SAVATAGE: Ultra-Rare Video Of VAN HALEN Cover Posted Online

January 5, 2007

An ultra-rare video clip of SAVATAGE (under the band's original moniker AVATAR) performing VAN HALEN's "Eruption" and "You Really Got Me" during an outdoor concert held in a strip mall parking lot in Clearwater, Florida sometime around 1981-1982 has been posted online at YouTube.com. Also available is a video clip of the band performing the SAVATAGE classic "Holocaust". This is the earliest (known) footage of SAVATAGE that exists. The group's lineup for the performance was as follows:

Vocals - Jon Oliva
Guitar - Criss Oliva
Bass - Keith Collins
Drums - Steve Wacholz

In a recent interview with Pivotal Rage, Jon Oliva had the following to say regarding the rumors of a celebration to mark SAVATAGE's 25th anniversary:

"I want to do something, [but] it's very difficult to get everyone on stage. We can't even together for the next SAVATAGE record! We have TRANS-SIBERIAN ORCHESTRA which has been a runaway success and everyone plays on stage on tour on that except me and Zak [Stevens, ex-SAVATAGE singer] so we could do a SAVATAGE record. Everyone else is busy. We're gonna do something, [and] everyone has agreed to do it, but when we have enough time to invest to it so we can give it the justice it deserves. I want to make a great piece of work rather than just slapping something that's half-assed together."

On the subject of a possible live SAVATAGE DVD release, Oliva said, "That was one thing that we talked about. We have also talked about the possibility of a series of live shows. A couple… a West Coast/East Coast thing in America, a show in Germany, a show in Greece, so those are all things that are all being discussed. Paul [O'Neill] and I both agree if we're going to do it we need to do it right. If it's going to be the last thing that the band is going to do, we don't want to do a 'Fight for the Rock' — we don't want to have the people wait all this time and give them crap. It's hard to schedule something like that, but we'll get to that we have everyone on board. It's a matter of planning it out. We'll be wrapping up with the next TRANS-SIBERIAN ORCHESTRA album in about March or April of 2007 and then we can look starting the SAVATAGE thing started. We'll focus solely on that since we won't have to do another TRANS-SIBERIAN ORCHESTRA album for a couple of years. There will be more time where we can put together the SAVATAGE thing together."

Read the entire interview at www.pivotalalliance.com.

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