Post by CGYou saw a VH club show? What was that like? Did you predict they'd make it big?
This was my very first time seeing a live band and I was still in High School. It was at the Golden Bear Club (which is now long gone) on PCH in Huntington Beach, CA in January of '77. At the time, I really had no focused taste in music, I couldn't tell the difference between KISS and Led Zeppelin if I heard one of those band's albums back to back. My buddy who knew the guy who usually ran the mixing desk at the club got us in (we were both underage - this was a 18 and over club) after months of trying to get me to go see LA area bands who played clubs at the time.
It was incredibly loud and I remember they played several songs that later showed up on the 1st album as well as a few
covers that I thought were their originals. One in particular that they played, "Walk Away" I tried for a long time to find on record until I clued in it was a Joe Walsh/James Gang tune. Eddie had his effects stuff in an old beat to hell upright Bomb casing. I was hooked although it still took a few years to get some decent taste in music (my next show was The Electric Light Orchestra at the Anaheim Stadium in '78, LOL!).
As for having any idea they'd "make it," no, at the time I figured if they play clubs, that's where such bands pretty much stay. So it was pretty cool to see them next play Long Beach Arena about a year and a half later in '78 and then the LA Coliseum in '79. When I saw them pretty much blow away the headliners Aerosmith that show, that's when I figured they were world beaters. I did wind up seeing Van Halen at least once every tour in Southern CA from '78 through '07 with the exception of the OU812 Monsters of Rock and '93 RHRN Sammy Hagar era tours.
Off the top of my head, the only other major bands I lucked out seeing in clubs before they had any sort of success was U2 at the Country Club in Reseda in '81, Guns n' Roses in '86 (supporting one of my favorite bands - The Lords Of The New Church) and Jane's Addiction in '88.
T.B.