Van Halen 1982-08-08 Omaha, NE

Here we have a totally unheard, uncirculated open-mic recording, capturing the Van Halen concert in Omaha during their Diver Down tour (Hide Your Sheep tour) in 1982. Not even an audience recording of this show has circulated previously.

This is what could be considered an “official audience recording”, having been recorded with an open-mic right next to the soundboard / mixing desk. This is definitely a great recording, very similar to the Knoxville open-mic tape. Don’t be fooled by the “Backstage” Open Air Mic from Toronto 1982 that was shared last year, which was overall pretty bad. Unlike Toronto, where both the soundboard was recorded while an open-mic was also seemingly obscured elsewhere to record, none of Roy’s other open-mic recordings have a paired soundboard version.

A minor unique thing of note in this show, when the band comes back on stage for the final encore for You Really Got Me, Dave first says “Hello! I’m Dave Roth, and this is VAN HALEN!”, something he never seems to have done at other shows during the tour.

Like the Rockford soundboard, this is also one of the few tapes that captures the “outro music” that plays over the speakers after the band walks off stage, a song called “Imitation” by Kid Creole and the Coconuts.

What will become common with many later recordings, to save space, Roy stopped the tape temporarily during the lengthy break where Dave would talk to the crowd before Jamie’s Cryin’. The first side of the 90 minute master tape ends barely two minutes into Everybody Wants Some, so is missing all of Dave’s tangent about the girl in the bar, and the song’s reprise, as well as Dance The Night Away. The second side of the master tape starts about a minute into Somebody Get Me A Doctor. After the song ends, Roy temporarily stopped the recording again, and must’ve forgot to turn it back on because it doesn’t start again until over half way into Eddie’s guitar solo. Due to that, this recording does not capture Dave’s acoustic solo, Ice Cream Man, Intruder, or Pretty Woman. Once the tape starts again during the guitar solo, the remainder of the concert is all captured, only having short tape pauses during the encore breaks, something else Roy would start doing to save space.

Track Listing:

01 Intro [0:00]
02 Romeo Delight [0:36]
03 Unchained [4:29]
04 Drum Solo [8:10]
05 The Full Bug [11:13]
06 Runnin’ With The Devil [15:10]
07 Jamie’s Cryin’ [19:18]
08 Little Guitars [22:51]
09 Where Have All The Good Times Gone! [27:37]
10 Bass Solo [30:59]
11 Hang ‘Em High [34:33]
12 Cathedral [38:24]
13 Secrets [39:50]
14 Drum Solo II [43:21]
15 Everybody Wants Some!! (cut) [45:13]
16 Somebody Get Me A Doctor / I’m So Glad (cut) [47:03]
17 Guitar Solo (cut) [52:04]
18 D.O.A. [56:04]
19 Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love [59:40]
20 Bottoms Up! [1:05:55]
21 You Really Got Me [1:10:23]
22 Happy Trails [1:13:49]
23 You Really Got Me (Reprise) [1:15:09]
24 Outro Music [1:17:16]

Lineage: Maxell UDXL-I C-90 cassette / Nakamichi DR-1 (azimuth adjustment) / Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi HD / Audacity (24 bit – 96 khz) / FLAC 6

Liberating unheard soundboard tapes, and other significantly rare master tapes, is absurdly expensive, and we release everything for free. If you appreciate what we do, any donations will help recoup the massively accumulating expenses of acquiring these tapes.
Donation link: https://ko-fi.com/musi…

Enjoy the music and be grateful we are able hear these special recordings. If you have uncirculated tapes, please consider sharing them before they end up forever lost to time. If you recorded audio tapes, video tapes, or film at concerts of classic bands/artists, and would like help digitizing them free of charge, you can contact us at admin@rush-archives.net