Van Halen reunion in the works (old thread, updated)

[Glenn]

I never much cared for their work with DLR at the time, but nowadays whenever I hear one of their songs I think to myself, "self, that was a pretty good jam".

Maybe it has to do with how much better music was back then in a general sense than it is now? I dunno.

I also enjoyed 5150 when I was in high school. Sammy did some decent stuff with VH back in the day too, but some pretty bad stuff as well.

http://www.comcast.net/entertainment...24/231348.html

And Van Halen Will Rock

It turns out David Lee Roth was right. Not about fashion sense or talk radio, mind you, but about the inevitability of a Van Halen reunion.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame-bound band—Roth included—is now thisclose to inking a deal with Live Nation for a 40-date amphitheater tour, Billboard.com reported Wednesday.

Roth, who unceremoniously parted ways with Van Halen in 1985, told the music magazine's Website eight months ago that getting him and his former hair-band brothers back together would not be "rocket surgery."

"It's very simple to put together," Roth said. "And as far as hurt feelings and water under the dam, like what's-her-name at the end of the movie Chicago—'So what? It's showbiz!' So I definitely see it happening."

The former heavy metal frontman last rocked out with his fellow "Hot for Teacher" artists in 1996, when they recorded a few songs that ended up on the greatest hits album Best of Volume I. But an appearance at the MTV Video Music Awards that year by all four original band mates—siblings Eddie and Alex Van Halen, Roth and bassist Michael Anthony—proved that the guys weren't really ready to reconcile.

While fans hoped that their group showing—the quartet's first public appearance together in 11 years—was a sign of a full-fledged reunion, Roth issued a statement several weeks later saying he'd been the "unwitting participant" in a publicity stunt engineered to sell more copies of Best of Volume I, and that he told Eddie at the time that he didn't "think it was a good idea for the band to go to New York half-cocked."

The Van Halen brothers and Anthony denied Roth's take on the situation, saying "the intention all along was to do two new songs" and that Roth was "never led to believe anything but that."

Despite the inauspicious undertones of that exchange, along with Roth's comment to tmz.com last month characterizing a possible Van Halen reunion as "Jerry Springer meets Knots Landing," it looks as if fans are going to get the chance to "Jump" for Roth, Eddie & Co. after all, with Billboard reporting that a contract could be signed as early as Wednesday.

Anthony, however, will not be along for the proposed ride, having since joined up with Van Halen's second former frontman Sammy Hagar for a series of shows in which they billed themselves as The Other Half and performed both Roth and Van Hagar-era Van Halen tunes.

Instead, Eddie's 15-year-old son, Wolfgang, will take over bass responsibilities when the band hits the road again, a notion that apparently doesn't sit well with Hagar, who last performed with Van Halen in the summer of 2004.

"That's a lot of pressure for Wolfie," Hagar told Billboard.com a couple weeks ago. "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. 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."

Hagar will have a chance to give Eddie some parenting advice in person in March, when Hagar, the Van Halen brothers, Roth and Anthony are scheduled to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

"My hope is that everyone lets everything go and we go there in complete respect of each other and in a loving way, with the attitude that 'I couldn't have done it without you' towards everybody," said Hagar, ever the optimist.

[JS]

Isn't one of the requirements for the induction ceremony, that all living members of the inducted band have to perform together? I have heard that but don't if it is true. I have also heard it was a ploy that was created to reunite the 3 remaining Beatles years ago before they came together on "Anthology".

[bigdt87]

...And Van Halen will Suck.

[Uncle Mxy]

Isn't one of the requirements for the induction ceremony, that all living members of the inducted band have to perform together? I have heard that but don't if it is true.

Nope. CCR was inducted in even though John Fogerty wouldn't perform with the rest of the band. (FWIW, Fogerty still kicks ass.)

I have also heard it was a ploy that was created to reunite the 3 remaining Beatles years ago before they came together on "Anthology".

<sigh> What a wasted opportunity. I think what people would have wanted was for them to work on -new- songs together, not just dig up voices of John Lennon from the dead and overproduce them.

As for Van Halen, I'll believe it when it happens. There's been too much teasing for me to treat it as anything other than noise by people who like to sound off.

[Glenn]

Van Halen, Roth to announce tour next week

By Ray Waddell
2 hours, 42 minutes ago

NASHVILLE (Billboard) - Van Halen will announce a 50-date American reunion tour with original singer David Lee Roth during a news conference in Hollywood next week, sources said.

The arena trek will begin in early October.

Roth, who split from the rock group in the mid-1980s in hopes of solo stardom, will reunite with co-founders Eddie Van Halen on guitar and brother Alex Van Halen on drums. Eddie's teenage son Wolfgang will sub for Michael Anthony on bass.

A proposed summer amphitheater tour by the group never got off the ground, with Eddie Van Halen entering a rehabilitation facility for undisclosed reasons in March.

In the months since, the guitarist has been seen publicly looking healthy and fit.

Van Halen last toured in 2004, with Roth's replacement, vocalist Sammy Hagar, grossing nearly $40 million, according to Billboard Boxscore.

[Uncle Mxy]

It'd be amusing to see Roth sing Hagar VH songs.

[Glenn]

I just spent 15 minutes reading the VH wikipedia page, lots of drama.

[Timone]

About fucking time, always preferred Roth and always will. Panamaaaaaa!

[Zip Goshboots]

Must we ALWAYS spend our time looking backwards? These guys had their day. Even if music was better bcak then (no argument from me), stuff like this seems disingenuous and phony. It's been alot of years, and a Sammy Hagar later, and with "Wolfie" playing bass, this is a boring barfathon.

[Timone]

...Wolfgang's playing bass? Nevermind, fuck it.