Van Halen 1982-08-13 Detroit, MI

Here we have a totally unheard, uncirculated soundboard recording, capturing the Van Halen concert in Detroit during their Diver Down tour (Hide Your Sheep tour) in 1982. This is the first of three consecutive nights Van Halen played at Cobo Hall Arena in 1982. It’s worth noting that an audience recording of both this show and the second night do exist in circulation.

This is the same night that Life Magazine photographers attended a concert to take photos that would later appear in their November 1982 issue. During the interlude where Dave talks between Runnin’ With The Devil and Jamie’s Cryin’, he draws a lot of attention towards the photographers being there. Some of the photos that can be seen in the magazine show a girl who ran on stage to grab Dave, who was then quickly grabbed by security. There is actually a silent Super 8 film of this concert that just so happens to capture this very incident. By comparing the choreographed movements of the band, it’s clear this happens immediately before the final verses of Everybody Wants Some, prior to Dave’s storytime interlude.

While it is an overall strong show, Dave shows subtle signs of possibly having a cold. This can be suggested by the slight rasp in his voice at times, struggling a bit more than usual, and a cough during his Everybody Wants Some storytime. The reason this felt worthy of note, perhaps not only as minor defense for Dave against those who like to rag on him, but whatever underlying health issue he may have had during this show becomes greatly pronounced in a recording from about a week later in Richfield.

The first cut in the recording is where Roy would often pause to save space, during the lengthy break where Dave would talk to the crowd before Jamie’s Cryin’. However, he turns the tape back on right as Dave is about to mention Life Magazine, lets it roll a while, then stops the tape again after that topic passes. He starts recording again immediately before the band is about to start playing Jamie. This interlude, which is only approx 2m40s in this recording, is revealed to have been about 6m40s in length when comparing to the audience recording.

The first side of the 90 minute master tape ends during the second drum solo (aka Dave’s “tai chi dance”), however the tape is flipped very quickly and starts again a few seconds before they go into Everybody Wants Some. Roy pauses again later, about 50 seconds into Dave’s acoustic solo, then starts back recording right before Pretty Woman. Due to this, the recording is ultimately missing Ice Cream Man and all but 8 seconds of Intruder. The second side of the tape ends after Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love concludes, so is missing the encores with Bottoms Up, You Really Got Me, and Happy Trails.

Track Listing:

01 Intro [0:00]
02 Romeo Delight [0:27]
03 Unchained [4:07]
04 Drum Solo [7:40]
05 The Full Bug [10:49]
06 Runnin’ With The Devil [14:32]
07 Dave Talks (cut) [17:48]
08 Jamie’s Cryin’ [20:30]
09 Little Guitars [24:13]
10 Where Have All The Good Times Gone! [28:57]
11 Bass Solo [32:22]
12 Hang ‘Em High [36:16]
13 Cathedral [40:00]
14 Secrets [41:28]
15 Drum Solo II [45:06]
16 Everybody Wants Some!! [46:56]
17 Dave Talks [50:16]
18 Everybody Wants Some!! (Reprise) [56:50]
19 Dance The Night Away [58:42]
20 Somebody Get Me A Doctor / I’m So Glad [1:01:58]
21 Dave Acoustic Solo (cut) [1:08:40]
22 Pretty Woman [1:09:32]
23 Guitar Solo [1:12:52]
24 D.O.A. [1:23:19]
25 Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love [1:27:00]

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

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