baldilocks, I wish I’d gone to the EW&F/Chicago concert when they came to Dallas–I first saw EWF as the warm-up band for Stevie Wonder in 1974 and I used to go see Chicago when they came to town every summer in the early ’70’s–miss Terry Kath!

Right with you there, Jen. I got to see EW&F in San Francisco at a private gig last August, and the fire has not gone out! And I always saw Chicago when they’d come to SoCal, whether it was at the Whiskey, the Forum, or at Anaheim stadium with the Beach Boys in ’75. I used to say that the difference between Chicago and Blood, Sweat & Tears was that Chicago was a jazz band that played with a rock feel, while BS&T was a rock band that played with a jazz feel. I was at the November 1979 Chicago show at the Forum that turned out to be Terry Kath’s last. Can’t hear Colour My World without remembering that.

I grew up in L.A., California. I remember seeing “Van Halen” play in backyard parties in Whittier and Huntington Beach when they were known as “MAMMOTH”, then at “Cars of the Stars” in Buena Park as Van Halen, then finally at Gazarri’s in Hollywood

I see your Mammoth, and I raise you Violet Fox (Randy & Doug Rhoads and Kelli Garni) playing everything from garages, picnics and school dances to Starlight Bowl in Burbank before Randy decided to lean in the metal direction and creat Quiet Riot. By the way, Doug Rhoads did a great impression of Keith Moon on drums, but he preferred to stick to the classical rock style.

If the VH fans are old, what are we? Ancient?! Now I know how my mother felt every time she’d listen to big band music and say it was terrific…except now I’ve gotten to where I like Big Band myself.
I don’t think you have to be old to appreciate classic Rock (‘n’ Roll)–Check out the reviews of “old” LPs (re-released CDs) on Amazon and you’ll find all these youngsters who’ve discovered the music of their parents’ youth.
And Steve Jobs, bless his heart!, is a Baby Boomer and Classic Rock lover so mercifully, iTunes has plenty of downloads of all our favorites!

baldilocks, I wish I’d gone to the EW&F/Chicago concert when they came to Dallas–I first saw EWF as the warm-up band for Stevie Wonder in 1974 and I used to go see Chicago when they came to town every summer in the early ’70′s–miss Terry Kath!
One of the the best concerts I ever saw was Alice Cooper in his “Million Dollar Babies” Tour 1973–he beheaded himself, played with long snakes, all accompanied by great music!
I don’t care if I’m dating myself! We had/have great music and it literally ROX!
With very few exceptions, the “new” stuff is just terrible–Can anyone sing or play an instrument?

Didn’t work in the past, isn’t gonna work this time.

Scotsman on February 2, 2007 at 6:14 PM

It didn’t? Just possibly the greatest band ever. Yes, Roth eventually left the band but to say it “didn’t work out the first time” is a little odd. Especially being that after Roth left … the band pretty much accomplished nothing.

How many people here saw the caption “He’s married, girls” live? Hell, my sister saw that band live twice. Her friend’s dad was the promoter, they sat up front and still could only hear girls screaming. Double hell, Ted Nugent played at my sister’s synagogue confirmation party while he was still with the Lourdes (essentially a Stones cover band IIRC) before he moved to Chicago to start the Amboy Dukes.

Not sure what my first concert was. I know I saw Jethro Tull (w/ Edgar Winter as an opening act) just after Aqualung was released so that must have been 71 or so. Saw the Mothers play on the same tour as the Fillmore album (with Flo & Eddie). My first Dead show was Oct 30, 1972 and recently found a superb digital download of it. I saw Springsteen play at Hill Auditorium the week he was on Time and Newsweek, touring to support Born To Run.

Eddie van Halen may be a great guitar player (all my axe slinging friends think highly of him) but the band was just cheesy.

Best rock band of all times? That’s impossible to say about anyone, but Mountain rocked just as hard as VH and Papillardi wrote beautiful, lyrical melodies.

I grew up in L.A., California. I remember seeing “Van Halen” play in backyard parties in Whittier and Huntington Beach when they were known as “MAMMOTH”,

I grew up in HB and remember, through a Jack Daniels haze, seeing Mammoth play in a warehouse still under construction right off of Bolsa Chica Rd. Not sure, but I’m thinking 1976-77 timeframe…

I guess these old rockers are getting hard up for cash and/or publicity.

vcferlita on February 3, 2007 at 11:28 AM

Um, that’s not exactly news. Anyone who ever read an interview with Mick Jagger back in the 70s when the Stones were in their prime will recall the following question, which would invariably find its way somewhere into the interview:
Q: “Will it be the last tour, Mick?”
A: “Well, what the f*** ELSE are we going to do?”

I was at Monsters of rock, 2nd row in the Silverdome.

Left after the Scorps to go to a Herbie Hancock/Chick Corea concert.

I would have made Cheech and Chong proud that day…:o)

Valiant, where’d you grow up? That had to be in or near LA.

It was actually in VA. The demo was a “Not for Sale” radio station copy that some doofus DJ or programming director with no taste decided to discard.

I’ve been waiting 20 some years for this. But (and there’s always a but) I saw Dave last year at the Hard Rock in Ft. Lauderdale. He sucked. He couldn’t remember the words and just mumbled thru it. And no Micheal? WTF? Wolfie? “C’mon Ed, gimme a break.”

Never got to see ‘em with Dave, did see ‘em with Sammy several times, including Monsters of Rock tour with Dokken, Scorps.

Gary sucked with VH and vise versa. He was excellent with Extreme (only the first 2 albums, after that they turned grunge).

As mentioned about, so much of the crap they call music today will soon be forgotten, but the Mighty Van Halen will live on. I hope they DO record an album and show these punks how’s it’s done. They could be in their 80′s and they’d still be better than all that Seattle grunge crap. All attitude, no ability. But, the record company execs decide what gets promoted and qhat doesn’t. They know that people our age had to start payin’ bills in the early 90′s and had less disposable income. So they started goin’ for the wallets of the grunge kids. All business, yet the grunge kids act like they hate capitalism.

And all the anti-war crap? I remember goin’ to concerts in the 80′s and the singers were all like “Hey, let’s nuke Libya!” ann everybody cheered!

Van Halen, still number one in my book. In fact, above #1. The #1 spot goes to whoever I feel like hearin’ today, but VH is always above that.

I’d go see these boys in a heartbeat. A kid who learned guitar from EVH on bass? Yeah, I think he’ll be, what’s the word, pretty f’n’ good.

Best concert would be a tie between U2 in Oakland Coliseum in 1987 or Rolling Stones in Munich Olympiastadium in 1991 or so.

Does this flyer look familiar?

Scot on February 3, 2007 at 3:00 AM

Well I’ll be dipped in… gravy. That’s an awesome find!

I can’t say I remember the flyer, but yes indeedy, I remember that show very well. I lived in Cerritos at the time, which was very close to the Cars of the Stars, and we rode our skateboards to the show. It was actually two museums that sat side by side… Cars of the Stars and Planes of Fame, and the place was packed.

I couldn’t remember the names of the other bands, now I know one of them was the band Eulogy. LMAO.

Thanks Scot. That was funny :)

There is exactly one band I’ve always regretted missing concert; only one band that I swore I’d do anything to see if they ever got back together.

This is the one. You young pups listening to crap today are nothing but sad. No offense. Music died right right about the time Clinton came into office. Which was a coincidence. No, really. But you young’uns listening to (c)rap and shithop and the ridiculous excuse for music today … you just don’t know what you’re missing.

And it’s not like YOUR music is too hard or too loud. If anything, it’s too pussified, too corporate, too cookie-cutter. Can you seriously listen to one more white kid rapping about the hood? Hear one more song about some “ho” and her “booty.”

And dear God, children, why don’t you pray for a guitar now and then?

Van Halen were gods. Eddie Van Halen is a magician. David Lee Roth made Puffy Diddly Dooky Doo or whatever the @$!3 he calls himself now look like the puff he is.

Best news on this blog ever. Period.

And whoever compared Van Halen to Quiet Riot, please consider finding a bridge to leap off. Or at least lock yourself in a room for a while, until you’re ready to come out and apologize. That was just embarrassing.

SilverStar830 on February 3, 2007 at 12:34 AM

Does this flyer look familiar?

First VH album was recorded in 1977 and released in 1978 (not 1972).

Van Halen wasn’t around in the early 70’s, and by the late 70’s Journey and Van Halen were both headlining arena shows, but not together.

infidel4life on February 3, 2007 at 2:25 AM

The first Van Halen album was produced in 1972. Does that qualify for early 70′s?

Before Van Halen was Van Halen they produced an album as Mammoth.