Music News

Van Halen Postpone Tour, Claim They’re Still Getting Along

There are three things that people often associate with Van Halen: Eddie Van Halen’s virtuoso guitar playing, the soaring vocals of David Lee Roth/Sammy Hagar (depending on your preference), and inter-band drama. However, the current incarnation of the hard-rock legends (Diamond Dave, Eddie, drummer Alex Van Halen and new bassist Wolfgang Van Halen) seemed to be getting along very well. The band had just released a new album, A Different Kind Of Truth, and they were planning a long summer arena tour to promote the album, their first since 1998’s Van Halen III and their first with Roth since 1984.

Then, Thursday, the band abruptly called off most of the tour dates from July through September. Speculation ran rampant about possible causes: some thought that a health issue might be the cause (Eddie previously battled cancer), and a Rolling Stone report cited a source close to the tour as saying that bad blood between the band members had resurfaced.

The band has since done their best to put any rumors of unrest to bed. A statement on the band’s website slams the Rolling Stone report (which has since been made unavailable by the magazine), saying that the band are “older and wiser and haven’t had any issues with one another.” Today, a video statement from Roth reiterated that point. In the video, Roth says that the band are “getting along famously, better than we have in quite some time.” He goes on to cite exhaustion as the reason behind the postponed dates, saying that they “bit off more than they could chew.” Representatives for the band have confirmed that the postponed dates will be rescheduled, and Roth promises in the video (which you can watch at the end of this post) that the band “will come back around” after a break.

So far, so good in Van Halen land, it seems.

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