VAN HALEN LIVE AT NIKON AT JONES BEACH THEATER 8.13.15

I remember listening to Van Halen for the first time at my grandmother’s house when I was kid.  My aunts were teenagers, so they filled the house with all kinds of music. Their bedroom walls were plastered with posters of slender, long feathered hair Rock and Rollers.  Little did I know that my love affair with Rock Music would bloom in a wood paneled apartment in Brooklyn, while sitting on a plastic covered couch, eating arroz con gandules (Puerto Rican style rice) and staring at the TV mesmerized by Diamond Dave in his skin tight pants, bare chest, gyrating and split jumping into the air.  I was really young,  so I had never heard anyone play the guitar the way Eddie Van Halen did. The sounds he made with those strings, along with his showmanship left a lasting impression on me.

Cut to present time, I’m a Photographer covering music. I hear that this little band from Pasadena, California is embarking on a tour of North America, so of course I had make it out to their show last Thursday at Nikon at Jones Beach Theater.  This concert brought together generations, as I noticed a lot of parents attending this show with their teen aged children.  You could also say it was a family affair, as Eddie Van Halen’s son Wolfgang Van Halen (Bass) joined Eddie, David Lee Roth and Alex Van Halen in the current line up. As I was leaving I noticed a lot of people gathered outside of the venue sitting on lawn chairs listening to the music that spilled out into the parking lot.  They envisioned Eddie shredding and tapping on his guitar while Alex and Wolfgang killed it on percussion and David pirouetted across the stage and interacted with the audience.  It was great to witness how much love their fans still have for the legendary Van Halen. – Saidy Lopez

Check out our photo gallery from that electrifying summer night in Wantagh, NY.

Setlist:
Light Up the Sky
Runnin’ With the Devil
Romeo Delight
Everybody Wants Some!!
Drop Dead Legs
Feel Your Love Tonight
Somebody Get Me a Doctor
She’s the Woman
China Town
I’ll Wait
Drum Solo
Little Guitars
Dance the Night Away
Beautiful Girls
Women in Love
Hot for Teacher
In a Simple Rhyme
“Dirty Movies”
Ice Cream Man (John Brim cover)
Unchained
Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love
Guitar Solo
You Really Got Me (The Kinks cover)
Panama
Jump

For more tour dates check out Van Halen’s official website.