Classic Van Halen footage from “Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert”

January 24, 2011 63 Comments

Don Kirshner in 1976. Rock music promoter and producer Don Kirshner died last week of heart failure in Boca Raton, Florida, at the age of 76. Don was one of the people that helped put Van Halen on the map. His syndicated series,”Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert,” featured live performances of Van Halen from their 1979 and 1981 tours, which is the earliest professionally filmed live footage of Van Halen that is known to exist. Amazingly, the footage has never been officially released for home viewing, despite the fact that fans and collectors consider it to be some of the very best footage of the band that exists.

The syndicated “Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert” grew out of his involvement as a creative consultant for ABC’s “In Concert,” with Kirshner insisting that the acts play live rather than lip-synching their performances. The show launched on Sept. 27, 1973, with the Rolling Stones’ first American TV appearance in more than four years. Its 230 episodes, which ran through 1981, featuring a wide array of artists such as Van Halen, Kiss, ABBA, Sly & the Family Stone, Peter Frampton, the Ramones, the Eagles, Rush, Kansas and many others.

If it wasn’t for Don Kirshner, this classic Van Halen footage might never have been filmed. Thank you, Don!

Mike V

These videos have been on Youtube for a long time.
http://vhnd.com Steve S.

Diamond Dave at his very best!
Howza

This was Van Halen at its finest. Ed could improvise like a mother back then..Killer! Why the hell won’t they put a nice package together and touch up some of these old performances for the fans!!! Led Zep and Rush released their greatness to us on DVD. Come on Eddie, release the old footage and take care of the fans.
ZahZoo

Classic VH live was an event, a party, a circus, a sideshow… it was part pop, part vaudville, part rock marinated in Jack Daniels, pussy and whatever was in the kitchen.

One didn’t go to the Van Halen theater to listen to the fine vocal performances. You went for the party and the vibe. Singing quality and proper lyrics were tiny parts of a much, much bigger explosion on stage.

If you were there (78-85) you got it… No one complained of the singing quality from a VH show. If you grew up a couple decades later and cut your teeth on the interweb experiencing a VH show on your computer through crappy 2 inch speakers or ear buds… oh well sorry you missed the boat. Blame your parents for short changing you…
Hardrock69

Today’s youth simply can’t comprehend what it meant to go to a REAL CVH show with the REAL CLASSIC VAN HALEN! It is because of the saturation of media….a concert is no big deal. They just go to YouTube and they can see everything and they think they know what it’s all about.

How wrong they are.

I think back to the 4 shows I saw with the Mighty Van Halen, and I think to myself: “I WAS THERE. I SAW THEM! I WAS FUCKING THERE AND THEY KICKED MY MUTHAFUCKING ASS!”.

Out of all the concert experiences of my life, witnessing CVH in concert was the pinnacle. It was the best. It encapsulated everything a rock concert was supposed to be.

A fucking amazing hard rock party band that was there to blow your mind, and create a party atmosphere like no other band could.

It is no wonder that Jeff Spicoli hired Van Halen to play his birthday party.
Johnnyh

Holy cow!! I was wondering where I could see these! When you search utube I never could pull any VH from Don Kirshner’s concerts. I was working as a dishwasher and walking thru the bar I saw this concert on the tv. Well I loved VH so I was staring at the tv and trying to stall as much as possible to watch it. No Mtv back then and I had not seen the band live. The boss kept getting on my rear so I missed alot of it. Thanks for posting this, WHAT GREAT MEMORIES !!!!!!
51504VH

@ ZahZoo and Hardrock69…couldn’t agree more. I remember Seeing them at the ’83 US Festival and there was like 300,000 people there and everyone was wasted including Van Halen, I can still hear Dave Shouting “Hello Southern California!!!” and it totally felt like everyone in the state of California was there and nowhere else mattered. Dave was crazy and didn’t give a fuck back then. He was totally wasted with the rest of us which I thought was cool as shit. He was a true Rock Star and it just came natural to him.
jeff adams

ZahZoo, I’m w/ ya 100%. I was there from the begining to the end. Dave CAN sing and as far as I’m concerned he did have the best voice in the business. He was a bit hungerier in the old day’s but he earned his right to get a little goofier in the 80′s. Don’t get me wrong, the Fair Warning tour was and still is my favorite. That concert was mind blowing. In the 70′s and 80′s when you had a Van Halen ticket in your hand you were the envy of everyone. The weeks and months prior to the concert were an f’n blast just knowing you were going to see Van Halen soon.
Tony

It is hard to describe to people how strongly you felt about the Dave era of Van Halen. Going to their concert , having their amazing 6 albums of music in a 7 year time frame, and being part of their army was much more than the 2 hour show. The weeks leading up to the show made your body charged with anticipation and when the show was over you left feeling invincible!!!!

Knowing one of their albums was about to be released was the same feeling a little kid has when Christmas is coming in a month or two and you believe in Santa-something magical is going to happen and it can’t get here fast enough!!!!

You watch the people in the audience in the back and they are reaching toward the stage because Dave had the gift of making everyone in the arena feel he was talking directly to them. Look at the crowd going bonkers-not just a few people here and there or those up front – the entire audience is in a joyful frenzy. It was like that in bigger venues, right up to the US festival crowd of 300K+ and South America tours in front of huge crowds. Even today it gets me excited just thinking about how good it made me feel.
SD

I firmly believe that if they stayed with Dave (No Sammy or Gary era) they would have been known as the best US rock band of all time.
Waldo

Michael Anthony belongs in Van Halen. Eddie should help Wolfgang start his own band with other talented people his own age and Eddie and Alex should also think about doing a Van Halen tour alternating lead singers (David Lee Roth and Sammy Hagar). There isn’t a possible downside to this at all!!! Maybe even do a few albums that way too – with Michael Anthony on the Jack Daniels bass guitar!!!!!
etm5150

The best rock music of all time ….classic van halen
chuck

Ed will never release this LIVE stuff !! If he wanted it out he would have put it in the Van Halen video’s DVD 10 year’s ago !! He want’s everyone NOT to know how fucking great they were. With Mike out of the band know good luck !! There are place’s online you can find them in great quality.