Van Halen 1982-11-18 Dallas, TX

Here is yet another uncirculated soundboard recording, capturing the Van Halen concert in Dallas during their Diver Down tour (Hide Your Sheep tour) in 1982. This is the first of two consecutive nights Van Halen played at the Reunion Arena in 1982.

This one initially may not seem quite new or uncirculated to a lot of people, considering a recording of this first night in Dallas has long been the only true soundboard tape from 1982 to circulate prior to 2024, albeit in much poorer quality due to generation loss and seemingly a poor transfer. However, what we have here isn’t simply an upgrade from the master, this is a completely alternate recording source. The real surprise here is that the old source is without a doubt also one of Roy’s recordings, as his signature tape pauses and length all match exactly to how he recorded the majority of the tour. The most noticeable difference with this new source is that it doesn’t have his usual omission of Ice Cream Man and Dave’s long acoustic bit that leads up to it.

This all raises quite a few questions. For one, how did Roy’s other soundboard recording of this first night in Dallas make it out all those years ago, and where might that master tape be? Roy certainly didn’t just make a copy and keep the master in his collection, this new source was the only one he had retained. We also have to wonder, why did he record this show on two decks at the same time, and how often may he have done a “double taping” like this? It’s certainly not unheard of, since in Toronto he recorded both from the soundboard and with an open mic. Did he hand off alternate master tapes of other shows as well? Spoiler alert, we will see this again with a well known recording from 1983. Regardless, it could be considered that since the Dallas area was both Roy’s birthplace and the origin of the sound company he worked for, those factors could’ve weighed towards the double taping decision.

Unusually, Roy didn’t record the brief show introduction, though started the tape perfectly in time for Romeo Delight. Then while there oddly is about a minute of crowd noise recorded following Runnin’ With The Devil, Roy still did his usual pause during this break where Dave would give an extended talk to the crowd. Despite these brief oddities, the tape flip still ends up happening right around the usual place: The first side of the 90 minute master tape runs out during the first part of Everybody Wants Some. The second side of the tape starts right at the start of Dave’s storytime interlude, though it seems that Roy randomly paused again while Dave was talking, so is missing about a minute or so. Following his decision from the show prior in New Jersey, Roy again decided to not do his usual tape pause following Somebody Get Me A Doctor, so we once again get to hear Dave’s acoustic bit and Ice Cream Man.

The second side of the 90 minute master tape runs out during the brief breakdown of Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love where Dave says a few more words to the crowd, however in a complete break of routine, Roy finally decided to grab a second tape to capture more of a show than the confines of a single 90 minute tape. He changed tapes quickly, so was able to capture the rest of the song as well as both complete encores (with the usual pauses during the encore breaks). It seems that using a second tape was a last minute decision, as the pause timing on the first tape are mostly identical to other single-tape shows he recorded in this time frame. Questionably, the second tape only featured about 13 minutes of audio on an otherwise still blank 90 minute tape, which you’d think he could’ve used to record more of another show sometime later.

Track Listing:

01 Romeo Delight [0:00]
02 Unchained [3:37]
03 Drum Solo [7:13]
04 The Full Bug [10:19]
05 Runnin’ With The Devil [14:03]
06 Jamie’s Cryin’ [18:10]
07 Little Guitars [21:43]
08 Where Have All The Good Time Gone! [26:13]
09 Bass Solo [29:34]
10 Hang ‘Em High [34:31]
11 Cathedral [37:50]
12 Secrets [39:29]
13 Drum Solo II [42:50]
14 Everybody Wants Some!! (cut) [44:47]
15 Dave Talks (cut) [46:06]
16 Everybody Wants Some!! (Reprise) [51:11]
17 Dance The Night Away [52:54]
18 Somebody Get Me A Doctor / I’m So Glad [56:06]
19 Dave Acoustic Solo [1:04:16]
20 Ice Cream Man [1:08:20]
21 Intruder [1:12:17]
22 Pretty Woman [1:14:19]
23 Guitar Solo [1:17:18]
24 Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love [1:28:31]
25 Bottoms Up! [1:34:02]
26 You Really Got Me [1:38:12]
27 Happy Trails [1:41:58]
28 You Really Got Me (Reprise) [1:43:07]

Lineage: Maxell UDXL-I C-90 cassettes (x2) / Nakamichi DR-1 (azimuth adjustment) / Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi HD / Audacity (24 bit – 96 khz) / FLAC 6

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