[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5nlz3dLcUI]

This fast-forward flip through Van Halen’s entire 10/16/07 show in Chicago is the best-looking and best-sounding YouTube evidence of what’s going on out there. Nevermind the 10-second dude-singing-in-car intro — he earned it! This 3-minute clip captures a wallop of flashing lights, Wolfgang at work, fresh flag-waving DLR ham, an “Atomic Punk” burndown, production grandeur, and other bigtastic stagetacular prowess. If this tour hadn’t sold a half-million tickets in ten minutes, they could plaster a VH logo here and have a TV commercial.

Van Halen’s battles with parking lot T-shirt bootleggers are legendary — in fact, during the peak of the ’80s Roth era, when the band still produced its own merchandise, they even made their own cheap, garish knock-offs to compete with illegal shirt pirates. So what I saw last night outside after the completely fantastic Philly show really took balls upon balls: a squad of fleet-footed bootleggers selling Van Halen “Reunion” 2007 shirts picturing Michael Anthony! Nice job, crooks!

I have to wonder if the black market is revealing its true feelings? Michael Anthony has been so cool in all the statements he’s made about surrendering his bassist spot to the much younger Wolfgang Van Halen. I hope he gets a kick out of being remembered by the bootleggers.

(Guess they didn’t READ THE BOOK yet.)

Like I’ve been saying for a while, the current Van Halen tour is not a reunion, it’s a reunification between Roth and the Van Halens, and a rejuvenation thanks to the arrival of the first teenager to play in the band since 1975. Tonight the first of over three dozen shows with David Lee Roth and the Musical Van Halens went down in Charlotte, NC. The remote location was obviously chosen to give the band a soft landing, and from live reviews it sounds like they didn’t need it.

The first email reports are in: “VH storm the stage at 8:30 sharp. “You Really Got Me” — crowd goes nuts. Followed by “I’m the One,” which is a surprise as “Romeo’s Delight” was believed to be the 2nd song. Dave sounds great. Eddie is on fire. I guess sobriety agrees with him…The set list is a VH fan’s wet dream. Alex is pounding the kit like it’s 1978 and Wolfie has the energy of a teenager — wait, he is one! Nothing like your first gig ever to be in front of 15,000 of David Lee Roth’s closest friends! Wolf has been using every inch of the stage, if the tour lasts he may shed that baby fat yet!… Call FEMA, Charolette has been devastated by hurricane VAN HALEN.”

Here’s the set list for last night, Charlotte, NC, Bobcats Arena, 09/27/07 — according to Blabbermouth.net:

1. You Really Got Me
2. I’m the One
3. Runnin’ With the Devil
4. Romeo Delight
5. Somebody Get Me a Doctor
6. Beautiful Girls
7. Dance the Night Away
8. Atomic Punk
9. Everybody Wants Some
10. So This Is Love?
11. Mean Street
12. Pretty Woman
13. Drum Solo
14. Unchained
15. I’ll Wait
16. And the Cradle Will Rock
17. Hot for Teacher
18. Little Dreamer
19. Little Guitars
20. Jamie’s Cryin’
21. Ice Cream Man
22. Panama
23. Guitar Solo (incl. “Women in Love” intro, “Cathedral”, “Eruption”)
24. Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love

*ENCORE*

25. 1984/Jump

All great news after ten years or more of anticipation by Van Halen fans. See you in Philadelphia…

Photo: Blabbermouth.net

Review: Thanks, Monte

There they are circa September 2007 — the guy on bass is named Wolfgang Van Halen.

Like any self-respecting metalhead, I have lots of hobbies to suck up my extra energy, and for the last year one of them has been chronicling the rise and rise and fall and rise of Van Halen. There are several great Van Halen reference books out there, but nobody has had bothered to write a proper biography since 1984 — so I took the bait. This week Amazon.com has added a Search Inside feature to its page for my work Everybody Wants Some: The Van Halen Saga. You can click the “Surprise Me!” button 322 times and read the book in a totally exciting random order.

Here are some comments from the realer world:

“[Christe's] not fooling around. And his prose is always playful.” — Los Angeles Times

“A new biography of the band that made metal marketable doesn’t disappoint the fans.” — The American Prospect

“Christe is back with a shockingly clear view of life behind the iron curtain that is Van Halen. Through Everybody Wants Some: The Van Halen Saga, Christe gives his readers a chance to relive the glory days of Sunset Strip glam Metal, while exploring the complex relationships between the brothers Alex and Eddie Van Halen.” — BringBackGlam.com

“Do yourself a favor and buy this book before you buy a t-shirt at the reunion concert. Christe has written a book that is stylish, succinct, breathtaking and as dazzling as an Eddie Van Halen guitar solo. If you ever stared in the mirror and attempted to imitate David Lee Roth with leaps and splits from the “Jump” video, then this book is for you.” — AntiMusic.com

“Even if you aren’t a Van Halen fan, if you ever liked ‘Runnin’ with the Devil’, ‘Unchained,’ ‘Panama,’ or even ‘Poundcake’ you have to have to read this book. I’m recommending it to all my friends, I enjoyed it as much as Mötley Crüe’s The Dirt!” — GuitarNoize.com

Thanks! I also did interviews about Van Halen and the book on IGBlog.com and BringBackGlam.com, with several more in the works.

Thanks for passing this info around as best you can and checking out the book.

Today is the release date for Everybody Wants Some: The Van Halen Saga, my new book. The early reviews look good, and the book is selling like hot cheeseburgers on Amazon and VanHalenStore.com, so I’m going out for champagne and dancing girls.

You can download Chapter One from the publisher HERE. And as of this morning you can buy a copy wherever books are sold. Hang ‘em high!

“Christe’s not fooling around. And his prose is always playful.” — Los Angeles Times

“…a shockingly clear look at life behind the iron curtain that is Van Halen.” — BringBackGlam.com

“…it’s about time these clowns got their story told right!” — some guy selling an advance copy on eBay

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5G8MLutk7ZY]

[ABOVE: Official 3-camera conference shoot]

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDKciL3oIYQ]

[ALTERNATE: Full press conference video from The Metal Scene]

Kevin Estrada, my main photo contributor for Everybody Wants Some: The Van Halen Saga, just called on his way out of the Van Halen tour press conference in LA, where he was taking photos for Rolling Stone. As hoped, the reunion with Roth began with a bang — tour dates for this fall and winter are already posted on Blabbermouth.

Kevin says Roth entered the press conference from the rear of the room, dressed “bolero-style” in a bullfighting costume. The room went wild, people were screaming, and Roth slapped hands all the way up to the stage. He hit the microphone and launched into a gifted gab session, speaking Spanish and rapping and ranting. He and Eddie hugged and kissed to demonstrate their renewed friendship.

Wolfgang didn’t say much, and seemed a little unprepared for the attention. During the Q&A, he told reporters he listens to AC/DC, Tool, and the White Stripes. Alex apparently didn’t say a word. Rolling Stone reports Alex saying: “I can describe Wolfie in two words — DNA.”

Michael Anthony did not magically appear at the last minute, and when asked about him the response was: “This is a brand new band. Michael Anthony is part of Van Halen’s past.”

And that’s the story until the tour begins on September 27 in Charlotte, NC. Plenty of time to catch up on your VH-related reading, right?

I have to say that when I started writing Everybody Wants Some in 2005, the chances of today happening seemed like zilch to infinite zip.

My book Everybody Wants Some: The Van Halen Saga shipped from the factory this morning, so in a few days all my questions will be answered, along with everybody else’s. I talked to Kevin Estrada today, one of my collaborators. He’s a lifelong Pasadena/Burbank native who took most of the amazing photos in the book, some of them when he was 12 years old. I’ll post a couple previews in days to come.

My publisher already posted of excerpts the text, so help yourself to:

CHAPTER ONE: THE IMMIGRANT SONG [This covers 1920 to 1970!]

INDEX [from Abbott, "Dimebag" Darrell 266-267 to ZZ Top 17, 20, 24, 32, 50, 189, 195]

And so it begins…

“Like the stories of other great Americans from Henry Ford to Walt Disney to Fievel the Mouse, the saga of Van Halen begins in an ancient land, far from the United States and its constant supply of hot water and electricity. As a narrator would say in the old movies: Among the windmills, tulips, and wooden shoes of lovely Amsterdam, Holland, there once lived a kindly musician named Jan van Halen…”

Visit the Amazon page or VanHalenStore.com to lay down your bread. Thank you!

Sheeyit…it’s finally happening. My Van Halen history, Everybody Wants Some: The Van Halen Saga, will be published in hardcover on August 24. That above is the first draft of the dust jacket, click it to enlarge it. The text isn’t final, but at least you get an idea of what’s going to be soon spraying champagne all over your bookshelf.

Here’s the Amazon page.