VAN HALEN TO TOUR NORTH AMERICA SUMMER/FALL 2015: 2 NC Dates Set

Wed., Sept. 9	Raleigh, NC	Walnut Creek Amphitheatre
Fri., Sept. 11	Charlotte, NC	PNC Music Pavilion

- VAN HALEN to Perform March 30 on Hollywood Boulevard for ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live’ In Rare Television Concert Appearance -

- Songs from the Concert to Air March 30 and March 31 -

"In celebration of a 2015 Summer/Fall North American Tour, VAN HALEN will perform a special concert for Jimmy Kimmel Live March 30 on Hollywood Boulevard. Featuring some of the band’s essential rock and roll classics, the concert will be broadcast over two nights, March 30 and March 31, on the late night talk show and marks VAN HALEN's first U.S. television performance with original lead singer David Lee Roth. Jimmy Kimmel Live airs weeknights at 11:35 p.m. / 10:35 p.m. Central time on ABC.

VAN HALEN is touring North America beginning July 5 in Seattle, Washington at the White River Amphitheatre, with concerts scheduled through October 2 in Los Angeles, California at the legendary Hollywood Bowl. Special guest Kenny Wayne Shepherd Band will support all dates along the tour.  

VAN HALEN will play Walnut Creek Amphitheatre Raleigh on September 9 and PNC Music Pavilion Charlotte on Friday September 11.  Tickets for the Live Nation-promoted tour go on sale beginning April 3 at www.ticketmaster.com and www.livenation.com. A complete list of tour dates can be found below.

The special Hollywood Boulevard concert will be a hit-heavy set of songs featured on TOKYO DOME LIVE IN CONCERT, the first-ever live album to feature original singer David Lee Roth. Recorded on June 21, 2013 in Tokyo, Japan, TOKYO DOME LIVE IN CONCERT includes 23 songs spanning all seven of the band’s albums with Roth. It is being released as a double CD, four-LP set on 180-gram vinyl and digitally beginning March 31,

2015. Fans who pre-order TOKYO DOME LIVE IN CONCERT before its March 31 release date through Amazon and digitally at iTunes will instantly receive downloads of “Panama,” “Runnin’ With The Devil,”  “Jump” and “Hot For Teacher.”

Also being released beginning March 31 are remastered versions of Van Halen and 1984, with remastered versions of Diver Down, Women and Children First, Van Halen II and Fair Warning due out later this spring. Each album has been cut straight from the quarter-inch tapes for CD, 180-gram vinyl and for the digital version by mastering engineer Chris Bellman, who remastered the original albums for Bernie Grundman Studios, Hollywood, CA. These albums are being released beginning March 31 with pre-orders available now through Amazon and iTunes now.

Jimmy Kimmel Live is broadcast in 720 Progressive (720P), ABC’s selected HDTV format. Jimmy Kimmel and Jill Leiderman serve as executive producers. Jason Schrift, Douglas DeLuca and Erin Irwin serve as co-executive producers. Emmy Award®-winning Jimmy Kimmel Live is shot live in front of a studio audience and produced by Jackhole Industries in association with ABC Studios. (CLOSED-CAPTIONED)

Enjoy Jimmy Kimmel Live on the web at www.abc.com/JimmyKimmeLive and at www.youtube/JimmyKimmelLive. Artwork is available on www.abcmedianet.com and on Facebook.com/JimmyKimmelLive; Twitter @JimmyKimmel #Kimmel

Formed in Los Angeles in 1974, VAN HALEN changed the rock and roll landscape forever with the release of their self-titled, 1978 debut album and subsequently produced a repertoire of hits that remain some of the strongest and most influential rock songs ever written that fans will admire for decades to come. With more than 75 million albums sold worldwide, and more No. 1 hits on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart than any other artist, the band's record of achievement is hard to top. The eponymous debut album and 1984 were both certified Diamond, for U.S. sales in excess of 10 million, placing them on an elite short list of double RIAA-certified Diamond Award honorees. VAN HALEN was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2007.

Go to http://van-halen.com/ for updates and more information.

 VAN HALEN 2015 NORTH AMERICAN TOUR:

 All dates, cities and venues subject to change.

Sunday, July 5	Seattle, WA	White River Amphitheatre
Tuesday, July 7	Portland, OR	Amphitheater Northwest
Thursday, July 9	Concord, CA	Concord Pavilion
Saturday, July 11	San Bernardino, CA	San Manuel Amphitheater
Tuesday, July 14	Irvine, CA	Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre
Thursday, July 16	Mountain View, CA	Shoreline Amphitheatre
Saturday, July 18	Salt Lake City, UT	USANA Amphitheatre
Monday, July 20	Morrison, CO	Red Rocks Amphitheatre
Wednesday, July 22	Kansas City, MO	Cricket Wireless Amphitheater
Friday, July 24	Chicago, IL	First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre
Sunday, July 26	St. Louis, MO	Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre
Tuesday, July 28	Pittsburgh, PA	First Niagara Pavilion
Thursday, July 30	Bangor, ME	Darling's Waterfront Pavilion
Saturday, August 1	Boston, MA	Xfinity Center
Monday, August 3	Cleveland, OH	Blossom Music Center
Wednesday, August 5	London, ON	Western Fair District
Friday, August 7	Toronto, ON	Molson Canadian Amphitheatre
Sunday, August 9	Holmdel, NJ	PNC Bank Arts Center
Tuesday, August 11	Hartford, CT	Xfinity Center
Thursday, August 13	Wantagh, NY	Nikon At Jones Beach Theater
Sunday, August 23	Hershey, PA	Hershey Park
Tuesday, August 25	Darien Center, NY	Darien Lake Performing Arts Center
Thursday, August 27	Camden, NJ	Susquehanna Bank Center
Saturday, August 29	Washington DC	Jiffy Lube Live
Monday, August 31	Cincinnati, OH	Riverbend Music Center
Wednesday, September 2	Indianapolis, IN	Klipsch Music Center
Friday, September 4	Detroit, MI	DTE Energy Music Theatre
Sunday, September 6	Bethel, NY	Bethel Woods Center for the Arts
NC DATES
Sunday, September 13	Tampa, FL	MIDFLORIDA Credit Union Amphitheatre
Tuesday, September 15	West Palm Beach, FL	Coral Sky Amphitheatre
Thursday, September 17	Birmingham, AL	Oak Mountain Amphitheatre
Monday, September 21	Austin, TX	Austin360 Amphitheater
Wednesday, September 23	Dallas, TX	Gexa Energy Pavilion
Friday, September 25	Houston, TX	Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion
Monday, September 28	Phoenix, AZ	Ak-Chin Pavilion
Wednesday, September 30	San Diego, CA	Sleep Train Amphitheatre
Friday, October 2	Los Angeles, CA	Hollywood Bowl" - A Press Release

VAN HALEN TO RELEASE DEFINITIVE LIVE ALBUM - TOKYO DOME LIVE IN CONCERT - AVAILABLE MARCH 31 ON CD, VINYL AND DIGITAL

Van Halen’s First Six Albums to be Remastered Directly from the Analog Master Recordings and Set for Release in Spring

"Van Halen will release its first-ever live album to feature original singer David Lee Roth. Recorded on June 21, 2013 at the famed Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan, TOKYO DOME LIVE IN CONCERT includes 23 songs, spanning all seven of the band’s albums with Roth. It will be released as a double CD; four-LP set on 180-gram vinyl; and digitally beginning March 31, 2015.

Fans who pre-order Tokyo Dome Live In Concert before its March 31 release date through Amazon and digitally at iTunes will instantly receive downloads of “Panama” and “Runnin’ With The Devil.” Go to http://van-halen.com/ for updates and more information.

Van Halen reinvented the sound of hard rock in 1978 with its influential and wildly successful eponymous debut album and then achieved even greater success six years later with 1984. Both albums would define a generation while selling more than 10 million copies each in the U.S. alone to earn diamond-certification from the RIAA. The band recently went back to the original analog tapes and remastered both of these landmark albums – Van Halen and 1984 – which are now also set for release on March 31, 2015 through Warner Bros. Records with pre-orders through Amazon available now.

Considered one of the greatest debut albums in rock history, Van Halen took the music world by storm in 1978 with an 11-song manifesto that features some of rock radio’s most played songs of all time and scorching concert staples like “Runnin’ With The Devil,” “Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love,” “Jamie’s Cryin’,” the band’s signature cover of The Kinks’ “You Really Got Me,” and Eddie Van Halen’s finger-tapping tour de force, “Eruption.”  Six years and five albums later, Van Halen had become one of the biggest bands in world around the release of 1984, which includes a number of the band’s most legendary songs such as the #1 hit, “Jump,” “Panama,” and “Hot For Teacher.”

Mastering engineer Chris Bellman, who remastered the original albums for Bernie Grundman Studios, Hollywood, CA, was enlisted for these new versions. In order to produce the original sound the band intended, Bellman cut straight from the quarter-inch tapes for CD; for 180-gram vinyl; and for the digital version. Newly mastered versions of Diver Down, Women and Children First, Van Halen II and Fair Warning are also being cut for each format and will be available soon.

TOKYO DOME LIVE IN CONCERT features an electrifying performance by singer David Lee Roth, guitarist Eddie Van Halen, drummer Alex Van Halen, and bassist Wolfgang Van Halen. Mixed by award-winning engineer and mixer Bob Clearmountain (Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen, Roxy Music, Nine Inch Nails, and many more), and mastered by Chris Bellman, the album features such classic anthems as “Dance The Night Away,” “Beautiful Girls,” “And The Cradle Will Rock…” “Unchained,” and “Everybody Wants Some!!” as well as blistering versions of “Tattoo,” “She’s The Woman,” and “China Town” from the group’s most recent studio album, A Different Kind of Truth.

A deluxe collection featuring Tokyo Dome Live In Concert and the newly remastered Van Halen and 1984 albums, as both a four-CD set and a six-LP vinyl set in special packaging, will also be available.

Tokyo Dome Live In Concert
Track Listing:

“Unchained”
“Runnin’ With The Devil”
“She’s The Woman”
“I’m The One”
“Tattoo”
“Everybody Wants Some!!”
“Somebody Get Me A Doctor”
“Chinatown”
“Hear About It Later”
“(Oh) Pretty Woman”
“Me & You” (Drum Solo)
“You Really Got Me”

“Dance The Night Away”
“I’ll Wait”
“Cradle Will Rock”
“Hot For Teacher”
“Women In Love”
“Romeo Delight”
“Mean Street”
“Beautiful Girls”
“Ice Cream Man”
“Panama”
“Eruption” (Guitar Solo)
“Ain’t Talkin’’Bout Love”
“Jump”

- A Press Release

Van Halen and the F word

I wrote my column this week about a scene I witnessed before hitting the Greensboro Coliseum to catch Van Halen — a group of fans, all about my age, getting together to see their dream come true.
But I took tons of notes throughout the show...

The writer Susan Orleans says she uses about 20 percent of what she gathers for her pieces, and I probably used about 10 percent of what I got that night.
Anyway, I kind of glossed over the show itself and I ended it with a kicker that came straight from my notebook: "This is the best fucking show I've ever seen."
Although in the cold light of day I might add the corollary "probably," I still stand by the sentiment, including my somewhat gratuitous use of the F word — I mean, we're talking about Van Halen, right?
But I did get a comment from a reader saying that my choice of words sort of ruined the rest of the piece for her. "Why did you have to do that?" she asked.
All I can say is, that's how I felt in the moment.
Did (or does) anyone else object to my foul, foul mouth? Anyone understand why I did it?

COVERAGE: Van Halenstein

Welcome to the inaugural edition of Coverage, a behind the scenes look at YES! Weekly’s centerpiece - our cover. And I don't just say that because I'm usually the one to make it.

Like everything in journalism, designing a cover is a series of choices. The first: photo or illustration?

Some stories lend themselves to photography. Pieces with a strong human element, like last week’s story about a refugee family. Others are more abstract, like just about anything written by Jordan Green.

Then there’s this week’s cover story....

There are a few issues at play here, not the least of which is legal. We can’t get photos of the band ourselves. Can we get publicity photos? Are they high quality enough for print? How about copyright issues?

Because the show is already sold out, Van Halen’s press people aren’t terribly interested in local press. It was a quick decision to forgo all the pains of nabbing photography and go with illustration. Besides, it’s Van Halen. Who could resist?

Now comes the long process of kicking around concepts. Sometimes an idea immediately jumps into my head, wedging in like a logging accident. Sometimes it doesn’t come until late in the week, leaving me scrambling to get it done in time for press Monday night.

This one began as a cheap gag.


But, the idea of an 80’s rock resurrection stuck in my head, my editor approved, and I got cracking.



I started by sketching out the image in Photoshop. That’s right, folks, this week’s cover was 100% digital, drawn and painted on an iMac with a digital pen and tablet. I don’t always work fully digital, but I’m increasingly moving towards it for it’s speed and flexibility. You try erasing real oil paint, and you’ll know what I mean.

I did I get that rough-textured look on a computer? I cheated.



I have a library of images of various papers, textures, and media. One of my favorites is a series of ink washes on Bristol paper. In Photoshop, I can alter the color, change the transparency, and uses brushes to erase, lighten and darken until:



I’ve got an image that looks hand-made.

The rough-painted look was important because I wanted to invoke cheesy B-movie posters. Overall, I’m pretty happy with the results. Good images are like good headlines; they grab the reader’s eye, give a bit of info about the story, and make you want to read more. Cover images are even more important, because the entire book is at stake.

Plus, hey, it’s Van Halen. Who could resist?