1981 live Unchained

**jonjuan** · 03.04.03, 08:30 AM

Does it seem like Dave missed his cue to any of you. It seems he missed his cue and then the band repeated it and he hit it the second time. Just thought I'd see if anyone else thinks it was a mistake on Dave's part or an intentional thing.

**Harris** · 03.04.03, 09:21 AM

I thought it was Eddie who messed up. He goes into the verse guitar part too soon, realizes it, repeats the guitar intro and then goes back into the verse guitar part on cue. Glad to see someone else noticed it too. BTW, this is the quintessential early Van Halen live performance. Total raw, high energy, classic Van Halen. "Everybody Up!!!!!!!!

**pardo** · 03.05.03, 05:23 AM

I assume you guys are talkin about the live video from Oakland...

I always thought Ed was just screwin around, but maybe it was a mistake - still sounds cool. Besides, the verse riffs follow the same chords as the intro riffs...

**Raldo** · 03.05.03, 07:55 AM

Yeah, somebody messed up but the song still kicked ass. Pure rock and roll!!!!!

**Sean Van Halen** · 03.05.03, 02:27 PM

I thought it was done on purpose, Thought Eddie was just foolin' around but who knows....

cf · 03.05.03, 04:08 PM

I think it was done intentionally. If I'm not mistaken, I heard it played the same way on a boot from the San Diego Sports Arena 1984....

I think it sounds cool, when I play the song on my guitar I play it that way!

**Kramerbrwnsnd84** · 03.05.03, 07:24 PM

Yea im guessing they did it on purpose cuz when they cut to mike its like he knew that they were gonna do that just by the way he reacted before it happened.

**51501984** · 03.05.03, 09:01 PM

Originally posted by Kramerbrwnsnd84:
Yea im guessing they did it on purpose cuz when they cut to mike its like he knew that they were gonna do that just by the way he reacted before it happened.

To me it looks like Mike was looking over at Ed and thinking what the f**k are you doing . Cool thread , it gave me an excuse to watch that video for the 500th time!

**No Bozos** · 03.05.03, 09:39 PM

I think the problem was that Dave yells "Hey," and both Mike and Ed think Dave is launching into the verse, so they begin playing that part, then they realize Dave was just yelling.

**jonjuan** · 03.06.03, 09:04 AM

I just re-watched it, and I've now changed my opinion. To what, I'm not sure, but it's definitly not Dave's fault. Eddie did go into the verse riff earlier than on the FW version, AND (big one) Mike's pounding his bass when Eddie goes into the verse riff, just like he did later in the song during the chorus (also into) riff. SO, it seems to me that Mike was expecting the intro riff to go a little longer. If it was a mistake, I bet it was Eddie, but I think it was on purpose, like one person said, he heard it the same way on another boot. Awe, I don't care, it's killer anyway [img]graemlins/thumb.gif[/img]

**Harris** · 03.06.03, 12:54 PM

Regardless of who's fault it is; it's a great example of how good these guys really are / were. They make a mistake and don't miss a single beat. They play it off like it was meant to be that way. Did you notice how stoned Eddie looked during this song? Probably a contact high from the audience. IMO - I think this video shows Van Halen at their absolute live peak. The energy they produced at this concert was just incredible. I would love to have a DVD version of this show.

[ March 06, 2003, 12:54 PM: Message edited by: Harris ]

**79th and Sunset** · 03.06.03, 09:12 PM

You guys have made me watch this video, THANKS !

Its the fault of a great band. Rock n Roll really lacks the live sound the great Van Halen had.

The boys played live, the four of them. I really disliked the pre recorded keyboards used on the last few tours they had.

**Dave's Dradle** · 03.08.03, 08:17 AM

Early VH when they were all still at the top of their games was a awe inspiring event. I think the Fair Warning Tour was them at their peak, Eddie and Alex are in top form, Dave can still sing, and Mike was thumpin'! And here we are today

Side note: Friend of mine just returned Dave's Crazy from the Heat book and I was re reading it. This topic reminds me of an unintentional compliment that Dave pays to Van Halen. He mentions that after he left VH he became uninterested in making new music because he was so frustrated with the quality of the musicians he was working with. When you are working with the likes of Steve Vai, Greg Bissonette, Billy Sheehan, Terry Kilgore, etc., that is a back handed compliment to VH. One sentence struck me in particular and I'm paraphrasing "when you pay a drummer 1,500 bucks a day and he can't play through a whole song and doesn't know how to end a song, you kinda go what the fuck!" He was very complimentary about Jason Becker though, thought he was going to be the next great guitarist, that he was just finding his sound.

**jonjuan** · 03.09.03, 01:05 PM

Originally posted by Harris:
Regardless of who's fault it is; it's a great example of how good these guys really are / were. They make a mistake and don't miss a single beat. They play it off like it was meant to be that way....I think this video shows Van Halen at their absolute live peak. The energy they produced at this concert was just incredible. I would love to have a DVD version of this show.

Amen brother. I bet most bands, especially now days would stop and start over if someone made a mistake that big, only because they don't have the musical talant to make it look like no big deal.

**Cazmarzak** · 02.07.05, 09:23 PM

Hi guys,

This is my first post on the forum. I recently got WAY into Van Halen after playing in a band the last couple years having to play all the new horrible music that's out. I'm sure you guys know what I'm talking about.

Any way, I have the video you guys are talking about and I have been asking around for a while if there was a whole concert available on video from that show.

I have a couple other videos from it, but can't seem to find any besides those 3.

As far as the mess up in Uncahined, I think it sounded cool, what I didnt like though is the way Dave sang Hear About it LAter..

Did he usually tend to sing things like that ?