves it all off, saying "Aw, f*ck y'all," or something like that. I am obviously beside myself. But, lo and behold, my older brother, as though on a mission from the rock gods, appears behind me with another one of the shirts. I gratefully snatch it from his hand and turn around, face Sammy, and hold it up. The moment when Sammy saw it and realized that the shirt really was from me is one of the best moments of my life. Even now, just thinking about it, I get emotional. So, Sammy comes over to the front of the stage with a big smile, reaches out and slaps me high five. (Oh my god!!!) Then I think Eddie gave me a thumbs up from over on his side, but I'm not sure. It was utter chaos in my 15-year-old brain at that moment. I do remember Mike tossing me a beer, and I caught it. It was a can of Budweiser. A security guy immediately snatched it out of my hand, but I didn't care, because I wasn't going to drink it anyway, and: Michael f-ing Anthony tossed ME a beer!!! I couldn't believe all this was happening. I swear that if I had pushed myself up on the barricade, Sammy would have pulled me on stage. I thought about that so many times afterwards!, and, to this day, I know it in my bones. But I hesitated, the moment passed, and they got back to the show. I went back to my seat, likely shivering with excitement, and hopefully profusely thanking my older brother.

My memory of that show is that it was a great overall. I recall at the time thinking that I'd never seen/felt such a powerful rhythm section in my life (and to this day, I stand by that). People mainly seem to praise Michael Anthony for his vocals, but he was/is a monster bass player and performer, very underrated, in my opinion, and, even if Eddie doesn't (I still don't quite understand why...), I feel that he was an absolutely integral part of the immense sound and power (the "Mighty") of that rhythm section. The only other one that compares, to me, would be John Bonham and John Paul Jones. But I digress....

After the concert ends, we go wait in a section at the side of the stage with all the other backstage pass holders. After a short time, a roadie comes out and says. "Sorry, the band isn't seeing anyone tonight." My heart immediately drops like an anchor. Are you kidding??? My one chance to truly meet my heroes, and it's snatched away from me!? But, tenacious mofo that I was, I refused to accept it. Outside the arena, I dragged my family around back to the loading dock. At that time, you could just walk right up to the loading dock and backstage door (at least at the PCC), which is exactly what I/we did. My mother and younger brother were too nervous to go in, but I just slapped my backstage pass onto my jacket and walked through the door like I belonged there. There are all these huge trucks and massive, imposing piles of equipment being moved around by the road crew. It was just a massive operation. I see a few other fans gathered loosely to my left, next to a wall and a hallway, likely leading to the dressing rooms. Obviously, I wasn't the only pass holder who decided not to take "no" for an answer. So, we're all just hanging out, trying not to attract attention. At one point, I think see Alex down the hall. Holy sh*t! I'm totally nervous. Then, Eddie appears. A couple of fans approach him, and he says something like, "Wait over there and I'll come over in a minute." Whoa! Sweet!! He goes over and chats for a bit with a roadie, sipping a beer (this was when he was supposed to be sober, if I recall), and smoking a cigarette. I'm now about 15 feet from Eddie Van Halen (to me, a musical god). Another member of the crew comes up to us and says, "Thanks for coming everyone, but we have to ask you to leave." More than one of us say, "But Eddie said we could stay!!" I think he looked over at Eddie, who may have nodded or something, but what I remember clearly is that the crew member looks at us and goes, "He's the boss," with a shrug, and he leaves us alone. Yes!!! Massive relief. Eventually, Eddie comes over, and we loosely crowd around him to get autographs. I remember snatching a piece of paper from a nearby bulletin board. Eddie signed autographs for us, and chatted for a few minutes. I think he even told one of the kids there not to smoke, that it was bad for his health, haha! A roadie came over and dropped a bunch of picks onto a case, which we all snatched up.

While I was backstage, I gave the remainder of the t-shirts to a roadie, with a note attached to them with my contact information (don't you just love the wishful naivete?...) , and asked him to give them to the band.

I admit that I was disappointed at not meeting the other guys, but meeting Eddie kind of made up for it. An interesting observation: I've never in my life been in the presence of someone who gave off such a cool vibe, and by that I mean utterly relaxed and self-confident. I've never forgotten that vibe I got off him.

Alas, no one from the band contacted me later, asking me to join them as their special personal guest on the rest of the tour based on my pathetically simple, mall-made t-shirts, but somehow I managed to go on with my life.

Ah, the memories....

[Van Squalen]

That is quite a first post, Robert. Good story. Where's the guitar pick?

[Simon Ribeiro]

Great story there, man!

Thanks for sharing it here!!

[jomama1]

That is quite a first post, Robert. Good story. Where's the guitar pick? :)

Haha! I was wondering if someone would ask. :) I don't have them with me, so they must still be in my old room in RI. They had Ed's signature and "02812" embossed on them. Pretty cool.

[fudd]

Welcome to the links Robert. That is a hell of a story.


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[Sam Vs. Dave]

Nice!

$28.50 general admission with $1 parking. Those were the days...

[RRvh1]

Great story, and congrats on seeing Van Halen in '88.
I didn't, for reasons unknown, yet still recall getting home from school and having my Mom surprise me with the just released OU812 cassette... Man, I played that thing into submission!

Side note....MY first Van Halen concert was opened ('93) with Mine All Mine.

[Nostalgia Act]

Groovy man!

[Van Squalen]

Groovy man!

Had your fill down in the dungeon lol?

Haha. Cherry picking Christians are the best.

[tav555]

Funny shit... I was at this show; I totally remember the t-shirt regarding the Oxford, Maine concert and Sammy stopping the show to comment on the Oxford concert. Wow... it’s amazing that I’m reading about this 31 years later.

[JUNGLE DRUMMER]

Had your fill down in the dungeon lol?

Haha. Cherry picking Christians are the best.

Oh look who cant help himself. Gotta a be a prick in every thread.

[bklynboy68]

Oh look who cant help himself. Gotta a be a prick in every thread.

Ehh, no worries. This Christian isnt worried about the self righteousness of hypocrites on here.

[mike zack]

Nice to see a positive post around here every once in a while!

[Van Squalen]

Oh look who cant help himself. Gotta a be a prick in every thread.

Don’t talk to me, punk. You know what you’ve been told. You have no idea if I’m talking about you. Presuming as such makes you the fathead that you are. Nobody cares about you that much here, you can be sure. Least of all me.

However...since you presented the opportunity...

They're morons. Mods, scold me for my un-PC language, I dont care. The lefties on here are ignorant, foolish idiots.

After he comes at me FIRST. BIG DIFFERENCE.

Oops. Guess sometimes you do fire first. What. A. Shocker.

[Van Squalen]

Ehh, no worries. This Christian isnt worried about the self righteousness of hypocrites on here.

Not are actual practicing Christians concerned about the blind sycophantic hypocrisy of cherry picking Christians on here.