Hours of new, unseen footage of Van Halen playing massive stages as well as candid clips of their superstar shredder hanging out backstage have surfaced online.
A total of 15 videos amassing more than five hours of footage have been uploaded to YouTube by a user named James Vega, stating that the clips consist of his “private collection of Van Halen footage from the canceled Van Halen Chronicles documentary”.
There is little to find about the canceled documentary online, but what is clear is that the footage charts three different points in the band’s history, including two 1978 New York shows supporting Balck Sabbath on the Never Say Die tour and their legendary slot at Monsters of Rock 1984.
There are also B-roll outtakes from the "Hot for Teacher" and "Jump" music videos. For fans of really obscure EVH clips, there’s a three-and-a-half-minute clip of the band going to McDonald's in Tokyo, Japan. Sadly, that footage is sans audio, so who knows what they ordered.
In short, it’s a treasure trove for Van Halen fans, with side-of-stage footage of the band delivering a high-octane version of “Hot for Teacher” at Donington ‘84, hanging out with Black Sabbath back stage in New York, and Eddie Van Halen showing off his Kramer guitar to Slade’s Dave Hill among the highlights.
Unfortunately, much of the band’s Donington set is without audio. Vega was shooting B-roll, meaning the audio will have typically been taken from other sources for the final product, meaning only audio of the first two songs of the night feature here.
However, it’s the backstage footage of the band, shot ahead of their headline performance — Ozzy Osbourne and Gary Moore also performed that day — that catches the eye.
Eddie is rarely seen without his Kramer in the clips, which take in a photo opp in front of a swarm of photographers, during which Eddie jokes, “Do you guys ever run out of film?” and an intimate showcase of the animal sounds the guitarist can make on the Superstar in one of the band's portacabins.
Vega's camera also follows the band as they walk out onstage in front of thousands of screaming fans, and it doesn't take Eddie long to screech into the opening bars of "Unchained". That's quickly followed up by a punishing "Hot for Teacher," during which Eddie spends ample time atop brother Alex's drum riser.
Rewinding the clock some six years to 1978, footage surrounding the band's first Madison Square Garden show underneath heavy metal's forefathers shows a relaxed David Lee Roth in his pressing room pre-show, toking on a cigarette and joking, “As you can see, the atmosphere is tense. The air is ripe with anticipation.”
Performance footage includes a trio of songs, “On Fire”, “Runnin’ With The Devil” and “Feel Your Love Tonight”, while a separate video charts the following night's antics in Uniondale, New York.
Here, Ozzy Osbourne and Bill Ward feature in backstage scenes, joking around with bass player Michael Anthony, while performances from the night include “I’m the One”, “Atomic Punk” and their Kinks cover, “You Really Got Me”.
Vega’s footage even extends to tour dates in Japan and various other US dates.
It’s unclear why Vega has now decided to release the footage and why the documentary was canned, but what’s left is a fascinating insight into what life in the band was like, both in their very early days and at the height of their powers.
The leak comes after it's been revealed that Tom Morello has been enlisted to oversee Black Sabbath's final star-studded show, during which Wolfgang Van Halen will perform.
“The idea,” he tells Guitar Player. “Is to curate the greatest day in the history of heavy metal for the greatest band in the history of heavy metal.”
Meanwhile, Wolfgang has hit out at those who tried to marr his time in Van Halen, and Harvey Mandel, who has spoken about how he nearly joined the Rolling Stones, now wants credit for introducing two-handed tapping techniques to Eddie Van Halen.
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