Van Halen

Today could be the day!!!!!!!!!

Van Halen Reuniting With Roth For Tour

January 24th, 2007

From: http://www.billboard.com/

January 24, 2007, 4:20 PM ET
Ray Waddell, Nashville

Sources tell Billboard.com a contract could be signed as soon as today for Live Nation to produce a 40-date amphitheatre tour by Van Halen this summer, with original frontman David Lee Roth back in the fold for the first time in more than 20 years.

As previously reported, guitarist Eddie Van Halen's 15-year-old son Wolfgang has stepped in for original bassist Michael Anthony in the new incarnation of the group, which also features drummer Alex Van Halen.

Van Halen last toured in 2004 with vocalist Sammy Hagar, grossing nearly $40 million, according to Billboard Boxscore. Hagar refused to collaborate further with Eddie and Alex Van Halen after the tour's completion ("I don't get along with Eddie anymore, and that's all there is to it," he told Billboard.com in August 2005), although he has consistently played live with Anthony in recent years. The warring factions may wind up meeting in public in March when Van Halen is inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

"I see it absolutely as an inevitability," Roth told Billboard.com last May of a potential reunion with his ex-bandmates. "To me, it's not rocket surgery. It's very simple to put together. And as far as hurt feelings and water under the dam, like what's-her-name says to what's-her-name at the end of the movie 'Chicago' -- 'So what? It's showbiz!' So I definitely see it happening."

Hagar recently told Billboard.com he was concerned Eddie Van Halen was asking too much of his son to have him join the band and promptly perform in front of thousands of people every night.

"That's a lot of pressure for Wolfie. Just 'cause he's Eddie's son doesn't mean he can go out and play in arenas and perform and entertain an audience for two hours," he said. "I would love to see Eddie and Alex get behind Wolfie, with a kid of his age singing, and produce the record for him and help him launch a career. I'd rather see it go that way than come out and say 'Wolfie's the bass player in Van Halen and maybe singing, too.' Van Halen's got way too much history to have that put on him."

 

It's great that Dave will be back but without Michael Anthony it's not Van Halen, I got a feeling that this announcement will not go over with most of the fans including myself.

 

Michael Anthony = all the background vocals for VH.


listen again to some of the early era songs... the BG vocal really help them along. Wouldnt be the same without him.

Hopefully Wolfie can pull it off.

 

The background vocals are huge on CD, but in a live concert, it's not that big of a deal. No doubt the old VH chrous' were phenomenal. Mikey not being there will be weird, but maybe having the kid around will have a positive influence on Ed. It appears to be the case in how excited Ed has been in regards to the jam sessions with Wolfgang........

 

Eddie said several years ago (in so many words) Wolfie's already got the voice, but didn't want to unleash him just yet. Best of all worlds for fan base, old and new alike & may very well be the shot in the arm Rock needs. When the kid eventually goes solo...

 

Does anyone know why Michael Anthony is no longer with the band?

 

I'll bet he's got his own stuff going on and doesn't want the headaches. Every time these guys try to do a reunion it flops with them getting pissed at each other. Ego's and too much booze. BTW, Roth can't hit the high notes anymore so I wonder how they plan to cover that up? It'll be interesting if A) it happens; and B) if they can keep it together long enough.

 

Michael Anthony remained friends with Sammy after the 2nd fall out they had a few years back. Eddie took exception to this and is now pissed at both Michael Anthony and Sammy.

 

Yup

My GFs family is a friend of the VH family and Eddie is a reknowned control freak hothead. Ive never met him so this is second hand.

 

Roth's voice is gone. It's gonna be weird.

 

For those EVH fans that don't know. Eddie just got a new replica guitar to his Frankenstrat. Limited to 300, costs $25,000 each. Absolutely incredible detail. You can't even tell the difference.

He also got a signature amp from Fender. Here's a video of him playing the prototype:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIr-WBZT1MI

 

I have been a huge VH fan for a long time..seem them a few times in concert as well. Didn't bother with the '04 tour becuase of the horror stories about the bands performance and Ed antics and his playing, from the bootlegs I have seen of the 04 tour I'm glad I saved my money.

I think Roth getting back in on vocals is a massive mistake. He cannot sing anymore and hitting the high notes and his little scream thingies are a thing of the past for him. How is he gonna pull off "Ice Cream Man" or "Jamies Cryin"?? or "Jump" for that matter. Roth live in concert most of the time was terriable..he could hardly sing the songs well back then, and would be so smashed he would forget the words, never mind his wanna be comedie act and his LA wanna be one man show he would try and put on. But he was the face of VH for a very long time.

Micheal Anthony is a huge issue aswell. Have a look at the 95 Balance tour footage of him singing "sombody get me a Doctor" and listen to "Don't tell me"..his BG vocals are a massive part of the VH sound..in my eyes irreplaceable.

Wolfie is what 13-14 years old?? How can a kids who's voice has barely changed, is going through puberty be "thee" voice?? And how in the name of sheeba can he play bass guitar well enough to keep up with Ed and Alex. Some of the bass lines to VH songs are quite difficult to play..I have tried!

I think its going to be a distaster. Ed is not the same guy anymore. His playing as taken a real turn for the worse, and he is constantly drunk. either he is shaping up and we will see the ED of the past, or he should just pack it in and call it a career.

When do tickets go on sale??

 

Actually you could probably fake half the bass lines in concert and the audience would never know. Most of the Van Halen bass lines are a joke ie.. Running with the Devil. Panama. You probably can't even hear the bass in concert. Michael Anthony's contribution was his voice. That's about it.
Also, 15 year olds can be phenomenal instrumentalists. I've seen 14 year olds in guitar shops play Yngwie Malmsteen stuff perfectly. My buddy could play Eruption perfectly in 9th grade.

 

without Michael and Sammy that will be one helluva tour to be on. Both Eddie and Dave are control freaks. Michael and Sammy are so easy to get along with. Michaels vocals are a huge part of VH's sound but with Dave's vocals I'm not so sure it will matter. They can just pump them in with the keys.

 

Hey Ed - glad to see you posting here! I was going to send you a PM, regarding the VH reunion. And your thoughts on it. Don't forget tomorriw is ed's Birthday................
Kevin S.
Orchard Park, NY

 

Hey Kevin, I thought of you when I heard they were going out. I'm sure the tour with DLR will be successful. Wolfie will make it very interesting. I just wonder how things will go from behind the scenes. I'm sure they will want $100k from the opening band for each leg of the tour. This could be a big profit tour for ed and alex.

 

Thought you all might enjoy these two blasts from the past. I took these at Memorial Auditorium (the Aud!), in March of 1984; when I was 16. 2nd row floor, Ed's side of the stage. What a night that was.
These were taken with a Kodak DISC Camera - remember that????
I have plenty more VH photos from over the years.
Enjoy.
Kevin S.
Orchard Park, NY
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Tom - one thing to consider. Wolfgang has played onstage with the band many times; he was on stage alot during the 2004 tour. He never seemed freaked out; and he was 12 at the time...........
he will be fine. He'll be 25 by the end of the tour though.
Kevin S.
Orchard Park, NY

 

My first major concert was Van Halen, 3rd show Dallas back in 1984. Good times but it was a very wild show, I was 15 at the time. My seats were not the best, noise bleed section 232 of Reunion Arena. I think I still have my ticket stub.

 

Yaaaaaaaawn. The VH reunion ship sailed 10 years ago. There's so much baggage and runaway ego involved, at this point it's like watching a dying man suddenly making amends with lifelong enemies to clear his conscience.

 

Quote-I think its going to be a distaster. Ed is not the same guy anymore. His playing as taken a real turn for the worse, and he is constantly drunk. either he is shaping up and we will see the ED of the past, or he should just pack it in and call it a career.

He is never drunk before 4:30. Shame on you. Well at least most of the time he isn't. He is solely responsible for keeping Smoking Loon wine in business and that is something of an accomplishment. I hope he gets it together. Or at least stops walking into the shower of the I Love All Access girls.

 

As predicted, tour is off again according to LA Times today.

Van Halen's road plans have taken a rocky turn
By Geoff Boucher, Times Staff Writer
February 23, 2007

For Van Halen, the stars seemed aligned for a triumphant 2007. Next month, the group will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and the plan was to follow that with a summer reunion tour that would feature David Lee Roth back at the mike for the first time since the Reagan years.

But, once again, the backstage soap opera of Van Halen is the story of the day.

The Van Halen tour has been "shut down," according to a top official at Live Nation, the huge concert promoter that finally surrendered in the face of the chaos surrounding guitar hero Eddie Van Halen. Roth, meanwhile, says he is unsure whether the mercurial guitarist will even travel to New York for the Hall of Fame induction on March 12.

"We have fragile politics in Van Halen; please accept that as a partial answer," Roth said. "But I don't know if the Van Halens are going to go....I hope they do, but right now, I just don't know. Hope springs eternal."

Eddie Van Halen declined interviews through his publicist and girlfriend, Janie Liszewski. Conversations with the business team behind the tour paint a picture of a rock star who is somewhere between Axl Rose and Michael Jackson on the music industry scale of eccentric recluses. The result is that the Van Halen venture imploded before takeoff, even as the Police, the Eagles and Genesis have efficiently geared up for lucrative reunion tours.

"I cannot tell you how frustrating and completely nuts this has been," one key business figure in the tour said while asking not to be identified on the outside chance that the reunion might be salvaged. "Right now, I have to say, I don't see that happening."

It's a disheartening situation for the fans who pine for a Roth-led lineup of the iconic metal band. Among those devoted is Wolfgang Van Halen, the 15-year-old son of Eddie and, according to Roth, a key force behind the reunion.

Wolfgang, a precocious musician, was "the maestro" at the reconstituted band's lone rehearsal, picking the set list and using his iPod to remind his father of the nuances of his solos on the old albums. Wolfgang was tapped by his father to play bass on the tour too, replacing founding member Michael Anthony, a jolting choice considering the child's age and Anthony's status as one of rock's best backup singers and most relentlessly cheerful presences.

Eddie Van Halen remains, by all accounts, a gifted guitarist and rock auteur, but the decision to jettison Anthony in favor of a teenager may have been the first sign that the new enterprise was guided by creaky logic. Now all eyes will be on the Hall of Fame banquet to see who shows up, who performs and how Roth interacts with old rival Sammy Hagar, the man who replaced him as lead singer in 1985 and who will be inducted as an equal.

On Valentine's Day, when the tour still looked viable, Roth was all smiles as he sat down for an interview in a bungalow at Chateau Marmont. The 52-year-old was wearing a snappy black suit and the short haircut that has recently replaced his old pro-wrestler cut. He still flashes a karate smile, but the singer seems calmer and more focused than in years past. The reason, he said, is that he's fresh from working as an emergency medical technician in New York. It's a longtime dream of his to be a paramedic, and the unglamorous gurney and rubber-glove duty humbled him, he said.

"I was working in neighborhoods that were almost exclusively black and Spanish-speaking, so only maybe twice out of 200 clients was I recognized.... I was joking about this in the truck on New Year's Eve, which was my last shift — I was working in Brooklyn, down in Coney Island — I said that I've been in more project apartments than Jay-Z and Diddy combined."

Roth was the rock frontman on top of the world when he went solo, but — as Mick Jagger and Robert Plant also learned — fans treasure him more when he was side-by-side with an equal on guitar. Roth seemed like a vainglorious sex panther in Van Halen, but on his own he often came off as a relentless jive salesman whose only product was his own past. Roth is still "on" all the time — he calls it his "incandescent personality" — but lately he comes off as the voice of reason, a pretty stunning change.

That, and the financial prospects, made him jump at the chance to work with Eddie Van Halen again. Of the old days, he says: "There was a lot of sparks and a lot of tension, like your favorite movies, especially those underground ones.... There was a lot of anxiety too, but it was about ambition, not ego."

Roth was optimistic that the band would follow up the tour with new music; he also pointed to the cache of 1996 recordings that he did with Van Halen during an earlier reunion flirtation. Now it appears the entire output of this new reunion was a single rehearsal in January and a photo shoot with Roth and Eddie, Wolfgang and Alex Van Halen. Alex is Eddie's older brother and the band's drummer.

"Hearing it again, that's an elixir.... What we sell is that we make all the guys feel young and invincible and all the girls feel young and desirable," Roth said. "I watched it happen to everybody that was listening in the studio."

Van Halen was a monster of rock and, for a time, arguably the biggest band in the world. According to the Recording Industry Assn. of America, Van Halen albums have shipped more than 56.5 million copies, which is more than the career totals of U2, Celine Dion, Shania Twain or Prince.

Roth said that he and Anthony will be in New York for the Hall of Fame, as will Hagar, the affable "red rocker."

Last month, Hagar publicly chided Eddie Van Halen for taking his son on tour. He also added that "the guy is a genius, but he's just out there and it's hard for people around him."

In 2004 and 2005, Van Halen toured with Hagar and, according to Pollstar, grossed $55 million playing arenas. But Hagar said that Eddie Van Halen was drinking heavily and, on some nights, it showed. In Chicago, Eddie stumbled throughout the set and, at one point, quit playing and sacked out, telling the crowd: "I done run outta gas."

There were tender scenes too. With the tour winding down in Los Angeles, for instance, Wolfgang came on stage at the Staples Center to play. The body language of father and son made it clear that they reveled in the shared spotlight. Roth said that that affection led to the hopes for the Van Halen reunion.

"I'm going to put some words in Ed's mouth," Roth said. "Whatever explanation he may give about having his son in the band, I'm going to superimpose: He wants to play with his kid while he's still at the top of his game and able to ... and that's also the same reason I'm in the band in its current configuration. No questions asked. He said, 'Hey, c'mon up the hill and make some music.' I said, 'Great. I'd love to play with you while you're still on the top of your game.' "

Roth smiled, but a moment later, when he was asked about what he feared most about the reunion, he didn't hesitate with his answer: "The two worst words in the English lexicon are 'band meeting.' "

 

Once again.........Eddie is an idiot!

 

Just ran across this thread...

I'm sure a lot of y'all know this, and otherwise wouldn't be surprised anyway, but Michael Anthony is an Fcar enthusiast.

A friend/associate is close with him and tells me Mike has several Fcars and daily drives a 550 (probably a 575 or 599 or all of the above by now).

I think he still lives out in the Glendora area.

 

550 and Boxer.