Van Halen - Live from Anaheim Stadium on 9/23/78

[I Coulda Hada VH]

This is the concert where they had stunt doubles parachute into the stadium while Dave, Ed, Al and Mike hid in the back of a cargo van in the parking lot. I found this on vinyl when I was in high school at some long gone record store in Whittier, CA ...

[JUNGLE DRUMMER]

Wasn't this also the show where they had a tank and they were going to run over a VW with Aerosmith painted on it? I so wish they had done that, it wouldve been an awesome thing for an opening band to do to the headliner.

[I Coulda Hada VH]

Wasn't this also the show where they had a tank and they were going to run over a VW with Aerosmith painted on it? I so wish they had done that, it wouldve been an awesome thing for an opening band to do to the headliner.

That might have been this show ...

[jimmy812]

Wasn't this also the show where they had a tank and they were going to run over a VW with Aerosmith painted on it? I so wish they had done that, it wouldve been an awesome thing for an opening band to do to the headliner.

Yeah, I thought I remember reading--either in Monk's book or VH Rising--that it was the same show, but I could be wrong. And, yes, that would have been cool.

I still think the parachuting thing was a master stroke. LOL

[JUNGLE DRUMMER]

Yeah, I thought I remember reading--either in Monk's book or VH Rising--that it was the same show, but I could be wrong. And, yes, that would have been cool.

I still think the parachuting thing was a master stroke. LOL

Oh yeah that was genius, especially for a new opening act on their first tour. What audacity lol. If a band did that today, there'd be all kinds of video and it would get a heavy 1 or 2 day run at the top of the entertainment news cycle. Unfortunately with most CVH lore there is no video that I know of and even very little photographic evidence that it happened.

[MF5150]

Shocked that Aerosmith's management allowed VH to do that.

If it was Peter Grant, we wouldn't have had any future VH albums.

He would have had the band killed.

[I Coulda Hada VH]

Aerosmith wasn't on the bill at that Anaheim Stadium show. Here was the lineup:

Richie Lecea
Sammy Hagar
Van Halen
Black Sabbath
Boston

https://www.vhnd.com/2014/09/23/van-...s-sammy-hagar/

[T.B.]

I almost went to that Anaheim Stadium show. This was during VH's 1st album tour as part of the leg supporting (and blowing away) Black Sabbath. They played highlights of what was going on (although no music as I recall) throughout the day on the radio and when VH supposedly "parachuted" into the stadium, it sounded like the coolest stunt ever.

I did attend the 1979 Callifornia World Music Festival at the LA Coliseum. It was one of the first dates on their 2nd tour and in fact, I bought VHII at the record flea market which was part of the 2 day concert at the LA Sports Arena which shared the parking lot. Van Halen did have the tank parked outside the Coliseum the whole day they played and they at least did a photo shoot with Lynn Goldsmith of the band posing on the tank and the crushed VH so renting it wasn't a total waste.

Based on what I understand they planned on doing with the tank (the band driving the tank crushing a VH Bug with the Aerosmith logo painted on it live before running onstage), I don't see how it would have been feasible to do the stunt as a tank is far too heavy to safely drive on the stage or the concrete riser behind and above the stage under the Olympic Torch Arch and there was really no viable place to drive it in any location in the actual Coliseum field (it was a GA show).

[Dave's Dreidel]

Listening to all the 1978 boots that are starting to become available, I would have never wanted to go on after VH that year.

Those tired 1970's arena acts had no chance.

[T.B.]

Listening to all the 1978 boots that are starting to become available, I would have never wanted to go on after VH that year.

Those tired 1970's arena acts had no chance.

The only up and coming band that was playing audiences on a similar scale to Van Halen in '78-'79 that was about as energetic was Cheap Trick. For that 1979 2 day Califfornia World Music Fest event, Cheap Trick proceeded Ted Nugent on the first night and it was pretty much the same thing as VH vs Aerosmith on the 2nd night - Cheap Trick just had way more energy then Nugent who had just released a fairly mediocre album, plus Cheap Trick were just hitting their stride with the Live Budokan album. I think Cheap Trick was on every outdoor stadium festival bill I saw between 1979-1980.

[I Coulda Hada VH]

The only up and coming band that was playing audiences on a similar scale to Van Halen in '78-'79 that was about as energetic was Cheap Trick. For that 1979 2 day Califfornia World Music Fest event, Cheap Trick proceeded Ted Nugent on the first night and it was pretty much the same thing as VH vs Aerosmith on the 2nd night - Cheap Trick just had way more energy then Nugent who had just released a fairly mediocre album, plus Cheap Trick were just hitting their stride with the Live Budokan album. I think Cheap Trick was on every outdoor stadium festival bill I saw between 1979-1980.

Cheap Trick was my 3rd favorite band (behind VH and LZ) back then. Heaven Tonight and Live at Budokan are absolutely stellar albums.

[T.B.]

Cheap Trick was my 3rd favorite band (behind VH and LZ) back then. Heaven Tonight and Live at Budokan are absolutely stellar albums.

After I made that last post, I was thinking AC/DC also fell into that category of "new" bands that could and usually would blow away headliners but AC/DC wasn't nearly as high on the radar and getting the kind of radio play at the time as Cheap Trick or VH even with their Highway To Hell album in '79.