Legendary rock photographer Ross Halfin has shot Van Halen many times over the years. Here’s some of his incredible shots from Van Halen’s very first world tour, along with his story witnessing Van Halen live in concert that year…
“The mighty Van Halen. I first saw them open for Black Sabbath at the Hammersmith Odeon, 1978. They had a PR gal with them who was a complete bitch. She treated us photographers with contempt. She wanted photographers to sign a contract (this was unheard of at the time). Fuck her. None of us shot the show, but I went out to watch them. They played for forty-five minutes and acted like the Mongol hordes conquering Europe. The funniest part was David Lee Roth telling the crowd of smelly Sabbath fans that Hammersmith is “THE ROCK ’N’ ROLL CAPITAL OF THE FUCKING WORLD!” I shot them when they came back headlining the Rainbow Theatre. It was one of the best shows I’ve ever seen and, yes, Dave did tell us “THE RAINBOW IS THE ROCK ’N’ ROLL CAPITAL OF THE FUCKING WORLD!” And for the seventy-five minutes they played, he was right.”
— Ross Halfin (from the Van Halen coffee table photo book by Neil Zlozower).
