View Full Version : VH shows with one of a kind setlists
Unfortunately VH did not change it up that often. They're certainly not the only band to adhere to the same setlist night after night, but for collectors it kinda sucks. However there are some shows where the setlist is a one of a kind deal, i.e. there's no other recording that duplicates it. Here are some of those that come to mind, excluding the Club Days because that's just too much of a mess to dive into:
Fresno 3/25/79--only time D.O.A. was captured on tape in a 1979 show
Spokane 3/24/80--only recorded 1980 performance of "Somebody Get Me A Doctor," with Jamie's Cryin' relatively late in the setlist
Pinkpop Festival, Geleen, Holland 5/26/80--abbreviated 1980 setlist which takes out "Women In Love..." and is the only 1980 recording to my knowledge that doesn't have "Women In Love..."
Baltimore 7/22/80--For some unknown reason, "Bottoms Up!" was skipped and the set goes right from "Romeo Delight" as the opener to "Runnin' With The Devil."
Providence 5/15/81--"Lucille" is played in the setlist, and "Mean Street" precedes Ice Cream Man if I remember correctly, and not the other way around
El Paso, TX 10/7/81--"Summertime Blues" replaces "Romeo Delight" in the otherwise typical Fair Warning setlist
Diver Down Tour Rehearsals 6/27/82--it ends with "The Full Bug"???
Hollywood, FL 1/21/84--only 1984 show where "On Fire" was the opener; "On Fire" and "Unchained" are switched in the setlists. In fact this is the ONLY time as far as I know where Van Halen had multiple set openers on the same tour.
Quebec City 4/21/84--Ice Cream Man and Summertime Blues are inserted between "Girl Gone Bad" and "1984."
Anyone have any other shows with one-time setlists?
In fact this is the ONLY time as far as I know where Van Halen had multiple set openers on the same tour.
Lou,
I know that VH (for you) doesn't exist after 1985, but this happened on a couple of tours during the Sammy era.
atomicpunk5151
05.05.05, 07:46 AM
I have always thought that Quebec 4/21/84 was the strangest add to the set list. I mean they played the same songs for the whole US tour. Then on this one night they throw in Ice Cream Man & ST Blues. I would love to know why they changed it up on this one night. I have heard people speculate that since they hadn't played Quebec in a while they wanted to play a few that they hadn't heard before. This show is also has pretty good sound quality so it is a good listen.
Lucielle in Providence 81 is also pretty strange. I wonder if they did this song on the Canadian warm up tour before Providence or just this night. I am glad it was replaced by FYLT which is one of my favorites.
One other cool add was DOA on some of the later 82 shows. That song just kicks ass live. Very raw old school feel to it.
Jeff
I think that Quebec 4/21/84 show is the first time they ever played Quebec, and I guess they wanted to give the crowd something special. To make room for those songs they shortened "Everybody Wants Some!!" which is less rapping and more instrumental. I think Dave's rapping in between RWTD and Little Guitars is less than two minutes also.
I have always thought that Quebec 4/21/84 was the strangest add to the set list. I mean they played the same songs for the whole US tour. Then on this one night they throw in Ice Cream Man & ST Blues. I would love to know why they changed it up on this one night. I have heard people speculate that since they hadn't played Quebec in a while they wanted to play a few that they hadn't heard before. This show is also has pretty good sound quality so it is a good listen.
Lucielle in Providence 81 is also pretty strange. I wonder if they did this song on the Canadian warm up tour before Providence or just this night. I am glad it was replaced by FYLT which is one of my favorites.
One other cool add was DOA on some of the later 82 shows. That song just kicks ass live. Very raw old school feel to it.
Jeff
Actually D.O.A. was on the earlier 1982 shows...it does not appear after San Francisco 9/15/82 on any of the recordings we have.
The Hide Your Sheep tour was kind of interesting in that they abandoned all Fair Warning songs from the US leg except Unchained, yet did as much as four Van Halen II songs (DTNA, SGMAD, Bottoms Up, D.O.A.) when they only did ONE Van Halen II song (Dance The Night Away) on the FW tour. You'd expect them to still have retained more FW material, but not so. And in fact the FW material other than Unchained pretty much evaporated for the rest of the Roth years. They did Mean Street in some of the 1983 shows, and So This Is Love? at others (but AFAIK they didn't do MS and STIL in the SAME show).
The Hide Your Sheep tour was kind of interesting in that they abandoned all Fair Warning songs from the US leg except Unchained
There was something that always bothered me and now I know what it is ... you're right ... what the heck happened that they all but gave up on Fair Warning? One of my favorite albums. After that tour alomst none of the songs surfaced again. Weird.
atomicpunk5151
05.18.05, 09:52 AM
My thought on the HYS 82 tour is that they had just played all the FW material for a whole year. They were looking to freshed it up with the new DD stuff and bringing back the VH II material that they ignored on the 81 tour. It would have been nice to have had at least one more FW song on that tour. I think the lack of album sales on FW might have had something to do with it also.
They flipped all the VH II stuff back out on the 84 tour. Kind of a every other year thing. To bad they didn't bring back Mean Street or something else from FW on the 84 tour.
I always thought that it was a little strange to abandon the WACF tunes. Yes there was Romeo Delight and EWS! How about And the Cradle Will Rock.., In a Simple Rhyme or Fools( both of which were not played since the club days)
I'm listening to the Long Beach 7/16/1978 show and noticed that Down In Flames was in the set. How often was that played during the first tour?
When was the official release of VH I?
I'm listening to the Long Beach 7/16/1978 show and noticed that Down In Flames was in the set. How often was that played during the first tour?
When was the official release of VH I?
Pretty sure the official release of VHI was either January or February 1978.
See this thread (http://www.jamtothis.com/showthread.php?t=1575) for discussion of "Down In Flames."
A seasoned VH trader suggested to me that QC differs from other 84 shows because the band was recording the show for possible release as a live album. Of course, this is pure speculation on his part.
Speaking of weird setlists the VH Encylopedia suggests that "In the Midnight Hour" was "reportedly played live on the Diver Down tour, though no known recordings exist." It would be cool to suddenly end up with a tape with that song on it, but I really doubt they whipped that song out, unless it was a one-off sort of like "Lucille."
Finally, Alex says in an interview recorded - I think - at Donnington in 84 that Dave called for Summertime Blues unexpectedly when VH opened for the Stones in late 81. I think those shows might offer a really strange setlist since the band probably played no longer than an hour, unless it was some sort of very early start to the show (anyone have a scan of a ticket stub)?
ffoner
I think that Quebec 4/21/84 show is the first time they ever played Quebec, and I guess they wanted to give the crowd something special. To make room for those songs they shortened "Everybody Wants Some!!" which is less rapping and more instrumental. I think Dave's rapping in between RWTD and Little Guitars is less than two minutes also.
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