Van Halen tour goes reggae? Well, kind of ...

"Running With the Devil" done up ska style? A dancehall-reggae version of "Jump," with vocal cameos by Sean Kingston and Eek-A-Mouse? David Lee "Rasta Man" Roth with dreadlock hair extensions? A dub remix of "Eruption"?
Well, not quite, but Van Halen continues to surprise, and the announcement of the opening act for the band's upcoming tour is sure to raise the eyebrows of most fans who don't skank at concerts and shout "Jah, Rastafari!" as they roll another giant spliff.
(The biggest surprise, of course, is that guitar god Eddie Van Halen and "the-ego-has-landed" singer David Lee Roth have buried the hatchet -- at least temporarily -- for this revamped band's reunion tour. Make that the reunion tour that isn't really a reunion tour, since Eddie fired original band bassist and backing singer Michael Anthony earlier this year to make room for Wolgang Van Halen, Eddie's teenage son.)
By any name, the tour is rightly one of the most anticipated (and quickest-selling) in years by any rock band, and any creative and personal tension on and off stage between Eddie and David makes their reteaming even more interesting. But never mind that.
Today's surprise comes in the form of Jamaican reggae singer (and sometime hip-hop vocalist) Ky-Mani Marley, 31, whose father is late reggae king Bob Marley. Ky-Mani has won the much-coveted opening spot on Van Halen's tour, which kicks off Sept. 27 in North Carolina, concludes Dec. 11 in Calgary and includes a Nov. 25 San Diego date at Cox Arena.
Just how he'll be received by presumably impatient Van Halen fans eager for the main act remains to be seen, but Kymani holds the distinction of being the first reggae artist booked to open any tour by the band in memory.
As yet, not a word about Van Halen's Thanksgiving week show appears on either the Cox Arena or Ticketmaster Web sites. But a Los Angeles spokesman for Live Nation, the tour's promoter, assures us that will change as soon as an on-sale date is determined for the Cox date. In the meantime, budding rumors that Roth is preparing a mash-up of Van Halen's "Hot for Teacher" and Bob Marley's "No Woman, No Cry" remain sadly unfounded, at least for now.

Tour Dates Announced

Date Venue
Sep 27, 2007
Charlotte, N.C.
Charlotte Bobcats Arena

Sep 29, 2007
Greensboro, N.C.
Greensboro Coliseum

Oct 01, 2007
Philadelphia, PA
Wachovia Center

Oct 07, 2007
Toronto, ON

Air Canada Centre

Oct 10, 2007
Cleveland, OH
Quicken Loans Arena
(formerly Gund Arena)

Oct 14, 2007
Indianapolis, IN
Conseco Fieldhouse

Oct 16, 2007
Rosemont, IL
Allstate Arena

Oct 18, 2007
Chicago, IL
United Center

Oct 22, 2007
Auburn Hills, MI
Palace Of Auburn Hills

Oct 24, 2007
Minneapolis, MN
Target Center

Oct 26, 2007
Kansas City, MO
Sprint Center

Oct 28, 2007
Saint Louis, MO
Scottrade Center

Oct 30, 2007
Boston, MA TD
Banknorth Garden (fleet Center)

Nov 03, 2007
East Rutherford, NJ
Continental Airlines Arena

Nov 13, 2007
New York, NY
Madison Square Garden

Nov 20, 2007
Los Angeles, CA
Staples Center

Nov 23, 2007
Glendale, AZ
Jobing.com Arena
(formerly Glendale Arena)

Nov 25, 2007
San Diego, CA
Cox Arena

Nov 27, 2007
Sacramento, CA
Arco Arena

Nov 29, 2007
San Jose, CA
HP Pavilion

Dec 01, 2007
Portland, OR
Rose Garden

Dec 03, 2007
Seattle, WA
Key Arena

Dec 05, 2007
Vancouver, BC
General Motors Place

Dec 09, 2007
Edmonton, AB
Rexall Place

Dec 11, 2007
Calgary, AB
Pengrowth Saddledome

Van Halen Announce Tour

They're in their 50s now, and they've traded their long heavy-metal locks for close-cropped cuts, but the original members of Van Halen are back in business and promise that they're better than ever.

"Usually, when a band comes back like us, it's rockers with walkers," frontman David Lee Roth told reporters at the Four Seasons Hotel here on Monday. "This is anything but."
Van Halen held a press conference to announce a 25-date concert tour beginning Sept. 27 in Charlotte, N.C. The re-formed group features three original members — Roth, guitarist Eddie Van Halen and drummer Alex Van Halen — along with Eddie Van Halen's son, Wolfgang, on bass.

"This is not a reunion," said Roth, 51. "This is a whole new band."

"It is totally blowing our minds and I think it will yours, too," said Eddie Van Halen, 52. "It's better than it's ever been."
With its flamboyant frontman, "Diamond Dave," Van Halen was one of the most popular rock bands of the 1980s. But the group split up in 1985 and the original lineup hasn't performed together since.
"I'm shocked any of us are still vertical," Roth quipped.
He and Eddie Van Halen insisted that the band's reunion isn't just a one-tour deal. After performing throughout North America, Van Halen plans to hit Asia and Australia.
"Then we make an album," Roth said, adding that the group has "lots of dreams, lots of ambitions."
"We really have re-formed this team like a brother team that it never was before," he said.
Wolfgang Van Halen, 16, brings "a young energy and a spirit" to the band, Roth said, adding that the teenage rocker chose the tour's song list, which features "close to 25 of your greatest hits."
"You know every single song, you know every guitar lick, every woo, every kick, every jump, every drum lick," he said. "We can't afford to shirk that duty."
The band has been rehearsing since October and plans to exceed fans' expectations, Roth said.
"None of us want to give you less than our best," said Eddie Van Halen. "And we are at our best."

Diamond Dave Is Back

After more than 20 years of bitter feuding, the principal founding members of Van Halen hugged each other on Monday during a news conference to announce a rebirth of one of America's premier rock bands.

Flamboyant singer David Lee Roth, 52, has returned to the fold for a 25-date North American arena trek that will kick off on September 27 in Charlotte, North Carolina. International dates and a new album are also in the planning stages.

Roth quit the band in 1985 for a disappointing solo career, and he spent the subsequent years sniping at his old bandmates and their replacement singer Sammy Hagar.
But as excited reporters cheered them on, the garrulous "Diamond Dave" embraced his old antagonist, guitarist Eddie Van Halen, during the gathering at the Four Seasons Hotel.
"My new brother," said Van Halen, also 52, as his 54-year-old brother, drummer Alex Van Halen looked on.

It is indeed a family affair, with Eddie's 16-year-old son, Wolfgang, replacing Michael Anthony on bass, to the chagrin of some fans hoping for a reunion of the classic lineup famed for such hits as "Runnin' With the Devil," "And the Cradle Will Rock" and "Panama."
Asked about Anthony's absence, Roth said: "This is not a reunion. This is a new band. ... Usually when a band comes back like us it's rockers with walkers, and this is everything but. Meet us in the future, not the past."

NEW ALBUM

Roth said Van Halen was "plotting and planning" a new album, his first with the band since 1983's blockbuster "1984."
"Saving the world is (U2 singer) Bono's job. We just want to save a hundred cities," Roth said. "Then we want to save Europe, then we want to save Japan, Australia and ... Hong Kong. Then we make an album. Lots of big dreams here, lots of ambition."
Added Eddie Van Halen: "We are a band and we're gonna continue."
The band has been on the rocks since 1996, when Hagar acrimoniously left. That year, Roth reunited with his old bandmates to record two songs for a hits album, and to present an award at the MTV Video Music Awards. He had assumed this would lead to a full-blown reunion, but later claimed he had been duped by Eddie Van Halen.
The band, instead, cast its lot with a new singer, Gary Cherone, the former vocalist with soft-rock band Extreme. His one album with the band, 1998's "Van Halen III" was a flop, and he left the following year.

The Van Halen soap opera entered a bizarre phase in 2002, when Roth and Hagar launched a co-headlining tour, despite Roth's description of his replacement as a "mediocre talent." Also that year, Eddie van Halen underwent cancer treatment, and the band was dropped by its longtime label, Warner Bros.
In 2004, Hagar and his old bandmates embarked on an unhappy reunion tour, with Anthony and Hagar claiming that Eddie Van Halen had alcohol problems. The guitarist, a recovering alcoholic, entered rehab earlier this year. Observers are hoping for better things this time around.

"The real question is whether Eddie and Dave can peacefully co-exist," said Matt Blackett, associate editor at Guitar Player magazine. "For the sake of their die-hard fans let's hope so, because it was that pairing that created the band's most groundbreaking music. Eddie never played better than when he was with Dave."

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