Summertime on the Sunset Strip with Van Halen….gu-gu-gu-gauranteeeeed to satisfy!
Forty five years ago tonight Van Halen performed at the legendary Starwood nightclub in West Hollywood. It wasn’t too long before this gig that the lineup of David Lee Roth, Eddie Van Halen, Alex Van Halen and Michael Anthony had been been confined to playing mostly cover songs but the tides began to turn in early May of 1976. On that night Van Halen was the opening act for English Rock heavyweights UFO at the Golden West Ballroom in Norwalk, California. Many who were in attendance would later say that Van Halen blew UFO off the stage that night. As a result, Van Halen now had some serious leverage and they would use it by adding more and more originals to setlists.
Another big break came thanks to Los Angeles disc jockey Rodney Bingenheimer. The popular KROQ DJ helped several bands become successful in the American market including Blondie, the Ramones, The Sex Pistols, The Cure and Van Halen, who he first saw playing at Gazarri’s nightclub on the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood. Shortly after, Bingenheimer helped Van Halen secure gigs at the Starwood where he was the club’s DJ. It was during those shows that Gene Simmons would see Van Halen in action for the first time and eventually produce the band’s first demo. As you’ll hear in this June 29th, ’76 Starwood recording, Roth thanked Bingenheimer in between songs.
As for those songs…..What a setlist it is! The band performed future studio classics “Somebody Get Me A Doctor”, “I’m The One” (titled “Show Your Love”), “D.O.A.”, “Runnin’ With The Devil”, “She’s The Woman”, “Ice Cream Man”, “In A Simple Rhyme” (titled “Simple Rhyme”), “Eruption” and “Fools” (titled “I Live With Fools”). Many of these songs feature different lyrics along with some interesting musical twists like “D.O.A.”, which opens with a killer bass and drum intro very reminiscent of Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Fortunate Son”.
Along with songs that would end up on future studio albums are many that would live on only through demos including “Babe Don’t Leave Me Alone”, “Let Me Swim”, “Believe Me”, “Honolulu Baby”, “House Of Pain” (original version) and “Eyes Of The Night”. If there were any of these songs that were worthy of inclusion on later albums it would have to be “Believe Me”, a menacing groove with a killer riff from King Edward. Bummer it didn’t end up on an album but thankfully it lives on in recordings like this.
The audio of the show above was uploaded by YouTuber My Collection. The beginning song “Somebody Get Me A Doctor” cuts in and is only three minutes in length but there’s plenty from the show captured and well worth a listen!
SETLIST:
1 Somebody Get Me A Doctor
2 Babe, Don’t Leave Me Alone
3 Show Your Love
4 D.O.A.
5 Runnin’ With The Devil
6 Let Me Swim
7 She’s The Woman
8 Ice Cream Man
9 Believe Me
10 Honolulu Baby
11 In A Simple Rhyme
12 Eruption
13 House Of Pain
14 Eyes Of Night
15 I Live With Fools