{"id":1610,"date":"2012-08-04T10:45:05","date_gmt":"2012-08-04T14:45:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.westwoodvalley.com\/?p=1610"},"modified":"2012-08-04T10:45:05","modified_gmt":"2012-08-04T14:45:05","slug":"my-musical-evolution-part-193-the-rise-fall-of-84-van-halen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wrharrison.com\/musicalevolution\/2012\/08\/04\/my-musical-evolution-part-193-the-rise-fall-of-84-van-halen\/","title":{"rendered":"My Musical Evolution – Part 193 The Rise & Fall Of ’84 Van Halen Live!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Van<\/a>I’m struggling with where to place Van Halen’s 1984<\/em> album. I’ve put it in The Rise & Fall Of ’84<\/em> mostly because Lisa and I saw Van Halen at the Coliseum in July of 1984.\u00a0 I actually bought this album before I met Lisa and as such many of the songs are not really attached to her otherwise.<\/p>\n

I suppose Panama<\/em> is probably the most Rise & Fall relevant because of its frequency on MTV.\u00a0Tickets for the show went on sale earlier that spring. Lisa and I got up and out there very early to buy tickets. After hours of waiting, we finally got near enough to smell the ink on the tickets but they were sold out.<\/p>\n

Needless to say, we were devastated. Fortunately, with the financial backing from her mother, we were able to secure tickets on the secondary market.\u00a0 I think we had to do some kind of chores like wash some cars or something to secure the Van Halen funding.<\/p>\n

I had been to concerts before but this was the first time that I was taking a lady friend. I’ve had what I consider\u00a05 serious <\/em>girlfriends in my life in between the hundreds of crushes and flings.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/em> With only one exception, I’ve taken each of these women to a concert.\u00a0 Lisa was of course Van Halen, Penny was REO Speedwagon, Lynette was David Lee Roth and Mary [who would become my wife] was U2.\u00a0 We’ll get to all of those concerts as My Musical Evolution<\/em> continues.<\/p>\n

It was a truly different experience being at a concert with a pretty girl. You get to enjoy them as well as benefit from the courtesy that the world reserves for beautiful women.\u00a0 The opening act I later learned was a band called The Velcros<\/em>. The were a rock-a-billy act not too different from The Stray Cats<\/em> in their look and style. I felt really bad for them. As soon as their set started, the crowd starting screaming for Van Halen.\u00a0 People were throwing garbage on the stage. I remeber quite vividly they ended a song and the stage lights shut off on cue. They came up a second later to illuminate 2000 plastic drink cups hitting the stage and performers.<\/p>\n

Van Halen was amazing as advertised. Although I only owned 2 Van Halen albums at the time, I had heard most of their stuff via other channels in the months leading up to the show.\u00a0 We didn’t know it then but Van Halen would break up soon after that concert. At first it was a shock because they seemed so good together.\u00a0 A month later, Lisa and I would break up too. At first it was a shock because we seemed so good together.<\/p>\n

I guess it is a good thing I put this in The Rise And Fall Of ’84<\/em> since it is mostly about the concert which is where it belongs. One other thing about Van Halen comes to mind and that is my mother for some reason kept calling them Van Heflen.<\/em><\/p>\n

1984<\/em>
\n