VAN HALEN Plays 'Dress Rehearsal' Show For Family And Friends At Los Angeles Forum (Video)

February 9, 2012

VAN HALEN played a special "dress rehearsal" show for their upcoming North American tour last night (Wednesday, February 8) at the Forum in Los Angeles.

VELVET REVOLVER/ex-GUNS N' ROSES guitarist Slash, who was one of the thousands of lucky people in attendance, tweeted after the concert, "VAN HALEN was killer tonight at the Forum. Eddie [Van Halen] was brilliant. So amazing to hear/watch."

The band's setlist was as follows:

01. You Really Got Me
02. Running With The Devil
03. She's The Woman
04. Somebody Get Me A Doctor
05. Tattoo
06. Everybody Wants Some
07. Beautiful Girls
08. Ice Cream Man
09. China Town
10. Dance The Night Away
11. Hot For Teacher
12. Blood And Fire
13. Guitar Solo
14. Panama
15. Jump

Fan-filmed video footage of last night's show can be seen below.

VAN HALEN will kick off its North American tour on February 18 in Louisville, Kentucky.

VAN HALEN's new album, "A Different Kind Of Truth", is likely to sell between 180,000 and 200,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release, according to industry web site Hits Daily Double. The estimate was based on one-day sales reports compiled after the record arrived in stores on February 7 via Interscope.

The first review of "A Different Kind Of Truth" was posted online last week at Antiquiet — and it was overwhelmingly positive. Critic Johnny Firecloud said that the band's first album with original singer David Lee Roth in 28 years is a "true return" and "screaming triumph," adding, "That old familiar feeling has returned, the unique flare of excitement that comes from a muscle car rhythm section led by a six-string wizard and a singing sexual megalodon with an ego that made Kanye look like a kid flaunting his new Spider-Man underoos — and the pipes to back up the strut."

The review acknowledged that much of the album is made up of material pulled from the band's archives, writing, "Thankfully, these songs do not sound like old men putting on the smelly old spandex and combing over the strays. Fresh is the operative word here, a supremely confident swing for the fences in an understandable progression from the obsessively romanticized pre-Hagar era."

First single and album opener "Tattoo" is described as the "low point for an otherwise fantastic album," which may offer hope to fans who have voiced displeasure with that track. Other songs cited as standout tracks include "She's The Woman", "You And Your Blues", "China Town" and "Stay Frosty".

The review concluded, "'A Different Kind Of Truth' will be remembered as evidence that a band can endure every cliche in the book and return, with the right focus, obsessed dedication and mojo, to a sweet spot of rejuvenation — one that holds the hand of nostalgia but doesn't go for the full embrace, leaning instead, wisely, toward evolution."

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