From The Villanovan:

If there is any album you should have when stranded on an island, it has to be Van Halen’s self-titled debut. These guys invented the idea of “rocking-out,” and on their debut, Van Halen unleashes the supernatural guitarist virtuoso that is Eddie Van Halen to the world.

In Van Halen’s early days, Eddie would play his guitar solos with his back facing the audience, for fear of anyone stealing his unique guitar-playing technique. Yet on the debut, Van Halen shows no trace of shyness, taking the world by storm with David Lee Roth’s shrill vocals, Alex Van Halen’s tenacious drumming, Michael Anthony’s lively bass lines and, of course, Eddie’s unmatched control over his guitar.

His signature finger-tapping, dive bombing and lightning fast guitar licks are all over this album. It comes as no surprise why he became rock’s greatest guitarist of all time.

It is all killer no filler right from the start. The album opens with “Running With The Devil,” an in-your-face rocker built around a thumping bass line that has David Lee Roth stating his band’s philosophy proudly: “I live my life like there’s no tomorrow.” But as soon as the opening chord of “Eruption” blasts through your speakers, you are bound to be blown away as Eddie takes the spotlight on what was originally meant to be a “warm-up” routine before a show. The only thing this blazing instrumental warms you up for is the next set of high-octane songs which include the energetic Kinks cover “You Really Got Me” and the album highlight “I’m The One.”

Although this album could be said to be the start of hair metal, “Van Halen” is anything but. Van Halen makes use of each member’s powerful vocal and instrumental chops to create loud pop songs like “Feel Your Love Tonight,” “Jamie’s Cryin’” and “Little Dreamer.”

They sport this blend of metal, rock and pop perfectly. They even dip into 12-bar blues on “Ice Cream Man,” with a Van Halen twist of course, as this song contains one of Eddie’s most electrifying solos of his career.

Van Halen’s debut album can be viewed as not only one of the best debut albums of all time but also one of the greatest rock albums in history.

It’s got all the swagger, attitude and power rock bands spend decades trying to achieve. It blew the world away in 1978 when released, and today it continues to amaze.

From: Eddie Van Halen’s Myspace page:

October 29, 2009
Took a short break and went to Vegas with Janie, Wolfie and Olivia.

Hung out and relaxed, saw three Cirque shows, shopped, checked out the town
and had a good time all around.

Back home now and busy planning Janie’s birthday and working on some stuff
in the studio.

Life is good and I am happy and healthy!

Note that in this picture of Ed and Criss Angel, Eddie’s wearing the original Van Halen silver necklace… we haven’t seen  pictures of him wearing that in a long time. Cool!

Also, a recent post from Eddie’s Twitter (Oct 1st):

Went to see Alice in Chains last night. They kicked ass and it was great to hang with Jerry and the guys again!

Mike, Sam, Emeril & Matt Sorum - 2009 Bash

Welcome to the Van Halen News Desk’s “Cabo Wabo Birthday Bash” recap, which features setlists of all 5 of the wild concerts during the bash, videos of Chickenfoot’s soundcheck at the Cantina, and newly imported Cabo Wabo merchandise. Enjoy!

First, here’s what Sammy Hagar had to say after the bash:

Cabo Wabo Guitar Picks & Collectors Tin #1 ($12.95, Click image to purchase)

“Wow….I am sitting on the beach trying to remember how all this happened in one week…..Two awesome shows with the Wabo’s…I feel like we didn’t miss a beat, it was so fun playing with them again! Then Chad, Mike and Joe came in like a storm or should I say with the storm. The Foot at the Wabo, dream come true is about all I can say. What an awesome night, something I have thought about since we all got together as Chickenfoot just after last years bash. Then we had the last two nights…….I have to say, Matt Sorum, an original Wabo Rat was full on as he brings so much energy to the new show as well as his better half Ace who sang some Zeppelin on Tuesday….Mikey and the Other Half was something to remember… I always love playing those songs with him……And who can forget Emeril……his birthday is 10/15 and he comes down every year for a charity cooking event that we have done together for the past three years…….He is now an official Wabo Rat as well.

2009 Birthday Bash Pick ($9.95, Click image to purchase)

“Looking ahead we will have the second best place on the planet to party at…….Las Vegas Baby!!! The Cabo Wabo on the strip will open in mid November and we will be there to play sometime the first week of December, so stay tuned!

“I have been thinking about all my special fans and realize we have to come up with a better system for tickets next year…..I cannot stand the thought of my fans sleeping on the street and with the weather issues we have had over the past few years, if anything happened to one of you I would be devasted! So we will be working on a new system for next year….Thank you all for sharing my birthday with me….”

Peace and Love,
Sammy

Chickenfoot’s soundcheck at the Cabo Wabo, part 1:

Chickenfoot’s soundcheck at the Cabo Wabo, part 2:

Chickenfoot’s soundcheck at the Cabo Wabo, part 3:

SETLISTS:

Show #1 - Oct 7th:

2009 Cabo Wabo Birthday Bash Shirt (L, XL, 2XL) (Click image to purchase)

Turn Up The Music
Red
Whole Lotta Zep
Shaka Doobie
Finish What You Started
Three Lock Box
Cosmic Universal Fashion
Rock Candy
I’ll Fall In Love Again
Your Love Is Driving Me Crazy
Loud
One Way To Rock
Eagles Fly
Heavy Metal
Mas Tequila

Show #2 - Oct 8th:

I Cant Drive 55
I Love This Bar
Red Voodoo
Tropic of Capricorn
Best of Both Worlds
High and Dry Again
Whole Lotta Zep
Marching to Mars
Give to Live
Both Sides Now
Plain Jane
Rock ‘n’ Roll
Weekend (Sammy on drums)
Let Sally Drive
Fight For Your Right To Party

Chickenfoot Cabo Wabo Concert Shirt (L & XL, Click image to purchase)

Show #3 - Oct 10th (CHICKENFOOT’s secret gig):

Avenida Revolution
Sexy Little Thing
Soap on a Rope
My Kinda Girl
Alright Now
Down the Drain
Oh Yeah
Runnin’ Out
Learning to Fall
Get It Up
Turning Left
Future in the Past

Show #4 - Oct 12th:

Loud
Rock`N` Roll
Rock Candy
Going Down
Whole Lotta Zep
Good Enough
Poundcake
Why Can`t This Be Love
Runaround
Top Of The World
Running With The Devil
Finish What You Started
Right Now
Heavy Metal

Show #5 - Oct 13th - Birthday Show:

Cabo Wabo Guitar Picks & Collectors Tin #2 ($12.95, Click image to purchase)

Sun Don’t Shine
Ten 13
I Cant Drive 55
Little White Lies
One Way To Rock
I’ll Fall In Love Again
Best Of Both Worlds
Loud
Whole Lotta Zep
Rock ‘n’ Roll
Dreams
I`ll Take You There
Shaka Doobie
Mas Tequila
Cabo Wabo.

CABO WABO MERCHANDISE:

See all the officially licensed Cabo Wabo stuff for sale at Van Halen Store, such as t-shirts, hats, shotglasses, keychains, drinking accessories, stickers, etc.

MORE ABOUT THE BASHES:

For a more thorough write-up of Sammy’s yearly Birthday Bashes read our “Rockin’ Cabo” write up from last year.

Believe it or not, someone actually uploaded a Van Halen video to YouTube today that almost no one has ever seen since it only once… on French TV, back in 1981! Until today, this lip-sync Van Halen footage has barely circulated among bootleg collectors. Enjoy!

Here’s a sample video of someone playing “Unchained”:

Here’s a review from Blast Magazine:

By Stephen Greenwell

Guitar Hero: Van Halen Review

8.7 out of 10 - Superb

Hey, don’t walk, “jump” and buy Guitar Hero: Van Halen!  Ha ha ha!  Man, I’m so witty – Around the Blast offices, if we had such a thing that I hung around, they would say I’m the funniest guy in there.  Wooooo!

Anyway, don’t let my horribly corny jokes dissuade you from checking out Van Halen’s edition of Guitar Hero.  It offers much more depth than you’d expect from an installment of Guitar Hero that is more of a side project, and it totally shames the Rock Band offering of The Beatles, at least in this humble reviewer’s opinion.  While it clearly isn’t as polished or as much of a value as Guitar Hero 5, if you love Van Halen or need more Guitar Hero fun, it is a clear “must buy” for you.

As you can imagine from the premise of the title, Guitar Hero: Van Halen focuses primarily on the band.  Almost every significant single is included, from the pure arena rock nature of “Jump” to the… uh, other arena rock songs, like “Hot For Teacher” and “Jamie’s Crying.”  Happily though, some deeper tracks are included, such as the ultimate shredding song, “Eruption,” which is as ridiculously difficult as you would expect.

A note right up front about the song selection – The game only features songs and avatars of the current  lineup of Van Halen.  Given the band’s notoriously challenged relationship with past contributors, this probably isn’t shocking to most of you reading that actually enjoy Van Halen.  Almost every David Lee Roth song of significance is included in the 25 Van Halen tracks, and the avatars are of Roth, Eddie Van Halen, Alex Van Halen and Wolfgang Van Halen.

When it comes to the other 19 tracks, they were picked out by the 18-year-old Wolfgang, the son of Eddie, and it shows.  Weezer, Foo Fighters, Blink-182, Jimmy Eat World and Fountains of Wayne are artists you would normally associate more with modern rock, but I’d argue that they have more in common with Van Halen than, say, Twisted Sister, or some other hair band from Van Halen’s era.  Case in point – While era contemporary The Clash have a song on the game, “Safe European Home” is more gritty punk than the refined, arena rock sound of Van Halen.

The difficulty of Guitar Hero: Van Halen is definitely a tick up from the most recent rhythm game releases, Guitar Hero 5 and Rock Band: The Beatles.  Then again, that is probably to be expected with the tracks featured.  The guitar and bass portions feature lots and lots of notes, especially if you’re trying to segue from The Beatles, who feature fairly simple transitions and chords.

However, while the game is incredible at its core goal – Roth-era Van Halen excellence – it doesn’t incorporate some of the features from Guitar Hero 5.  I suspect that development on this game began far before the completion of Guitar Hero 5, which might explain why some of the new tweaks weren’t incorporated.  (It might also explain why there is a Foo Fighters song present, even though Dave Grohl got pissed that his former band mate was a playable character in Guitar Hero 5.)  For example, there is no drop-in play, and while you can chose or create an avatar to play as, you can’t swap out other members of the band.  On the plus side, the crowd sings along during certain choruses.

One other sticking point is the price – $50 for the Wii edition.  Eech.  For practically the same amount, Guitar Hero 5 is a much better bargain, since it provides almost double the amount of songs: 85 to 45.  Although Guitar Hero: Van Halen was a throw-in for purchasing Guitar Hero 5 early and features half the songs, this is not reflected in the price at all.

Blast Factor: Your enjoyment of this game though, as with any of these band-specific rhythm games, hinges on your enjoyment of the track list.  I love Van Halen, so I loved this game.  If you love Van Halen, the higher price tag will probably not dissuade.  In addition, if you love modern rock and alternative, this is definitely the best track list next to Guitar Hero: Modern Hits for the Nintendo DS.

Guitar Hero: Van Halen is available on the Wii, Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 systems, at a cost of $49.99 and $59.99 respectively. This review concerns the Wii version. A copy of this game was redeemed via the Guitar Hero 5 offer for review purposes; the official retail version is not available until December 22.

Stephen Greenwell combines the classic style of a 1950s robot with the dynamic flair of a 1970s street pimp. In his spare time, he plays video games, writes and thinks way too much about sports. E-mail him at sgre6768@gmail.com .

From illoluv.com:
Of all the concerts I’ve been to in my life, this one comes out at NUMBER ONE. The music was, of course, so FREKKIN’ awesome, but this one gets pushed to the top for “the incident” and what was to follow.

sidenote: Make sure to read Daniel’s post too! He talks more about the music and has all the pictures we took PLUS the vids!

Let me first say lay down a little background. I loved Chickenfoot before I even heard their music! I heard that Sammy Hagar had put together a new band and was going to release an album, which was enough to get me excited, but when I heard who his band members were, my excitement soared to new heights. Michael Anthony of Van Halen on bass, Joe Satriani on guitar and Chad Smith of RHCP on drums! I don’t think I’d been this excited about an album for a very long time. I got it a few weeks ago and have been listening to it non-stop. Sammy NEVER disappoints, and the band-member combination is AMAZING. (check out the first single, “Oh Yeah” if you haven’t heard it yet!)

Anyway, onto the good part… (Read the rest)

Chickenfoot is releasing a special Deluxe Limited Edition Chickenfoot DVD/CD for just the price of a normal CD…an INCREDIBLE value for a CD with a bonus track and a DVD with a ton of behind the scenes, studio & concert footage! The release date is November 1st.

CD: Includes all 12 tracks (including “Bitten By The Wolf”, which is not on the regular CD)

Bonus DVD: Contains one hour of new video footage featuring videos for every song including live performances from Montreux Jazz Festival (”Soap on a Rope”, “Sexy Little Thing” & “Down The Drain”), and exclusive footage from the road, in rehearsal, and in the recording studio. Both official music videos for “Oh Yeah” and “Soap On A Rope” are also included. The DVD is truly great and is a MUST HAVE for all Chickenfoot fans!

Packaging: The Deluxe Limited Edition features a reverse design from that which was featured on their self-titled debut, which was a black CD printed with heat sensitive ink. The Deluxe Limited Edition features a white background printed with an invisible ultraviolet ink, which fluoresses under blacklight exposure.

Order Chickenfoot’s Deluxe Limited Edition at Van Halen Store for $2 off the list price. (Just $11.95) Just released… IN STOCK & SHIPPING NOW.

Here’s a teaser clip from the bonus DVD that’s part of the Deluxe Limited Edition:

2009 saw Chickenfoot’s debut album reach phenomenal world wide acclaim, debuting at #4 on the American Billboard 200 and charting highly all over the World, including a Top 20 place in the UK album chart, and reaching #10 in Germany and Japan. The album was recently certified GOLD by the RIAA.

Here’s a shot of the guys being presented their gold record awards: