Gonna have to do some Van Halen. Eddie Van Halen died this past week. I saw them perform three times. The first time was as a warmup act for Aerosmith. They stole the show. The second time they were the headliners. Both of these shows were in St. Louis with the original lineup. The third tie I saw them was in Atlanta with Sammy Hagar as their singer. I remember Bachman Turner Overweight was the warmup act.
Eddie always looked like he was having fun on stage. He really revolutionized hard rock. He didn’t invent tapping but he did it better than anyone else.
Here’s my favorite Van Halen song. Who woulda thunk using an electric drill with a guitar?
Saw them 3 times, but never Van Hagar … all great shows, and pre-1984. The guitar gods of our youth are going, going, gone. 😞!
Who would have thought? Lol Creme and Kevin Godley invented the Gizmo in 1975, which while not the same thing as Eddie’s Black and Decker, is along the same lines. Their “Consequences” album is sort of a demo of the machine.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oyT6o3aT1a8
I saw them (Hagar lead) with BTO in Norfolk, Va.
great show.
Just read a memorial story about Eddy that ties in with the 3rd concert and tour you were at. I guess Randy Bachman’s son was 17 at the time and his dad grabbed him out of school to go on tour with them opening up for Van Halen for a couple weeks! Who could say NO to that at that age ,eh? 🙂 He had a blast of course and found the guys to be really great to be around and not stuck up at all. And he bonded pretty good with Eddy so he was quite saddened by his passing and how much just being friendly to a 17 yo kid meant to him,Van Halen being the BIG rock band at the time. This tribute was in Mark Steyn’s blog last week.
https://www.steynonline.com/10682/tal-bachman-three-weeks-in-86 Here’s a link to the write up. 🙂