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Audience 7.5 - Two complete shows from 1984 that see very limited trading and as far as I know there’s been no CD release for either. There is good reason for this – these recordings sucked ass. Unfortunate too, because both gigs are screamers. Now, the good news! Both shows have been re-mastered using the best technology available (whatever they did 35 years ago obviously did not do much) and the results are that you can hear music now, you can hear what Eddie is doing and you can hear the band. No, it is not going to be sonically superior, but it is sonically better than any previous versions, and that is saying an awful lot! Best way to enjoy these is to listen to the original recordings and then pop these discs in, and THEN you will understand the work that went into saving these gigs from obscurity. The packaging on this title is superb by the way. -
Audience 8.7 - Really loud and up front sound but no distortion makes for a real thrill ride. I love this recording. I think it captures the manic energy happening on stage. Wonderful -
Audience 7.8 - Not bad big stadium sound, a little muddiness but compared to other 78 audience tape (especially overseas shows) this is one of the best. -
Audience 7.8 - Stadium sound all the way. Boomy and loud and CRAZY audience but damn, it’s hard not to love it. The good news here is the drums are defined and not just a sloppy boomy mess, the guitar slices through the mud and lands on your ears in the right spot, then Dave yelps, and does his thing. The end of Hot For Teacher when the drum solo starts the whole place goes bananas. -
Audience 8.4 (both shows) - I absolutely love this set. A must for fans. -
Audience 8.6 - By all accounts, this is a real find! First, you get a rare tape that only recently has surfaced, and then it's from a poorly documented tour AND best of all it sounds pretty decent! It's just a great day to be a DLR era Van Halen collector.
VAN HALEN 1980 World Invasion Tour / Women and Children First San Antonio Convention Center Arena San Antonio, TX August 27, 1980 Disc 1 01. Romeo Delight 02. Bottoms Up! 03. Drum Solo 04. Runnin' With The Devil 05. Dave talks 06. Tora! Tora! - Loss of Control 07. Take Your Whiskey Home 08. Dance The Night Away 09. Women in Love 10. Jamie's Cryin' Disc 2 11. Bright Lights, Big City 12. Everybody Wants Some!! 13. And The Cradle Will Rock... 14. Guitar Solo 15. Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love 16. Ice Cream Man (Encore) Van Halen: David Lee Roth - Lead vocals, Acoustic guitar Eddie Van Halen - Guitar, Backing vocals Michael Anthony - Bass, Keyboards, Backing vocals Alex Van Halen - Drums -
Audience 7.8 - A MAJOR upgrade here folks! This recording used to suffer a horrible low mid range boom and muddiness that killed an otherwise decent tape and really good performance capture. Now, even though it is still roughly an average tape, it is minus that deal-breaking boom/mud in the middle. Apparently, the recording being in stereo, while mastering they found by moving it wider (stereo panning) they got the affected channel muted enough where it was crap sounding, but saved what music was there. It worked wonders. Now this tape is worth your time, so rediscover it today. -
This is an Audience recording, my rating is a 7.3 quality, not a bad show. It's got one thing I can appreciate, a lively atmosphere without being obnoxious and intrusive although I got to tell you, sometimes the audience makes the performance...want proof? Listen to the Madison Square Garden 1984 show - you can honestly say that the loud, obnoxious, and totally over the top crowd and atmosphere is what totally makes that show. I found myself more interested in the crowd believe it or not. I must offer that show in the future - seriously the audience is the best part even though the band is on fire and inspired by the crowd. This one is close to that mania, but nothing compares to that MSG show. -
Audience 8.2 - This is a very in demand show from this tour. Why? Because it is perhaps the best audience recording from 1984, but it is not perfect, it just has more great qualities than bad. I think the only knock is the absence of bottom end, but that is what an Equalizer is for. Get this and have fun! -
Audience 8.7 - A rip-roaring blast of a tape! First thing you are going to think after maybe 1 minute is how dejected Montrose and Journey must have been after following the ascending Van Halen. Man, I felt bad for them and this show happened decades ago! It’s just the sonic equivalent of a shooting star, Eddie is blistering and hits every note with perfection, the bass is detailed and not just a booming thud, drums are OK and DLR is a little behind the band but who cares? The taper did a fine job, some minor hiccups every now and then but thankfully very few to deal with and they don’t last long. I am liking this show and the tape is just fine for its age. A keeper! Van Halen Tower Theater Upper Darby, Pennsylvania March 24, 1978 1. On Fire 2. I’m The One 3. Bass Solo 4. Runnin’ With The Devil 5. Atomic Punk 6. Drum Solo/Little Dreamer 7. Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love 8. Eruption/Guitar Solo 9. You Really Got Me 10. Ice Cream Man Notes: Van Halen opening for Montrose and Journey as they made their way out of Southern California. The tour opened in Chicago on March 3. This is the first recording from that tour. -
Audience 8.8 - Excellent sound with good balance and great live mix where you pretty much get a good blend of the bass and drums without that annoying boominess. Great time period too! Van Halen Theatre Mogador, Paris, France Wednesday May 10th, 1978 01- On Fire 02- I'm The One 03- Runnin' With The Devil 04- Feel Your Love Tonight 05- Atomic Punk 06- Little Dreamer 07- Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love 08- Voodoo Queen 09- Ice Cream Man 10- Guitar solo 11- You Really Got Me 12- D.O.A [fades in] 13- Summertime Blues 14- Bottoms Up! -
Soundboard 8.8 - A loud board mix, with a little crispiness in the ultra high frequency but what this actually translates to as the show plays is CRUNCH factor which helps liven up what could have been a flat, lifeless board tape. The remastering helped because the levels were kind of low, and the bass needed to be dialed back just a tick, but just that light touch really made this tape a whole point better. Fantastic prime era Halen comin’ out yer speakers like lightning bolts. MUST HAVE!!! -
Audience 8.8 – This is NOT the Monsters of Rock show, it’s actually the last DLR (classic era) show and it’s pretty good! It’s not super close up or terribly far from stage, seems to be in a nice spot and everything is clear with decent dynamics. Now, it’s a recording from a rowdy crowd but even with that I felt they did not ruin this or intrude unnecessarily – in fact it seemed they wanted to listen to the band and not hold conversations or stupid hooting and whistling during songs. Fantastic! Van Halen Stadion am Dutzendteich Nurnberg, Germany 1984-09-02 Disc 1 01. -Unchained 02. -Hot For Teacher 03. -Drum Solo 04. -On Fire 05. -Running With The Devil 06. -Little Guitars 07. -House Of Pain 08. -Bass Solo 09. -I’ll Wait 10. -Everybody Wants Some Disc 2 11. -Oh, Pretty Woman 12. -1984 13. -Jump 14. -Guitar Solo 15. -Panama 16. -You Really Got Me 17. -Happy Trails – You Really Got Me (reprise) Disc 3 Single cam (on stage) video w/sound. DVD -
Audience 8.8 - This is NOT the Monsters of Rock show, it’s actually the last DLR (classic era) show and it’s pretty good! It’s not super close up or terribly far from stage, seems to be in a nice spot and everything is clear with decent dynamics. Now, it’s a recording from a rowdy crowd but even with that I felt they did not ruin this or intrude unnecessarily – in fact it seemed they wanted to listen to the band and not hold conversations or stupid hooting and whistling during songs. Fantastic! Van Halen Stadion am Dutzendteich Nurnberg, Germany 1984-09-02 Disc 1 01. -Unchained 02. -Hot For Teacher 03. -Drum Solo 04. -On Fire 05. -Running With The Devil 06. -Little Guitars 07. -House Of Pain 08. -Bass Solo 09. -I'll Wait 10. -Everybody Wants Some Disc 2 11. -Oh, Pretty Woman 12. -1984 13. -Jump 14. -Guitar Solo 15. -Panama 16. -You Really Got Me 17. -Happy Trails - You Really Got Me (reprise) -
Audience 7.0 -7.3 - Why the funky rating? Because what started out as a dismal audience tape has slowly over the years morphed into a listenable show. Why would you care? Because 1978 shows KILL! If you loved and miss the vintage Eddie Van Halen signature between riff fills that he used to dish out effortlessly, than get this one because later he began relying too much on tried and true signature frills and less and less on inventing killer little hooky lead fills on the spot. This show has them, and you can hear them, and it’s weird because this tape has a very strange dynamic to it where the sound channel down the middle opens up enough to let Eddie’s sound permeate and even float around a little above the din of the bass and kick. So the re-mastering addressed some of that by dropping some of the low and low mid boom and attenuating the upper mids and highs with multi-band compression. It helped a lot. Still kind of rough but actually the show is so interesting and just enough above being not listenable that it will still suck you right in and you will actually play it all the way through. I promise that. I did, without regrets. -
Audience 8.7 - For me, this tape was completely unknown. So, hearing it for the first time I was very excited because it’s a very comfortable sounding tape. The dynamics may be a little bunched up right in the middle but the frequency range here, going from lows to highs, is very comfortable to the ears. It’s also taped somewhat close to the stage, unlike the Fresno tapes which are good but a bit distant. I compare because the dynamics are similar. A good one for sure! VAN HALEN CITY HALL NEWCASTLE, ENGLAND UK JUNE-26-1979 THE BAND EDDIE VAN HALEN GUITAR ALEX VAN HALEN DRUMS MICHAREL ANTHONY BASS VOCALS DAVID LEE ROTH VOCALS CD 1 1 -INTRO - LIGHT UP THE SKY 2 -SOMEBODY GET ME A DOCTOR - DRUM SOLO 3 -RUNNING WITH THE DEVIL 4 -DANCE THE NIGHT AWAY 5 -BEAUTIFUL GIRLS 6 -ON FIRE - BASS SOLO 7 -YOUR NO GOOD 8 -JAMIES CRYIN' 9 -FEEL YOUR LOVE TONIGHT CD 2 1 -OUTTA LOVE AGAIN 2 -ICE CREAM MAN 3 -AIN'T TALKING ABOUT LOVE 4 -GUITAR SOLO - JAM 5 -YOU REALLY GOT ME 6 -BOTTOMS UP 7 -ATOMIC PUNK