It is fair to say Simon Hosford’s Fair Warning’s performance of the debut album by Van Halen at the Melbourne Guitar Show was (probably) better than Van Halen.
Fair Warning was definitely better than Van Halen in the 21st Century and having never seen VH in the 70s and 80s with David Lee Roth I cannot compare the early days to now (hence the word ‘probably’).
If it means anything, we can certainly measure the energy of this performance by the fact Fair Warning blew up the main stage amp of the Melbourne Guitar Show and took out the power on some of the elevators at the Caulfield Race Track DURING SOUNDCHECK.
The complete first @VanHalen album from start to finish by @SimonHosford’s Fair Warning at the Melbourne Guitar Show #mgs2019 pic.twitter.com/QRxxXnOGPb
— Noise11.com (@Noise11Tweets) August 3, 2019
The line-up for Fair Warning is:
Simon Hosford – Tap & Squeal
Jason Vorherr – Thunder & Boom
Gerry Pantazis – Crash & Bang
Eugene Hamilton – Scream & Shout
I really hope this performance wasn’t a one off. I would love to see Simon take this to the Arts Centre or the Melbourne Recital Centre.
Simon Hosford’s Fair Warning setlist, 3 August 2019, Melbourne Guitar Show
Side one
1.”Runnin’ with the Devil” (last played by Van Halen, 4 October, 2015, Hollywood)
2.”Eruption” (last played by Van Halen, 24 April, 1980, Cincinnati)
3.”You Really Got Me” (last played by Van Halen, 4 October, 2015, Hollywood)
4.”Ain’t Talkin’ ’bout Love” (last played by Van Halen, 4 October, 2015, Hollywood)
5.”I’m the One” (last played by Van Halen, 26 June 2013, Osaka)
Side two
6.”Jamie’s Cryin’” (last played by Van Halen, 18 June 2013, Nagoya)
7.”Atomic Punk” (last played by Van Halen, 18 June 2013, Nagoya
8.”Feel Your Love Tonight” (last played by Van Halen, 4 October, 2015, Hollywood)
9.”Little Dreamer” (last played by Van Halen, 3 July, 2008, Québec)
10.”Ice Cream Man” (last played by Van Halen, 4 October, 2015, Hollywood)
11.”On Fire” (last played by Van Halen, 2 September, 1984, Nuremberg)
Encore:
House of Pain (from 1984, 1984 but written prior the first album)
‘House of Pain’ was last performed on 2 September 1984 at the same Nuremberg, Germany concert ‘On Fire’ was last played.
Van Halen’s ‘Van Halen’ was a benchmark release in 1978. Rolling Stone hated it writing in the first review “Van Halen is going to be fat and self-indulgent and disgusting following Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin right into the toilet”. Suffice to say reviewer Charles M. Young fucked up.
‘Van Halen’ went on to sell over 10 million copies in America making it one of the Top 100 albums of all-time.
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