Here's an unwritten fact of life for rock bands on tour these days: Unless you're Bruce Springsteen or maybe Elvis Costello, chances are you stick with the same basic setlist night after night on tour. Van Halen's 2012 setlist, however, just took a turn for the better. Diamond Dave, Eddie and the boys have flipped things around and are now opening with Unchained, the thumping rocker of 1981's Fair Warning album.

Up until the last few shows, they were opening with You Really Got Me, a predictable but crowd-pleasing choice of their debut album (and the same song that opened shows on their 2007-8 tour). Other weird additions: Women In Love, a deep cut off Van Halen II, and Girl Gone Bad, off 1984, now appear nightly.

And I'm not bashing bands for being predictable or repetitive with setlists. Hell, today's rock shows revolve and complex lighting designs and expensive pyrotechnics. Can you imagine Kiss tinkering with their setlist each night, and having flames mistakenly shoot into the sky during Beth? Well, actually that'd be pretty cool. Anyway, here's the new Van Halen setlist (for now) for 2012.

VAN HALEN SETLIST FOR 2012 (March 13 in Manchester, New Hampshire):

• Unchained
• Runnin' With the Devil
• She's The Woman
• The Full Bug
• Tattoo
• Everybody Wants Some!!
• Somebody Get Me A Doctor
• China Town
• Hear About It Later
• Oh, Pretty Woman
• Drum Solo
• You Really Got Me
• The Trouble with Never
• Dance The Night Away
• I'll Wait
• Hot For Teacher
• Women In Love
• Girl Gone Bad
• Beautiful Girls
• Ice Cream Man
• Panama
• Guitar Solo
• Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love
• Jump