Van Halen
The Center at
Reading, PA, USA
March 26, 2012--Monday

Taper: Lou
Location: Floor 1, Row EE, Seat 14

Lineage: SP-CMC-2 (AT831's with low sensitivity mod) > SP-SPSB-8 (95 Hz bass roll off) > Edirol R-09 > WAV 24/48 > CDWave > Trader's Little Helper > FLAC(level 8)
Raw master recording

Quality: A-
File Size: 1.18 GB, FLAC

Total Time: 112:31

1. Unchained 5:07
2. Runnin' With The Devil 3:43
3. She's The Woman 2:59
4. Romeo Delight 4:57
5. Tattoo 4:32
6. Everybody Wants Some!! 7:20
7. Somebody Get Me A Doctor 3:44
8. China Town 3:21
9. Jamie's Cryin' 4:15
10. (Oh) Pretty Woman 3:00
11. Drum Solo 2:57
12. You Really Got Me 4:11
13. Blood And Fire 4:21
14. Dance The Night Away 3:47
15. I'll Wait 5:05
16. Hot For Teacher 5:22
17. Women In Love... 4:19
18. Girl Gone Bad 4:42
19. Beautiful Girls 3:58
20. Ice Cream Man 7:19
21. Panama 3:56
22. Guitar Solo (Eruption, Spanish Fly, Cathedral) 8:30
23. Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love 5:17
24. Jump 5:51

Notes:
This was Van Halen's first ever performance in Reading, PA. While it's not the most convenient place to get to, it was kinda cool for one time to take in a VH show at a 7,000 seat arena in the middle of nowhere. These are the kinds of places Van Halen would play 30 years ago when they made it a point to hit virtually every city in the USA, like Pocatello ID, Salina KS, Johnson City TN, Binghamton NY, etc. So I pretended like I was travelling back in time, even moreso than one normally would for a VH show.

Another nice warm recording, my most centered and least echo-y of the four I've done so far. I wish the high frequencies had turned out better and thus I can't give it an "A." I had lots of buffoons around me including many people who tried to sneak down to the floor, only to be removed by security. Unfortunately, it got to the point where a security guard asked to see my ticket during "Blood and Fire." Thankfully he didn't notice the mics clipped to my collar. Also, I'm thankful that the mics cut out a decent amount of the extracurricular activity around me.

So we got a bit of a curveball tonight, with Jamie's Cryin' performed for the first time since July 3, 2008, and the first performance of Blood And Fire since the tour rehearsals in February. The word from a credible source is that Light Up The Sky was rehearsed three times at soundcheck and was on the official setlist, but was scratched at the last minute because Roth did not want to perform it. Girl Gone Bad was played instead.

The performance by the Van Halens was tight as has been the norm on this tour. Roth remains the weak link though he was better tonight than in Atlantic City. He at least pretended he wanted to be there, he engaged the crowd and he did some improv, especially during Everybody Wants Some. He also scolded the crew before She's The Woman and during I'll Wait. I'm not sure why this continues to be a problem on this tour.

There will not be a 16 bit version. I don't have the interest in doing that so any one of you can take it upon yourselves to do that and upload it to Dime, no need to ask me. Really you can do whatever you want with it without asking--mate it to a DVD, upload as mp3 files on guitars101.com, etc. I can't stop you anyway and I stopped caring about such things a long time ago.

FFP file and shntool results included.