When Van Halen toured, they played the crap out of the album they were touring for and on this night, they played all of Diver Down except for “Dancin’ In The Streets” and “Big Bad Bill Is Sweet William Now.” And they nearly played Side One of the record in order.

After opening with “Romeo Delight,” always a crowd favorite, they hit the audience between the eyes with “Unchained.” Then came a drum solo, followed by the first Diver Down song, “The Full Bug.” My memories of this show mostly involve the energy and the crowd response, which was to absolutely lose its mind. I locked in on Edward Van Halen for long stretches and he delivered his usual dazzling performance.

Looking at the setlist, I remember the two opening songs pretty well and “Little Guitars,” which was the seventh song. Song number eight was the beginning of the extended Diver Down run with “Where Have All The Good Times Gone” followed by a bass solo that went into “Hang ‘Em High.” They continued with “Cathedral” and “Secrets” before “Everybody Wants Some!!,” saving “Intruder” and “Pretty Woman” for a little bit later.

It was a tour de force, with a ton of hits and crowd favorites still left, despite the band only being five albums into its career. “Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love,” “Dance The Night Away,” and “You Really Got Me” all got played and they did four songs total off of Van Halen II.

The mighty Van Halen at that point in time was a force of nature. No matter what was going on behind the scenes, they played live like they invented it and there wasn’t any other band out there that could put on the kind of show they did. Blue Oyster Cult and Triumph had incredible laser light shows, Ted Nugent was a crowd-pleasing maniac and KISS was KISS. But Van Halen had its own vibe and a unique energy and with all that going on, they were hit-makers that delivered killer song after killer song that whipped audiences into a frenzy.

This was the second of my five Van Halen shows and my next go-round with them would be on the 1984 tour. These first three, all in the first Roth era, were my idea of a great time. I wasn’t disappointed by any of the other bands that I saw live during this time period because Van Halen was my favorite band and nobody else was supposed to be putting on that kind of show. It was theirs, alone.

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A quick video here for an “On This Date” post for December 30, 1988. One of my trips up the freeway from San Diego to Long Beach, CA to see Ozzy Osbourne, Anthrax and Lita Ford at the Long Beach Arena. It was my second show at this arena, following an Aerosmith/Dokken show earlier that year.

The property that the Long Beach Arena sits on has had a big facelift in the years since, and we’re spending our New Year’s weekend here, so I drove over there and checked it out. The building where the show was is now used for events not associated with banging heads, but they do have concerts elsewhere on the property.

So, Ozzy was on No Rest For The Wicked and had new gunslinger Zakk Wylde on guitar. Anthrax was touring for State Of Euphoria and Lita Ford was on Lita.

More to come on this show.

Ozzy Setlist

Anthrax Setlist (Incomplete)

Lita Ford Setlist (Incomplete)

The post ON THIS DATE: OZZY, ANTHRAX, LITA 1988 appeared first on ROCK n METAL LIFE.

The back of this flier has even more good bands and it shows dates in August:

I would have sworn the show where I got this flier was one of the ones I went to at the Long Beach Arena (Aerosmith/Dokken, Ozzy/Anthrax/Lita Ford), but those were in ’88 so that doesn’t check out. My best guess is that I got this flier on July 18, 1987 at Irvine Meadows Amphitheater when I saw Ratt with Poison opening for them. I found this when I searched for Ace and Y&T + Old World Beer Gardens:

Y & T Concert Setlist at Old World Beer Gardens, Corona on August 16, 1987 | setlist.fm

Says Faster Pussycat was there and no mention of Guns. Who knows? I still got the flier. Not in the greatest shape, but neither am I.

The post “also GUNS n ROSES” appeared first on ROCK n METAL LIFE.

My first live show was June 18, 1981 at Selland Arena in Fresno. The mighty Van Halen touring for Fair Warning. The first song I ever saw performed live was On Fire. Life would proceed much differently than the first 15 years I had experienced.

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