Van Halen - 7/31/1982 - Fort Wayne, IN @ Fort Wayne Coliseum [SOUNDBOARD]

Home 1982 - Diver Down

SOUNDBOARD recording a couple weeks into the Diver Down tour. In 2024/2025 a dozen or so soundboard recordings were liberated from a collection of Van Halen’s FOH sound guy (Roy). It’s been said they would do this for most/all shows.

Many thanks to By-Tor X-1 for unleashing a batch of these Soundboard recordings. If you’d like to help his efforts releasing super rare Van Halen soundboard recordings all for free, please consider donating whatever you can to him here > https://ko-fi.com/musicmediaarchives

Date: 7/31/1982
Location: Fort Wayne, IN
Venue: Fort Wayne Coliseum
Source: SOUNDBOARD

Bootleg Notes:

Here we have a totally unheard, uncirculated soundboard recording, capturing the Van Halen concert in Fort Wayne during their Diver Down tour (Hide Your Sheep tour) in 1982. Not even an audience recording of this show has circulated previously. This is the second earliest date documented to feature the standard 1982 setlist arrangement, which was significantly reorganized sometime between July 27th and 30th, while the earliest dates of the tour were notably structured differently. Additionally, like all shows with this setlist structure, the set includes D.O.A., a song which was permanently dropped after the middle of September.

This recording is one of only three shows where Roy chose to use 60 minute tapes instead of his usual choice of a single 90 minute tape. Unlike the night prior in Louisville, Roy ran two 60 minute tapes in Fort Wayne and Rockford, allowing him to capture the entire setlist at these two shows. Despite capturing the full setlist, there are still some minor cuts due to the tape flips.

The first side of the first 60 minute master tape runs out right after Little Guitar ends, only cutting out a small piece of Dave’s banter between songs. The second side of the first tape ends right after Dance The Night Away, while the first side of the second 60 minute master tape starts only about 30 seconds into the beginning Somebody Get Me A Doctor. The first side of the second tape ends near the end of D.O.A., so the song sadly does have a short cut too, but luckily Roy flipped the tape quickly enough to still capture the remainder of the song. The second side of the second tape runs through the end and captures the remainder of the concert.