Sgt. B wrote:Last show: Van Halen this past Saturday.
oh me, oh my.....

.....Van Halen and I go back a long time - bought their *first* two albums when they came out...
released February 10, 1978 - my junior year of high school

and
released March 23, 1979 - my senior year of high school

HUGE favorite of mine and my high school friends growing up in the middle-class suburbs of Chicago...we kind of worshipped them actually

- especially the first album. Along with Ted Nugent, Eddie van Halen was the guitar king to many of us in the
late 70s teen crowd
Then I saw them for the first and only time on November 5, 1980 in my college (UIUC) town of Champaign/Urbana, Illinois. Huge stadium - one of those gigs I'll never forget.
(this tour - great set-list!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Inva ... ur%22_Tour )
Funny thing is...once the 80s hit....and there was so much
new music (goth, punk, new wave, industrial, and so on) that I was exposed to and loved....I drifted away from Van Halen. I'm not sure why really, but they are a band I never felt the desire to see again. I think partly because that particular 1980 performance was so great, I wanted to remember them that way. Fuck!!! That is 32 years ago!
Some bands I like to see again and again from my 70s youth - in particular Rush and Yes. But others like Van Halen and Aerosmith, not so much. Hmmm....Sgt B...your post kinda made me wish I had gone though.
I posted these ticket stubs of mine on the gig history thread long ago...which includes my Van Halen ticket and others (this is just a small selection - I tried to go to every show that came through my university town)...man - those were some great times and I'm happy to say I've been enjoying rock and other concerts now more than 40 years!

one of my personal favorites:
Running With the Devil http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1uz_aDo0YA (
I live my life like there's no tomorrow)
great cover of
You Really Got Me:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9V6VBKsO ... re=relatedalso...the man.....
Eruption (Eddie guitar solo):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_lwocmL ... re=related