Curt Gooch and Jeff Suhs report on the recent sold out performance in Oklahoma City, then take us on an informed trip down memory lane.

30 years have passed since Van Halen's flamboyant arrival on the national rock scene. From their RIAA Diamond certified, self-titled 1978 album, through the reincarnated Sammy Hagar model, all the way up to the present day, Van Halen has remained very active, and consequently,, very popular, in Oklahoma.

Despite teasing us with reunions several times in the past, all ultimately abandoned for various reasons, it has taken nearly a quarter of a century for David Lee Roth to mend the fences with the brothers Van Halen, and the threesome brings second generation rocker Wolfie (Eddie’s 16-year old son with ex Valerie Bertinelli) in tow, replacing longtime bassist and band diplomat Michael Anthony. It’s been nearly 24 years since the Roth-led Van Halen last took the stage in Oklahoma City, but the foursome laid waste to the Ford Center on January 22nd.

For those who enjoy trips down memory lane, here's a day and date look at Van Halen's Oklahoma history throughout the David Lee Roth years.

Date: April 4, 1978
Location: Tulsa, OK
Venue: Cain's Ballroom
Headliner: Montrose
Opening Act: Van Halen
Tour: Van Halen

Van Halen’s debut Oklahoma performance was booked for a mere $500, just eight weeks after the release of their debut album on Warner Bros. Records.

Promoter Larry Schaefer: Van Halen tour manager (the late) Noel Monk’s influence at Warner Bros was the reason this show happened. He loved Cain’s. Van Halen was a new band, they were very nice kids and Eddie spent a lot of time in my office because I had a bunch of old Stratocaster and Telecaster guitars lying against the wall. And he commented that I had more guitars than him at that time. They were just becoming huge, every hour they were getting bigger. In fact I booked Van Halen to come back and open for Journey (on July 20) at the Tulsa Assembly Center. By that point, they had become so big that they didn’t want to open for them and pulled out of my show, which meant we went from a sell out to a half empty house!

Date: August 6, 1978
Location: Oklahoma City, OK
Venue: State Fair Grandstand @ Oklahoma State Fairgrounds
Bands On the Bill (In Approximate Running Order): Wet Willie, Van Halen, U.K., Rick Derringer, Montrose, Missouri, Head East, Black Oak Arkansas, Climax Blues Band, Alvin Lee Tour: Van Halen

Set list:
On Fire
I'm The One
Michael Anthony Bass Solo
Runnin' With The Devil
Atomic Punk
Alex Van Halen Drum Solo
Little Dreamer
Feel Your Love Tonight
Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love
Eddie Van Halen Guitar Solo
You Really Got Me
Bottoms Up!

This daytime, outdoor festival, which was officially dubbed “Super Rock 78/The Oklahoma Jam,” took place on two stages, in order to minimize the down-time between acts. Legend has it that David Lee Roth approached his idol, Black Oak Arkansas lead singer Jim Dandy, backstage, jumped atop a picnic table, began dancing, and boasted that he “could get more dollars” than ol’ Jim from the local fans of the female persuasion. According to the tale, Mr. Dandy took the bait and was forever shamed.

Date: September 18, 1978
Location: Tulsa, OK
Venue: Tulsa Assembly Center
Headliner: Black Sabbath
Opening Act: Van Halen
Tour: Van Halen

It’s no secret that this young, high-energy, opening act was blowing the bloated headliner, Black Sabbath (their last full-blown outing with lead singer Ozzy Osbourne for 19 years), off of the stage, night after night on this tour. Tulsa and the following night at the Myriad were certainly no exceptions.

Date: November 20, 1978
Location: Oklahoma City, OK
Venue: Myriad Convention Center
Headliner: Black Sabbath
Opening Act: Van Halen
Tour: Van Halen

During the day, the band kept busy by making an on-air appearance at KATT radio and then dropped by the then 14-month old Sound Warehouse superstore (located off of Grand Boulevard on North May) for a rare in-store signing session with their fans.

Date: July 20, 1979
Location: Tulsa, OK
Venue: Tulsa Assembly Center
Opening Act: Screams
Tour: Van Halen II

Set list:
Light Up The Sky
Somebody Get Me A Doctor
Alex Van Halen Drum Solo
Runnin' With The Devil
Dance The Night Away
Beautiful Girls
On Fire
Michael Anthony Bass Solo
You're No Good
Jamie's Cryin'
Feel Your Love Tonight
Outta Love Again
Ice Cream Man
Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love
Eddie Van Halen Guitar Solo
You Really Got Me
Bottoms Up!
Atomic Punk

Brad Elvis Steakley (drummer/founder of Screams): Van Halen was very savvy, even back then.  They weren't at the peak of their popularity yet; they were still the next big thing, instead of being the big thing, but they understood the business. They'd booked the tour purposefully playing smaller arenas, in the 5,000 - 7,000 range, knowing it was better to sell out a 7,000-seat arena than it was to sell half of a 20,000-seat place. That way they could claim the entire tour was sold out, which it was. The final gig of the tour was at the Forum in LA, and it seated closer to 20,000. It sold out in an instant, and I asked Eddie why they didn't book a second show. He said, "If we sell out one show this tour, it makes it easier on ourselves for the next tour, we'd only have to do two shows to make it look like we're getting bigger. If we do two this time out, selling out three next time is a lot harder to do." 

Date: July 21, 1979
Location: Oklahoma City, OK
Venue: Civic Center Music Hall
Opening Act: Screams
Tour: Van Halen II

Set list: See July 20, 1979.

This sold-out, inspired performance caused a near-riot when fans jumped up on the center ramp extension and were literally on-stage with their idols.

Date: September 6, 1980
Location: Norman, OK
Venue: Owen Field @ Oklahoma Memorial Stadium
Bands On The Bill (In Running Order): The Cats, Sammy Hagar, Pat Benetar, Van Halen, The Doobie Brothers
Tour: Women And Children First

Set list:
Romeo Delight
Bottoms Up!
Runnin’ With The Devil
Loss Of Control
Take Your Whiskey Home
Dance The Night Away
Jamie’s Cryin’
Bright Lights, Big City (Unreleased)
Everybody Wants Some
And The Cradle Will Rock…
Eddie Van Halen Guitar Solo
Ain't Talkin’ Bout Love
Ice Cream Man
You Really Got Me

Van Halen made only one stop in the Sooner state during their Invasion ’80 World Tour, for a memorable daytime stadium rock concert, the first one ever held in Oklahoma, called Rocklahoma. Their 75-minute performance was the highlight of the show according to several attendees. Among them was OU football legend Barry Switzer, though the coach mentioned to local press that he just brought his sons to see – the headliner – The Doobie Brothers.

This show is noteworthy for several reasons, first among them was that Sammy Hagar – who would replace Roth as the band’s lead vocalist in 1985 – was one of the featured acts on the bill. Additionally, the Norman police were so afraid of potential problems with the 31,611-strong crowd they implemented a video surveillance system from the press boxes where they would transmit the images down to non-uniform officers on the stadium floor who would then detain the suspects.

Date: October 3, 1981
Location: Norman, OK
Venue: The Lloyd Noble Center
Opening Act: G-Force
Tour: Fair Warning

Set list:
Atomic Punk
Alex Van Halen Drum Solo
Sinner’s Swing
Hear ‘Bout It Later
So This Is Love?
Jamie’s Cryin’
Michael Anthony Bass Solo
Runnin’ With The Devil
Dance The Night Away
Sunday Afternoon In The Park
Dirty Movies
Everybody Wants Some!!
Ice Cream Man
Mean Street
Edward Van Halen Guitar Solo
Unchained
Ain’t Talkin’ Bout Love

When Van Halen rolled into the Metro with their Fair Warning tour, they were riding high on the exposure of three music videos – filmed in Oakland in May – that were prominently featured on a brand new cable channel called MTV. (The network had launched just two months prior, on August 1.) Despite the album-sales figures that say otherwise, many of the die-hard VH fans consider this era to be the band’s musical and visual peak.

Promoter Larry Schaefer: When I booked them into Lloyd Noble, by then they were big stars and I vividly recall Eddie had a skinny, little Valerie Bertinelli on his arm.

Date: October 15, 1981
Location: Tulsa, OK
Venue: Tulsa Assembly Center
Opening Act: The Fools
Tour: Fair Warning

Date: September 21, 1982
Location: Oklahoma City, OK
Venue: Myriad Convention Center
Opening Act: After The Fire
Tour: Diver Down

Set list:
Romeo Delight
Unchained
Alex Van Halen Drum Solo
The Full Bug
Runnin' With The Devil
Jamie's Cryin'
Little Guitars
Where Have All The Good Times Gone!
Michael Anthony Bass Solo
Hang 'Em High
Cathedral
Secrets
Everybody Wants Some!!
Dance The Night Away
Somebody Get Me A Doctor/I'm So Glad
Ice Cream Man
Intruder
(Oh) Pretty Woman
Eddie Van Halen Guitar Solo
Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love
Bottoms Up!
You Really Got Me/Happy Trails

MTV had banned the Diver Down album’s only music video – a cover of Roy Orbision’s hit, “[Oh] Pretty Woman” – David Lee Roth’s paternity insurance policy was in full effect, as was the infamous clause in the band’s contract rider which declared “no brown M&M’s were allowed backstage.” It was all in a day’s work for Van Halen when they visited the Myriad in the fall of 1982.

Date: September 22, 1982
Location: Tulsa, OK
Venue: Tulsa Assembly Center
Opening Act: After The Fire
Tour: Diver Down

Set list: See September 21, 1982.

Dates: June 15, 16, 1984
Location: Oklahoma City, OK
Venue: Myriad Convention Center
Opening Act: The Velcros
Tour: 1984

Set list (same for both nights):
Unchained
Hot For Teacher
Alex Van Halen Drum Solo
On Fire
Runnin' With The Devil
Little Guitars
Cathedral
House Of Pain
Michael Anthony Bass Solo
Jamie's Cryin'
I'll Wait
Eddie Van Halen Keyboard Solo
Everybody Wants Some!!
Girl Gone Bad
1984
Jump
Eddie Van Halen Guitar Solo
(Oh) Pretty Woman
Panama
You Really Got Me
Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love

Because of massive overexposure on MTV and their new “commercial” keyboard sound – “Jump” “I’ll Wait” – when Van Halen brought their mammoth 1984 production to Oklahoma City, they were easily the biggest band in the world. They remain one of only a handful of rock groups to ever be able to sell out multiple shows - combined attendance: 25,610 in the Metro; and during those hot summer days, Van Halen were holed up in the Sheraton Century Center hotel. The lobby of which was packed with dozens of fans trying to get a glimpse of Michael, David, Eddie and Alex. Eddie, eventually came down and signed autographs, causing a near riot among the over-excited onlookers.

Date: January 22, 2008
Location: Oklahoma City, OK
Venue: Ford Center
Opening Act: Ky-Mani Marley

Set list:
You Really Got Me
I'm The One
Runnin' With the Devil
Romeo Delight
Somebody Get Me a Doctor
Beautiful Girls
Dance The Night Away
Atomic Punk
Everybody Wants Some!!
So This Is Love?
Mean Street
(Oh) Pretty Woman
Alex Van Halen Drum Solo
Unchained
I'll Wait
And The Cradle Will Rock…
Hot For Teacher
Little Dreamer
Little Guitars
Jamie's Cryin'
Ice Cream Man
Panama
Eddie Van Halen Guitar Solo
Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love
1984
Jump

Van Halen’s first performance of 2008 went off without a hitch. The engaging two-plus-hour show, which included flying zeppelin balloons, a confetti storm, David riding a giant microphone, and a nearly 20-minute Edward Van Halen guitar solo, hopefully marks the start of a new era for this legendary band. It was obvious that they were having the time of their lives at the Ford Center.

Set lists are from the K. Shropshire Collection.