Van Halen Performs on Jimmy Kimmel Live

If you didn’t catch Jimmy Kimmel last night you may have missed a performance by rock legends Van Halen as they performed on Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles, CA.  If you did, don’t worry! They’re showing a couple more song performances tonight on the show.  What Hollywood glitz and glamour doesn’t show you is that the whole show was recorded last evening but they spread the performances out a few days.

It was a typical Monday at work where I was sleepy and grabbing my coffee cup when a coworker leaned over and said there was a free Van Halen concert on Hollywood Boulevard that day.  What year was I in?  How many opportunities like this come up?  I had to go! I packed up my stuff and left work early to get to the busiest place in Hollywood to stand in line with thousands of fans to see the group.  If you did catch the performance last night or if you see it tonight, you’ll see how many people showed up (and I was wayyy in the back after waiting in line for 5 1/2 hours until the performance actually started) but everyone there was a huge Van Halen fan.  The age set for the show was 16+ and you had to have a ticket to get in.  I like the way they set up the tickets though because even though they’re free, the ticket has to match the name on your ID.  No scalpers allowed!

After waiting and waiting for hours and hearing the occasional “VAN HALEN!” yelled from men in tight leather pants, Jimmy finally came out on stage to record a couple intros for the show that night.  Spoiler alert, Jimmy Kimmel live is technically not live and neither was the performance.  It’s in front of a live audience! But everything is prerecorded earlier that day, edited in a quick amount of time, and aired that night.

Now to the good stuff.  This performance was the first televised performance by Van Halen with original members David Lee Roth, Eddie Van Halen, Alex Van Halen, and adding to the crew Eddie’s son Wolfgang Van Halen on bass.  The band opened up with their song Panama which got the crowd singing along until everyone started to notice that David’s nose was bleeding.  Halfway through the song he went off stage and came back a bit later and apologized to the crowd after the song stopped.  He bonked his mic on his nose!  After putting on a band-aid the  band started the song over and that’s what was shown on television.  The band also played the songs Running with the Devil, Hot for Teacher, Eruption, You Really Got Me, and more.  I could tell how excited David was to be performing for this huge crowd as he was all smiles on stage when he wasn’t dancing and gyrating on the mic.  I could tell that he’s old now though, he couldn’t hit some of the notes that he used to but the audience hit the notes for him.

The person I was most excited to see was Eddie himself.  One of the best guitar players in the world, he makes playing look so easy.  His fingers move so fast and hit perfect notes each time while his face is calm and focused.  After shredding and performing a little riff, he always looks to the audience and gives that little Eddie Van Halen smile that still melts all the girls hearts, even if his hair is grey and short now. Click on the video link below to check out Eddie playing Eruption live.

Eddie Van Halen Eruption Solo

Van Halen is going on tour this summer after abruptly cancelling their 2012 tour because of their album A Different Kind of Truth.  Check out the dates below!

Sunday July 5, Seattle, WA, White River Amphitheatre
Tuesday July 7, Portland, OR, Amphitheater Northwest
Thursday July 9, Concord, CA, Concord Pavilion
Saturday July 11, San Bernardino, CA, San Manuel Amphitheater
Tuesday July 14, Irvine, CA, Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre
Thursday July 16, Mountain View, CA, Shoreline Amphitheatre
Saturday July 18, Salt Lake City, UT, USANA Amphitheatre
Monday July 20, Morrison, CO, Red Rocks Amphitheatre
Wednesday July 22, Kansas City, MO, Cricket Wireless Amphitheater
Friday July 24, Chicago, IL, First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre
Sunday July 26, St. Louis, MO, Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre
Tuesday July 28, Pittsburgh, PA, First Niagra Pavilion
Thursday July 30, Bangor, ME, Darling’s Waterfront Pavilion
Saturday August 1, Boston, MA, Xfinity Center
Monday August 3, Cleveland, OH, Blossom Music Center
Wednesday August 5, London, ON, Western Fair District
Friday August 7, Toronto, ON, Molson Canadian Amphitheatre
Sunday August 9, Holmdel, NJ, PNC Bank Arts Center
Tuesday August 11, Hartford, CT, Xfinity Center
Thursday August 13, Wantagh, NY, Nikon At Jones Beach Theater
Sunday August 23, Hershey, PA, Hershey Park
Tuesday August 25, Darien, NY, Darien Lake Performing Arts Center
Thursday August 27, Camden, NJ, Susquehanna Bank Center
Saturday August 29, Washington DC, Jiffy Lube Live
Monday August 31, Cincinnati, OH, Riverbend Music Center
Wednesday September 2, Indianapolis, IN, Klipsch Amphitheatre
Friday September 4, Detroit, MI, DTE Energy Music Theater
Sunday September 6, Bethel, NY, Bethel Woods Center for the Arts
Wednesday September 9, Raleigh, NC, Walnut Creek Amphitheater
Friday September 11, Charlotte, NC, PNC Music Pavilion
Sunday September 13, Tampa, FL, MIDFLORIDA Credit Union Amphitheatre
Tuesday September 15, West Palm Beach, FL, Coral Sky Amphitheatre
Thursday September 17, Birmingham, AL, Oak Mountain Amphitheatre
Monday September 21, Austin, TX, Austin360 Amphitheater
Wednesday September 23, Dallas, TX, Gexa Energy Pavilion
Friday September 25, Houston, TX, Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion
Monday September 28, Phoenix, AZ, Ak-Chin Pavilion
Wednesday September 30, San Diego, CA, Sleep Train Amphitheatre
Friday October 2, Hollywood, CA, Hollywood Bowl