Van Halen 2007–2008 North American Tour

Van Halen 2007-2008 Tour was a North American concert tour occurring in the fall of 2007 and winter and spring of 2008 for hard rock band Van Halen. It was Van Halen's first tour since 2004 (which itself was the band's only tour since 1998), and the first one with original singer David Lee Roth since he left the band in 1985. Roth was with the band from 1974–1985, when the band rose to prominence.

The tour was originally going to be a fifty date summer tour in 2007. When re-scheduled, it was announced as a twenty-five date tour in Winter 2007. Gradually, dates were added, bringing it up to forty dates. In November 2007, the band announced an extension of the tour into 2008, eventually adding thirty-four new dates to the tour, bringing the total up to seventy-four, ending in April . Ultimately, the tour was then re-branded as the "Van Halen 2007-2008 North American Tour". A number of dates were postponed in early March, due to a reported illness Eddie Van Halen appeared to be suffering from.^[1]

History

A Van Halen tour with Roth was rumoured for months beforehand, and there had been discussions about a reunion with him for years (in part fueled by Roth's first public attempt at a reunion with Van Halen going wrong) but there had never been success before. Three times in 2000-2001, Roth entered the 5150 studio (Eddie Van Halen's personal recording studio) with the Van Halen brothers to jam.

An angle to the tour was that Eddie Van Halen's 16-year-old son Wolfgang Van Halen was the band's new bassist, the first time any slot other than the vocalist one has changed since 1974. This offended many fans because original bassist Michael Anthony was not asked to be a part of this reunion. Wolfgang was a mere 17 years old at the time. However the tour sold well, selling out several dates. Initially 25 dates across the USA/Canada were announced, but 50 more have been added due to this demand.^[2]

The tour started on September 27, 2007 and finished on July 3, 2008 with a total of 76 dates. The band's last tour, with Sammy Hagar in 2004 (against which this tour was compared directly), was originally set to be 50 dates and was extended to 80.

Ky-Mani Marley, son of reggae artist Bob Marley, supported the band as the opening act for each show but the final two during the first three legs of the tour.^[3] R&B singer Ryan Shaw announced that, beginning on February 22, he would be the band's opening act for the remainder of the tour.^[4] Shaw began to tour with the band starting with the Las Vegas show on April 19.

The tour was officially named the "Van Halen Fall 2007 Tour" during early announcements, and indeed, the "Merry Christmas" message on the Van Halen website referred to the "2007 tour", with no new title yet given for the 2008 tour. The website merely stated "As Van Halen readies for a much needed holiday break, it's back on the road in 2008 to continue the tour". Extra dates were added repeatedly, and all postponed dates were made up for at later stages too, with no information on if the "2007 tour" actually had a scheduled ending.

Ultimately, the tour grossed over $93 million, the band's most profitable to date.^[4]

Set list

Van Halen perform at Air Canada Centre in Toronto, October 12, 2007.

1. You Really Got Me
2. I'm the One
3. Runnin' With the Devil
4. Romeo Delight
5. Somebody Get Me A Doctor
6. Beautiful Girls
7. Dance the Night Away
8. Atomic Punk
9. Everybody Wants Some!!
10. So This Is Love?
11. Mean Street
12. Oh, Pretty Woman
13. Alex Van Halen Drum solo
14. Unchained
15. I'll Wait
16. And The Cradle Will Rock...
17. Hot for Teacher
18. Little Dreamer
19. Little Guitars (Dropped on the 2008 leg)
20. Jamie's Cryin'
21. Ice Cream Man
22. Panama
23. Eddie Van Halen Guitar solo
24. Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love
25. 1984
26. Jump

Several of the songs, notably "Romeo Delight" and "Somebody Get Me A Doctor" almost always included the band doing various covers, such as The Who's "Magic Bus" and Cream songs such as "Crossroads" during the slower parts of those songs. The ending of "And The Cradle Will Rock..." contained the riff from Smoke on the Water. Also, David Lee Roth would spend several minutes telling stories to the crowd before starting "Ice Cream Man".

With the exception of the covers played during "Romeo Delight" and "Somebody Get Me A Doctor", which changed several times, the set list remained the same for nearly the entire tour. The only major change was "Little Guitars", which was dropped during the Fourth Leg by the start of May.

Eddie Van Halen's solo also changed several times, with only "Eruption" and "Cathedral" being part of his solo during every night. In fact, during the Fourth Leg, his solos were considerably shorter and consisted only of those two songs.

Personnel

• David Lee Roth – lead vocals
• Eddie Van Halen – lead guitar, keyboards, backing vocals
• Wolfgang Van Halen – bass guitar, backing vocals
• Alex Van Halen – drums, percussion

Tour dates

^[5]

Van Halen also headlined a corporate show for BlackBerry Limited with The Doors and The Tragically Hip November 15, 2007 at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, Ontario.

References

External links

• Van-Halen.com - The official Van Halen website
• Van Halen NewsDesk