CREDIT to ByTorX1
Van Halen (US Festival Rehearsal)
21 May 1983
Venue: A&M Studios Soundstage
Location: Los Angeles, California
Source: Soundboard (Master)
Lineage:
Maxell UDXL-I C-90 cassette > Nakamichi DR-1 (azimuth adjustment) > Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi HD > Audacity (24-96) > FLAC 6
01 Dave's Intro
02 Romeo Delight
03 Unchained
04 Drum Solo
05 The Full Bug
06 Runnin' With The Devil
07 Dave's US Festival Story
08 Jamie's Cryin'
09 So This Is Love?
10 Little Guitars
11 Bass Solo
12 Dancing In The Street
13 Somebody Get Me A Doctor / Girl Gone Bad (cut)
14 Cathedral
15 Secrets
16 Drum Solo II
17 Everybody Wants Some!!
18 Dave's Wozniak Song
19 Ice Cream Man
20 Intruder
21 Pretty Woman
22 Guitar Solo
23 You Really Got Me
24 Happy Trails
25 You Really Got Me (Reprise)
Notes:
Here is an uncirculated soundboard recording, capturing a private Van Halen show in front of a small audience during their rehearsals for the US Festival. This is the final recording from the collection of VH's then-front-of-house sound engineer, Roy.
As spoken by Dave, this particular performance occurred on a Saturday, and was the final rehearsal before the US Festival that was set to take place "next weekend". This provides us with a concrete date of May 21, while Roy's tape was simply labeled "Rehearsal US Fest". So where did this show take place? Apparently the band rehearsed for a few weeks, starting out at their usual rehearsal spot at Zoetrope Studios, however at some point during the weeks, they relocated to A&M Studios, specifically on the A&M Soundstage which is where this performance took place. Very special thanks to Van Halen historian Greg Renoff for helping solve the "where".
The story that has been told before, is that after the band concluded their South American tour and headed home, Dave stayed behind in South America to explore the Amazon jungle with a group of friends. Some weeks later, after the rest of the band had settled on the initial $1 million deal to perform at the US Festival, it is said that it took many days to locate Dave deep in the jungle, so that he could come home to finalize the deal and start rehearsals.
While this was a private show, it is essentially like any other concert as far as the show structure and performance goes. This time however, Dave shows off his comedy skills in full glory, making this a very fun and unique listen, perhaps rivaling the final show in Buenos Aires over three months earlier. Where he would usually first talk to the crowd prior to Jamie's Cryin', here we get a comedic backstory to the US Festival gig. Then where it is usually the acoustic spot before Ice Cream Man, we get some funny lyrics from Dave poking fun at Steve Wozniak, who for anyone that doesn't know was a cofounder of Apple, and founder of the US Festivals. Dave joking about Steve is a recurring theme through the show, alongside other comedic bits. Another standout moment is Ed's "little guitar" seemingly having some strings out of tune for Little Guitars.
If we look at the setlist, it has been shortened and shuffled a bit since South America, but is the same arrangement as what was performed at the actual US Festival show on May 29. The only difference here is Dance The Night Away seemingly being missing due to the tape flip, because in typical Roy fashion, his usual choice of a 90 minute tape ran out during the jam section of Somebody Get Me A Doctor. Luckily, we get to hear the full Girl Gone Bad segment before the tape stops, which has evolved even more since the final show in South America. Dance The Night Away should've followed, but he didn't flip the tape and start recording again until during Cathedral. Nothing else is missing, and while at a glance it may look like Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love and Bottoms Up are cut, it's because the band just didn't play those at this rehearsal, and instead went straight into You Really Got Me.
This is the end. Roy Snyder was Van Halen's front-of-house sound engineer beginning with the rehearsals preceding the start of the Fair Warning tour on May 12 in 1981, up through the US Festival show on May 29 in 1983. The 53 recordings that have been shared over the last year are the majority of what is known to have survived in his collection. We are aware of 9 or 10 Fair Warning 1981 soundboard and open-mic recordings that survived, plus 1982 soundboard tapes for a Diver Down pre-tour rehearsal from July 5, the show in Montreal, and the two shows at the Hollywood Sportatorium. Sadly, someone else bought those around the same time we saved these other 53, but with any luck, there's a slim chance they may turn up one day. Regardless, what we ended up with is a great legacy preserved for both Van Halen and Roy, rest in peace.
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