1981 Oakland Footage?

[Panamark]

Bummer that nobody here had the chance to grab the hi def oaklands

[Seshmeister]

Van Halen News Desk | The Van Halen Holy Grail: 1981 Oakland Footage
The Van Halen Holy Grail: 1981 Oakland Footage

Thursday, 19 March 2009

Mystery of the Fair Warning tour footage — Does a complete Oakland concert exist on film?

Anyone even remotely familiar with the third Indiana Jones film “The Last Crusade” is aware the film dealt with Dr. Jones pursuit of the Holy Grail. Through much intrigue, action and hardship, Jones finally had the Grail in his grasp…

A similar chase has been undertaken by die-hard Van Halen fans and bootleg collectors for nearly thirty years now: the Sacred Footage of Van Halen’s three night stand at the Oakland Coliseum, June 11-13, 1981, which in and of itself constitutes the Holy Grail in Van Halen mythology.

Fucking crap writing.

What does it even mean???

Have Van Halen fans fought against the Nazi's to get these videos? Have they jumped across an abyss or chosen a cup 'wisely'???

No they have to put in that shit because they think Van Halen fans are too stupid to know what the phrase 'search for the Holy Grail' means. They can't even mention King Arthur or Monty Python because we are all such dumb party rock idiots that know absolutely nothing.

Well fuck off VHND with this patronizing shit.

[ELVIS]

Whatever the case...

That video kicked ASS !!

[ELVIS]

we are all such dumb party rock idiots that know absolutely nothing.

Speak for yourself..

[chefcraig]

...Have Van Halen fans fought against the Nazi's to get these videos? Have they jumped across an abyss or chosen a cup 'wisely'???

No they have to put in that shit because they think Van Halen fans are too stupid to know what the phrase 'search for the Holy Grail' means. They can't even mention King Arthur or Monty Python because we are all such dumb party rock idiots that know absolutely nothing.

Well fuck off VHND with this patronizing shit.

You do realize that Indiana Jones didn't really do all of that stuff either, right?

[katie]

Bummer that nobody here had the chance to grab the hi def oaklands

I got em'

Get that muppet Lounge Quenn (Katie you got 5 mins) to say sorry for posting pics in my name, then i will put the vids up.

C'mon Lounge take one for the team

x

[Nickdfresh]

I got em'

Get that muppet Lounge Quenn (Katie you got 5 mins) to say sorry for posting pics in my name, then i will put the vids up.

C'mon Lounge take one for the team

x

Are you talking about those 1981 German shit-porn films you were in?

[Seshmeister]

I remember sitting back watching a CVH concert
around 83 ? I was still in school it was aired
on a saturday morning. They played at least 6-7
songs on this show.

This is the big danger of spending your life standing in the BBQ Open Prison.

The rush of blood that falls into your head...

[Terry]

Too much speculation, not enough fact.

One can use conjecture to make the case that additional Oakland footage exists, but that doesn't make it so.

Those three resultant official promo videos were full of composite footage from all three shows, so it'd be a fair assumption to make that all three shows were filmed, but nobody is sure if it was just those three songs at each of the shows that were filmed, or if each of the shows was filmed from start-to-finish.

Got the best copy of Largo 1982 I've seen yet recently; the thing is just shy of being professionally made in terms of picture quality and audio. There is also a Sept. 1st, 1981 show from Memphis that has surfaced in the last few years. Shot from what appears to be the soundboard vantage point on a single camera fixed to a stationary tripod (possibly/probably made by the band to view after the performance).

It'd be great to see what Cato could do with some of this bootleg footage floating around out there. Hey, if the Van Halens don't want to get off their duffs and make a few bucks off this stuff, fuck 'em. Cato could serve us fans up with something probably just as good as anything officially released.

The "missing / lost Oakland footage" is just a myth until proven otherwise, seeing as NOBODY can say for sure that the entire shows were filmed and any extra footage wasn't disposed of immediately after the three promo videos were produced.

[WARF]

How come there isn't ONE single video from the whiskey a go go or nightclub?

[katie]

How come there isn't ONE single video from the whiskey a go go or nightclub?

Good point, but I bet Dave has a ton of stuff like this that he can only release with Ed, AL & Bassplayer giving their image rights etc.

[WARF]

I'm so fucking sick hearing about Oakland 81!!!

It's so fucking overated!!!

People fall to mention the real holy grail...

Van Hagar Detriot 88!!!!
u hu u hu h uh u hu hu h

[Terry]

Good point, but I bet Dave has a ton of stuff like this that he can only release with Ed, AL & Bassplayer giving their image rights etc.

Think that is a logical assumption to make. Dave was always aware of the value of such stuff.

[chefcraig]

How come there isn't ONE single video from the whiskey a go go or nightclub?

Consider the time, bro. In 1975-76, you needed to carry a cassette recorder roughly the size of a BBQ grill with you in order to simply record sound. Chances are, you needed to stop by Eckerd Drugs to pick up the eighteen or so "D" sized batteries to power the damned thing, and then you had to sneak it into the gig underneath your silk shirt. This in and of itself explains the crummy sound of bootlegs from that era.

To film a gig, you'd need not only a garment bag as big as a bass boat to carry all of your equipment and film in, you'd need to steal a projector from the high school audio/visual room to play the footage back on, yet only after you waited two weeks or so to get it developed at the same Eckerds you bought the batteries and film at.

[WARF]

I'll pay someone five bucks... if they can hit full bug below the twat with gum... so it looks like she has a dick!