It was a tumultuous ride that few expected would last, but the vanhalenVan Halen sorta-reunion tour came to a close June 2nd in Grand Rapids, Michigan. In the end, the tour grossed $93 million and played to nearly a million fans over the course of 74 shows. In retrospect, it wasn’t the ego or antics of David Lee Roth but Eddie Van Halen’s pre-jaunt rehab stay and March health issues that nearly submarined the tour. The shows marked the first time that Roth fronted the band in 23 years (though without bass player Michael Anthony, the original lineup remains estranged since 1985), and VH’s handlers say it was the most successful tour of the long-running group’s career.

[Photo: Getty]

When Van Halen last hit Vegas for a pair of shows in December, the group’s legendary guitarist was not doing too well. On the first night, despite his health history, Eddie Van Halen kept a cigarette affixed to his axe for easy access. Even more disconcertingly, fans noticed the guitarist was wobbly on his feet and took at least one embarrassing stumble during the concert.

Then last month Van Halen had to reschedule some shows so their rehabbed cancer survivor guitarist could undergo undisclosed medical tests. But the band made its triumphant return in Las Vegas on Saturday night, headlining Tiger Woods’ Tiger Jam, the golf icon’s annual charity concert. The veteran band was not taking anything for granted, either: a few hours before the show the band worked repeatedly sound checking “Hot for Teacher.”

“We are here to listen to one of the greatest bands in history,” Tiger Woods, the greatest golfer in history, announced to the audience. “It is my honor to introduce you to Van Halen.” There was no stumbling this time around. (more…)

• Wolfgang Van Halen told People his dad, Van Halen guitarist Eddie Van Halen, is “doing great — seriously.” He also voiced his excitement about getting back on the road next month, starting with a just-added April 19th gig in Las Vegas.
• According to rumor care a New York DJ, AC/DC are reportedly gearing up for a farewell tour following the completion of an album later this year.
• Mos Def has joined the cast of Cadillac Records, the film based on iconic Chicago label Chess Records. He’ll play Chuck Berry in the film.
• The indie film soundtrack that could, Juno, will have a sequel on iTunes next Tuesday, featuring a track by the film’s star, Ellen Page. Juno B-Sides: Almost Adopted Songs will become available on other digital music stores May 13th, but no plans have been set for a CD release.

[Photo: Getty]

• Eddie Van Halen’s ex-wife Valerie Bertinelli says reports about Van Halen being in rehab “are wrong. Eddie is sober.” Bertinelli did not reveal what prompted Van Halen to undergo medical testing and postpone the band’s tour dates until April 19th.
• Following reports that Ozzfest 2008 may become a destination festival in the States, new rumors claim the festival may have a single U.K. show in July.
• Kanye West may be a married man, if rumors he secretly wed his fiancé of two years are to be believed.
• Bjork’s recent cries of “Tibet!” while performing “Declare Independence” during a concert in China will not affect the country’s treatment of other foreign acts, the government announced.

• Tour news from Van Halen and Foo Fighters: David Lee Roth and Co. have added even more dates to the 2008 leg of their reunion tour, bringing the total to nearly thirty gigs from January to April. The Foo Fighters have also released 2008 dates in support of Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace, which includes their first stop at New York’s Madison Square Garden. Complete itineraries for both bands after the jump.

• Warped Tour founder Kevin Lyman spoke to college students last night and while he wouldn’t reveal the punk-rock summer festival’s lineup, he said they’d like to include bands like Against Me!, the Bronx, the Devil Wears Prada and Pierce the Veil. Lyman indicated the 2008 outing will embrace even more young acts, and said fans can expect about a dozen bands to be announced next week.

• The North Dakota sheriff who busted small-time criminals by inviting them to a fake pre-party for an Ozzy Osbourne show is selling the shirts worn in the sting for $20 each to benefit the United Way. A different kind of souvenir is being sold by a Chinese Web site: Guns N’ Roses fans can purchase the “Axl Converse” — which resemble the pair Rose wore in the “Estranged” video.

• The U.S. production company behind Lollapalooza and Austin City Limits has partnered with the U.K. team behind Reading, Leeds and Glastonbury to create the Vineland Music Festival, set to debut August 8th-10th on the New Jersey campgrounds of the same name. The fest promises to combine outdoor camping with performances by rock acts of all sizes. No lineup has been announced yet.

• Jeffrey Owen Jones, the man believed to be the inspiration behind the “Mr. Jones” character in Bob Dylan’s “Ballad of a Thin Man,” died earlier this month, it was revealed yesterday. Jones, a film professor at the Rochester Institute of Technology, was said to have inspired the song after interviewing Dylan for Time magazine. (more…)

With David Lee Roth and Eddie Van Halen somehow co-existing peacefully thus far, the sorta-reunited Van Halen will see if their luck can extend into next year as the band has announced more 2008 tour dates. After the band plays their current tour-ending gig in Las Vegas on December 30th, the quartet will reconvene January 22nd in Oklahoma City for another leg that will see them performing until March 30th. Diamond Dave better stock up on the spandex. The band will play a trio of shows in Texas before heading back east — by way of a concert in Sunrise, Florida — to perform another show at NYC’s Madison Square Garden on March 17th. We’re hoping Wolfgang Van Halen has a tutor that travels with the band, as he’s officially missing a lot of school. Full 2008 tour dates after the jump …

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• Van Halen have started unveiling dates for the 2008 leg of their reunion tour. In addition to a previously announced March 30th make-up for a canceled St. Louis date last month, the band will be in Oklahoma City on January 22nd, Houston on January 28th, Omaha on February 4th and Ft. Lauderdale on February 12th with more dates expected to follow.

• Magnolia and Boogie Nights director Paul Thomas Anderson once made a short film starring Elliott Smith that may be released in 2008. Smith evidently plays “a Rastafarian basketball player.” (To check out Smith photos from Autumn de Wilde’s new book, click here.)

• Amy Winehouse’s beehive was reportedly checked for drugs when she visited her hubby in the slammer earlier this week. According to The Sun, a warden requested to run her fingers through Winehouse’s ‘do to make sure there was nothing funky stashed in it (the test came up clean). UPDATE: Maybe there was a good reason why Winehouse’s hive was inspected.

• The Police’s reunion tour has been named the top-grossing and top-ticket-selling tour of 2007 by Billboard. The trek brought in more than $171 million from fifty-thre shows with more than 1.5 million people in attendance. Justin Timberlake walked way with the breakthrough award, with earnings of more than $115.8 million on the 100 dates of his FutureSex/LoveShow tour.

• The Spice Girls performed for the first time since their reunion at last night’s taping of the Victoria Secret fashion show in Los Angeles. The quintet, who start their world tour next month, performed 1998’s “Stop” along with a new track, “Headlines.” The show airs on CBS December 4th.

There were plenty of reasons to be skeptical walking into last night’s Van Halen concert at New York’s Madison Square Garden. In no particular order: founding bassist Michael Anthony has been kicked to the curb in favor of Eddie Van Halen’s sixteen-year-old son Wolfgang, David Lee Roth’s vocals have sounded more than a bit shaky in recent years and Ed has done little in these past few years except go to rehab and write scores for porn flicks. Yet when the curtain dropped and the band burst into a note-perfect “You Really Got Me” it became clear this was somehow going to work.

It was hard to know where to look first when the show began: a shockingly well-preserved Ed ripping into his guitar, Dave frantically waving a red flag and grinning like a killer clown or Wolfgang, standing confidently on the side of the stage, playing a set consisting entirely of songs written at least seven years before he was born. Ultimately Dave — who reveled in every moment onstage — won out. His voice didn’t sound like it was still 1984, but his vocals were significantly stronger than we’d expected. His signature karate kicks weren’t as high as they used to be and he flubbed his share of lyrics (you’d think he’d at least remember “Pretty Woman”), but his boundless enthusiasm made up for everything. (more…)

• Van Halen’s current reunion tour — which is slated to end December 30th — may continue well into 2008. Though the band has yet to announce dates for another leg, they have rescheduled last Sunday’s canceled St. Louis date for March 30th, leading to predictions of an extended run.

• The Backstreet Boys have spoken out about the sexual-abuse accusations surrounding their former manager, Lou Pearlman. “We thankfully got out of that whole situation when we did, and you know we don’t wish bad upon anybody, but karma’s karma,” A.J. McLean told MTV News.

• MC and Celebrity Rap Superstar judge Da Brat was arrested for felony assault early this morning after allegedly hitting a woman in the face with a bottle of rum at Jermaine Dupri’s Studio 72 club in Atlanta following a verbal altercation.

• Meatloaf canceled a U.K. gig an hour into his performance, citing exhaustion and stress. Despite reports to the contrary, the singer’s tour promoter remains adamant Meatloaf did not tell the audience the show would be his last.

• Two Johnny Cash Christmas specials will be re-released on November 13th via Shout! Factory: The Johnny Cash Christmas Special 1976, including guests Tony Orlando and Roy Clark, and The Johnny Cash Christmas Special 1977 with guests Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis and Roy Orbison.

“You’re going to see some tears when they hit that stage,” said Modesto, California’s Matt Caramella as he waited for Van Halen with David Lee Roth to hit the stage for the first time since 1984 in Charlotte, North Carolina, last night. Sure enough, tears streamed down his face as the lights went down and Eddie Van Halen appeared on the darkened stage, shirtless and wearing faded green Army fatigue shorts and white sneakers, cranking out the first few riffs of the band’s reconstituted Kinks cover “You Really Got Me.” By the time Roth came out, wearing tight black leather pants, a polka-dotted shirt and white sports jacket with gaudy black embroidery, Caramella was in fist-pumping ecstasy. “These guys are my heroes,” he shouted over the din, “the gods of rock & roll.”

(Click here for photos from this show.)

And for more than two hours, the gods delivered. From “You Really Got Me” to “Runnin’ with the Devil,” “Dance the Night Away,” “Oh, Pretty Woman,” “Unchained,” “Hot for Teacher,” “Ice Cream Man,” “Panama,” guitar-god solo “Eruption,” “Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love,” “Jump” and about thirteen more classic Van Halen tunes, the band was in top form for their long-overdue reunion. “I’m not going to waste time BS-ing around tonight,” Roth told the delighted, sold-out crowd of predominantly middle-aged guys in white- and blue-collar work clothes and gals who’d retrieved their Eighties bustiers for a night of original hair-metal nostalgia. But he was lying: Roth was at his BS best.

His hair may be shorter and crow’s feet longer, but Diamond Dave is every bit the Vegas showman that he was two decades ago, when he left Van Halen for an ill-fated solo career that took him from cheesy bad to train-wreck worse. He showed his gift for gab — and flamboyant duds — from the get-go, imitating Mick Jagger and martial arts moves, smiling like a clown, riding a giant microphone. And despite old wounds, his bandmates seemed charmed by their new old lead singer. (more…)

As Rock Daily previously reported, Van Halen has been hosting open rehearsals at the Forum in Los Angeles for the past week in anticipation of their reunion tour. Scott Ian from Anthrax checked out a recent show and posted about it on his MySpace page: “They were fucking amazing (ear-boners). Seriously, the hair on my arms was standing up. Dave sang great, Eddie was shredding, Alex is a fucking monster and Wolf was perfect. Great on bass and hit every high note. The set list was 2 1/2 hours of the best shit. I’m The One, Atomic Punk, Romeo Delight, Somebody Get Me A Doctor, Mean Street, Unchained and so many more. Do whatever you gotta do to get tix to see this. FINALLY!!!!! A real full blown arena rock act!!!!! It’s like listening to the soundtrack of America since 1978. THE KINGS ARE BACK!!!!!!!”

Over on Blabbermouth, someone who attended the fourth rehearsal on Sunday reported approximately 500 friends and family members showed up, including Tom Morello, Kirk Hammett and Zakk Wylde, who tried to jump onstage with Eddie and Co., only to be yanked down by security. Wylde then evidently traded shoes with a lady in the crowd and spent some quality time in high heels.

To check out a gallery of photos from the rehearsals, click here.

[Photo: Jeff Findley]

As you’ve almost certainly heard, later this month the reunited Van Halen is hitting the road for an extensive tour with David Lee Roth out front. But something is missing. Original bassist Michael Anthony — whose distinctive backing vocals are crucial to classics like “Running With the Devil” and “Panama” — has been fired and replaced by Eddie Van Halen’s sixteen-year-old son Wolfgang. Many outraged fans are pledging to stay home, while others will be showing up with “Where Is Michael Anthony?” T-shirts. Last week Anthony got on the phone with RS to explain what happened.

When was the last time you saw Eddie Van Halen?
The last time I actually spoke or saw him in person was right after we walked offstage in 2004, the last show of the tour.

How were things then?
It really didn’t end in total peace and harmony within the band, for whatever reasons. I’m not going to finger-point at anyone, but the tour, after eighty shows, just couldn’t go on at that point.

How did you find out they were going to do this upcoming tour without you?
Probably like everybody else, I found out on the Internet and through word of mouth. I can understand that he wants his kid to play with him. If I had a kid like that, I’d like to have him perform with me, too. It was kind of funny when I first heard about it being a Van Halen “reunion.”

(Keep reading for Anthony’s take on the 2004 tour, the doctored album covers that appeared online after the band’s recent reunion announcement, his sixteen-year-old replacement and more.)
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Former Van Halen bassist Michael Anthony has spoken out about his absence from the Van Halen reunion tour (he and onetime VH frontman Sammy Hagar will instead tour with their band, the Other Half). “It’s not that I’m not touring with Van Halen because I’m going out with Sammy,” Anthony wrote on his blog. I’m going out with Sammy because I was not invited to do the VH tour. Sammy told me that if I was asked to be part of the VH tour and decided to do it, it would be totally cool, and it would not tarnish our friendship in the least!! Well it’s not to be, and life goes on. I’ll still be out there with Sam, and I can’t wait to do some partying with all of you.” Anthony went on to say that he bears no ill will toward Wolfgang Van Halen, who will be taking his place on bass, and encouraged fans to be nice to him. “Wolfgang is a great kid, so don’t judge him too harshly. I’m sure he’ll do just fine!!”

Over the past twenty-four hours, Van Halen fans have been mulling over the latest development in the band’s reunion saga: A poster on a music-industry message board pointed out that in the wake of the band’s tour announcement, the Van Halens seemed to have airbrushed original bassist Michael Anthony out of older album covers on their official Web site and replaced him with their newest member: Eddie Van Halen’s son, Wolfgang. The swap was evident on the lower right of the cover of the band’s self-titled debut (which came out thirteen years before Wolfgang was born), and the group shot for Women and Children First had been removed entirely.

A visit to the tour section of Van Halen’s site today reveals that the album covers in question have been replaced with the original artwork. However, another message board commenter pointed out there were no images of David Lee Roth in 2004’s career-spanning The Best of Both Worlds, as the frontman and Eddie Van Halen were on the outs during that time. (The pair made a point of embracing at Monday’s reunion tour press conference to demonstrate all is well). As of now, the band hasn’t issued any statements regarding the artwork incident.

(Click here for photos of David Lee Roth, Eddie Van Halen, Alex Van Halen and Wolfgang Van Halen at today’s press conference.)

One of rock and roll’s longest lasting feuds came to an end today as Eddie Van Halen and David Lee Roth took the stage at the Four Seasons Hotel in Los Angeles, warmly embraced each other and announced the details of the long-rumored Van Halen reunion tour. Alex Van Halen and the group’s new bass player Wolfgang Van Halen (Ed’s sixteen-year-old son) were also on hand to announce the outing, which kicks off September 27th in Charlotte, North Carolina and runs through December 11th in Calgary, Alberta. More dates are expected to be forthcoming.

Fans and journalists hoping for Dave and Ed to get into some sort of tussle left disappointed. The two were all smiles throughout the fifteen-minute press conference. “We’re getting along better than we ever have before,” Ed said. Why was founding bassist Michael Anthony given the boot? “Michael Anthony is part of this band’s history,” Roth said. “This band has many alumni. I am one of them.” New bassist Wolfie — looking at tad uncomfortable under the media glare — said he’s a big fan of AC/DC, Tool and the White Stripes. “I can describe Wolfie in two words,” Alex said. “DNA.”

The group has been rehearing steadily for the past four months. When asked about the setlist Roth said, “We decided to do everything you’d expect, but make it high speed, low drag. Everything that got me fired from radio.” The group nearly went out this summer, but decided to postpone it so Ed could head to rehab. “None of us wanted to give you less than our best,” Eddie said. “We are at our best.” Added Roth, “This is not like the Police. The idea is that this will go on and on and on. This is like a brotherhood like it never was before.” Tickets go on sale this Saturday.

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