Some lucky guy got to see Van Halen rehearsing for the upcoming tour and posted a nice write up including the set list. In the press conference, Van Halen said that Wolfgang picked the 25 song set list. According to the guy, here’s the set list (this is the order they played in rehearsal):
You Really Got Me (Van Halen)
Romeo Delight (Women and Children First)
Somebody Get Me A Doctor (Van Halen II)
I’m The One (Van Halen)
Mean Street (Fair Warning)
Unchained (Fair Warning)
Oh, Pretty Woman (Diver Down)
Dance The Night Away (Van Halen II)
Ice Cream Man (Van Halen)
Beautiful Girls (Van Halen II)
[Guitar Solo]
So This Is Love? (Fair Warning)
And The Cradle Will Rock… (Women and Children First)
Everybody Wants Some!! (Women and Children First)
I’ll Wait (1984)
Runnin’ With The Devil (Van Halen)
Little Guitars (Diver Down)
Jamie’s Cryin’ (Van Halen)
Atomic Punk (Van Halen)
Feel Your Love Tonight (Van Halen)
Little Dreamer (Van Halen)
Panama (1984)
Hot For Teacher (1984)
Ain’t Talkin’ ‘About Love (Van Halen)Encore:
1984 (1984)
Jump (1984)
This set list actually has me pretty excited. I’ll Wait, Little Dreamer, and Pretty Woman are the only songs that I think are not concert-worthy. Of course, I could live without Panama and Jump, but they kind of have to play those, I guess. I’m enough of a geek that I created an iTunes playlist using the list above just to see how all these songs play together. It’s a great set list.
To show you how much of a Van Halen geek I am, I’m going to show you which songs I would have chosen vs. what Wolfgang has chosen (by album):
.vhalbum { font-weight: bold; border: 2px solid #BBBBBB; padding: 5px; } .vhsong { border: 1px solid #BBBBBB; padding: 2px; } .vhwhopicks {font-weight: bold; border: 2px solid #903030; padding: 5px; text-align: center; }
Wolfgang’s Picks My Picks Van Halen Runnin’ With The Devil Runnin’ With The Devil You Really Got Me You Really Got Me Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love I’m the One I’m the One Atomic Punk Atomic Punk Feel Your Love Tonight Feel Your Love Tonight Jaime’s Cryin’ Little Dreamer Ice Cream Man Van Halen II Dance The Night Away Dance The Night Away Somebody Get Me a Doctor Somebody Get Me a Doctor Beautiful Girls Beautiful Girls Outta Love Again D.O.A. Women and Children First And The Cradle Will Rock… And The Cradle Will Rock… Everybody Wants Some!! Everybody Wants Some!! Romeo Delight Romeo Delight Fools In A Simple Rhyme Fair Warning Mean Street Mean Street Unchained Unchained So This Is Love? Sinner’s Swing! Diver Down Oh, Pretty Woman Little Guitars Hang Em High The Full Bug 1984 Hot For Teacher Hot For Teacher 1984 Jump Panama I’ll Wait Drop Dead Legs Girl Gone Bad House of Pain
Basically, we seem to have similar tastes. My choices are more evenly distributed among the first 6 albums. The most amazing thing to me is Wolfgang’s emphasis on the first album. The only songs missing from Wolfgang’s picks from the first album are Eruption (which I’m sure will be part of Eddie’s solo) and On Fire. Our biggest differences are on Diver Down and 1984. He strictly went for the singles (the safe route), while I went for deep cuts and the songs that I enjoy the most. I really wonder how much freedom he had in choosing the set list. If he didn’t pick Jump and Panama, the casual fan would probably go ballistic, while the die hard fan (at least me) would be ecstatic.
All in all, Wolfgang’s list is good and I’m sure the show will be great. I kind of wish I was going now.
Better Off Jed 
February 18th, 2012 at 10:39 pm
[…] be able to infuse a new energy into the band. Based on the song selection for the tour — reportedly picked by Wolfgang — I was right. After the tour ended in 2008, not much Van Halen news came out. They kind of […]