MR

Posted: **Mon Feb 25, 2008 6:22 am**

Just curious. I've heard some things floating around that seem to point to trouble in the Van Halen camp. Is the tour going to go on as scheduled? I figured that you would probably hear something first, as you usually do. But I also know you don't like to speculate unless you know something for sure.

I had tickets to see Van Halen in Saint Louis on 10-28-07 and it got rescheduled for 03-30-08. I've had this ominous feeling that the rescheduled date is going to be get cancelled also. Some people are quick to accuse me of saying "the sky is falling" every time I hear a bad rumor about Van Halen. I've just been around addicts enough to know that they are not stable. Eddie has serious addiction issues, and with addiction comes dysfunction. To expect dysfunction out of an addict is like expecting someone with Alzheimer's to forget something. It's a disease people. If Eddie is not hitting a 12-step meeting in every other city that Van Halen plays in, the dude will end up succumbing to his disease. That's a simple fact. The miracle is that the tour hasn't imploded before now.

If the tour goes on as scheduled without a hitch, feel free to call me Chicken Little.

:lol:

Posted: **Mon Feb 25, 2008 7:31 am**

Based on what I've heard - and I grant you I have nowhere near the connections the 'Bat does - I think there is little chance this tour will go on, and I think it's apparent there will be no new record in 2008. But I'm praying that's not the case.

Posted: **Mon Feb 25, 2008 8:45 am**

I'm hoping this is not the new version of "I'll Wait":

You've got Ed captured
And he's under your spell
I guess He'll never learn
He read your new book
Yes he knows it well
Another page is burned

Are you for real?
It's so hard to tell
From just a Jenny Craig ad in a magazine
Yeah, you just smile and your new book sells
Look what that does to Eddie

We'll wait
'Til your book comes down
It's coming straight from your heart
No way
You can stop the damage now
As fine as you are

Val wrote a tell-all book
And she told us these words
That Eddie's got a disease
If she had waited
Then the band would have toured
And finished out the cities

We'll wait
'Til your book comes down
It's coming straight from your heart
No way
You can stop the damage now
As fine as you are

(Guitar Smashing)

You can't imagine
What your tell-all book means
The pages come alive
Your magic free
To everyone who reads
Heartbreakin' concert tour demise

Posted: **Mon Feb 25, 2008 9:16 am**

Digging digging digging...nothing concrete yet.

Posted: **Mon Feb 25, 2008 11:04 am**

At this point, two shows have been postponed. No shows have been cancelled.

I figured one of them might have come down with the flu. I don't see how they can never get sick!

Posted: **Mon Feb 25, 2008 12:54 pm**

Check out Ed at 4:48 on this video from the 2-20-08 Fort Lauderdale show - Eddie slams his guitar down at the end of the song, and then tips over two guitar amps that almost hit DLR on his way off stage. Then two shows get cancelled. Something is definitely up.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0f2N5ae3wU

Posted: **Mon Feb 25, 2008 3:14 pm**

Disturbing, to say the least...

Hope it's just technical issues, not intentional ill will!!!

Posted: **Tue Feb 26, 2008 2:05 am**

the youtube thing didn't look like much to me, just end of the show guitar slam down.

Posted: **Tue Feb 26, 2008 6:51 am**

It looks "technical" to me. If you watch them play jump at other times during the tour, Ed pretty much stays in front of that middle monitor to access his mic and pedal board. His playing of Jump has been pretty awful during the tour, like he forgets what key its in or something. His fills are often out of key and he pulls the whammy bar to move the notes around.
At the end there is a wierd sound happening and you cant really hear his guitar. You would have heard something when it hit the ground but it didnt seem to make any sound. Wierd like a frequency thing like with a wireless system that needs a battery or just shits itself. I am not sure if Ed uses a wireless.

Either that or he was simply hammered. It looks like he walks into the amps to me, like he was trying to cut a corner to close and drunkenly hit the faux cabs.

Who knows. He are Roth were just "Brothers" a few months back.

Posted: **Tue Feb 26, 2008 7:33 am**

Stoneyman wrote:It looks "technical" to me. If you watch them play jump at other times during the tour, Ed pretty much stays in front of that middle monitor to access his mic and pedal board. His playing of Jump has been pretty awful during the tour, like he forgets what key its in or something. His fills are often out of key and he pulls the whammy bar to move the notes around.
At the end there is a wierd sound happening and you cant really hear his guitar. You would have heard something when it hit the ground but it didnt seem to make any sound. Wierd like a frequency thing like with a wireless system that needs a battery or just shits itself. I am not sure if Ed uses a wireless.

Either that or he was simply hammered. It looks like he walks into the amps to me, like he was trying to cut a corner to close and drunkenly hit the faux cabs.

Who knows. He are Roth were just "Brothers" a few months back.

No. Eddie doesn't forget anything. I work for a man that is a friend of Eds, they are former business partners, and he builds guitars for Ed. That chatted not to long ago. Ed mentioned having a week off. That is where the postponed shows come it. That's all I know about that. But my point is this. Ed does not play in the wrong key.

The problems that were occuring before had to do with the DAT machine sample rate being incorrectly set, transposing the keyboard parts. This is why Ed and Wolfie were on the note and the keys were off. There are consistant audio problems because those guys are deaf. They are pushing the laws of physics with high-end up on stage. Alex has 40% loss in one ear, 60% loss in the other. Ed's ears are way dull on the top. Talk to anyone who has been in the studio when Ed is playing through the main monitors. KILL your anus loud! So, it pushing in the 130dBs on that stage. 131 is the threshold of pain. If you like your job as the monitor or FOH engineer, you tell THE guitar god of earth that he is deaf.

Posted: **Tue Feb 26, 2008 8:05 am**

As someone who has Van Halen OCD, I just don't see the issue at 4:48 of the Fort Lauderdale video. If Ed was being Edward he would have shunned Dave altogether instead of walking back onstage there. It definitely wasn't a Nigel Tufnel moment.

Something is going on, but it's not in that Zapruder film.

Posted: **Tue Feb 26, 2008 8:58 am**

According to the Ticketmaster schedule, the next concert is supposed to be Monday, March 3 in Dallas.
Good Luck Dallas people: hope they show.

Posted: **Tue Feb 26, 2008 11:03 am**

]hmmmmm I recall saying at the begining of this tour it was not going to finish.....I said mark my words...hmmmmm nah I couldn't be right...could I......

Posted: **Tue Feb 26, 2008 6:10 pm**

Dammit, i really thought we'd get to see the guys on UK shores this time around...looks like it's pretty unlikely now.

Posted: **Wed Feb 27, 2008 8:34 am**

It looks to me like he is trying to tip over the amps. The top one does fall over, but the other two swing back and fall forward, obviously they were tied to something. No way he was trying to hit Dave. They even hold hands together up high before the incident. I think he was pissed at the sound.

It kills me when people say the tour won't finish. It already was finished, the original dates only went to Dec 2007 didn't they? They finished the original leg and have extended the tour. Everything now is icing on the cake.

Posted: **Wed Feb 27, 2008 8:49 am**

The new record was going to be icing on the cake. It was going to be 1984 all over again, and we were gonna revel in it. VH was gonna show these idiot '00's bands what a real rock band is.

Posted: **Wed Feb 27, 2008 10:29 am**

the deal was for 100 shows world wide

40 first leg

40 2nd leg

and 20 rest of the world....

that was before the tour even started...they could be planning even more

Posted: **Wed Feb 27, 2008 11:04 am**

And I might be Mary Queen of Scots. Deano is Butch Cassidy, and Arkansas is, well, Shaun Cassidy.

Posted: **Wed Feb 27, 2008 8:59 pm**

Doesn't look personal at all, looks like a bunch of technical bs taking it's toll on Ed and the boys. Give em a week or 2 off to fire and hire new techs and they should be ready to rock again.

Posted: **Thu Feb 28, 2008 12:30 am**

Yes, I think many are blowing this out of proportion. If this tour was going to fail it would have been because of David clashing with the brothers. There is no evidence that that is happening. Everyone is trying to be freakin Sherlock Holmes.

Posted: **Fri Feb 29, 2008 12:59 am**

I feel bad for leaping to the worst conclusions about this (Eddie as the culprit) when Andrew's front-page report a few days back seemed to point to the issue as being Edward having hearing problems (not a personality conflict)....

That is a damn shame, in which case I can understand his frustrations and hope the rest of the band, Roth included, support him in getting the shit remedied.

Posted: **Fri Feb 29, 2008 8:13 am**

Atlanta concert just re-scheduled for March 19th. I AM PSYCHED !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Posted: **Fri Feb 29, 2008 10:23 pm**

Andrew posted this on the homepage on 2-26-08 in case anyone missed it:

MelodicRock.com wrote:VAN HALEN SHOW CANCELLATION MYSTERY:
Van Halen has recently cancelled a few shows, but without so much of an explanation or announcement they will be rescheduled. It has left fans a little confused and as everyone knows in Van Halen Land, such a move merely green-light's a flurry of rumors and hearsay.
As of this moment, my two most trusted long time VH sources are yet to report back. I hope to have something more tomorrow. But there is a lot of speculation out there and I will print a bit of what my regular sources have picked up.
First - there hasn't been much press in light of the cancellations, but there has been this:
Van Halen postpones, By Shane Harrison / The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
"Reformed rock behemoth Van Halen, which recently played at Philips Arena, has postponed Monday's date at Gwinnett Arena. The band's show scheduled for the John Paul Jones Arena in Charlottesville, Va., has also been postponed. No word as to the reason behind the show delays, but we'll post it here as soon as we know. Promoter Live Nation says that tickets for the February 25 event will be honored for the rescheduled Gwinnett event, but ticket refunds will be available at the original point of purchase."
And this:
From: www.charlottesvillenewsplex.tv/news/hea ... 48427.html / "It's all over the internet, Van Halen canceled their show because of fight between band members at a club on the Downtown Mall, but is it true? We investigated and found out that yes, Van Halen's crew was at Rapture Thursday night, the night before they were supposed to play at the John Paul Jones Arena. But the bar says there was no altercation and Rapture had nothing to do with why Van Halen canceled the show."

Now, the strongest rumor per what I have been told:
- There are suggestions that Eddie is having health issues to do with his hearing and that is starting to impact on how well he is playing. He keeps making mistakes and forgets where he is in songs and that in turn has started to frustrate David Lee Roth. There is a lot of talk about a blow-up after one of the most recent shows, where Eddie lost patience again towards or at the end of the show. It was at this point it was decided to take a small break before re-examining things - hence the cancellations of a few current shows (but not all upcoming shows).
DLR is very frustrated at this, Eddie is also frustrated, but I'm told there is still a desire to make things work.
- There is also speculation and talk that Eddie is drinking again, due to his health frustrations, but that remains unconfirmed. As stated I'm still waiting to hear from my 2 best and most trusted sources...sorry it isn't more right now, but stay tuned.

In addition, here's something that was posted on the VHlinks Van Halen forum by a regular for whatever it's worth:

Ooooo, JEEEZ, do I have some news - just can't say EXACTLY what is going down right now, or who my sources are, but I can't help but SAY SOMETHING because nobody else is. I have a lot of loyalty to my fellow Linkers (one of whom passed me the news) so, I'll just say this: Folks, things are DEFINITELY NOT GOOD in the VH camp right now...

Take it for what it's worth, but I believe the Dallas show may be the last...at least for this go-round...IF the ticket holders are lucky...

And finally, here's an excerpt from a recent press release from 97 Rock in Buffalo:

97 Rock has just learned from concert promoter Live Nation that Van Halen has put all additional concert on-sale dates on hold, including the Buffalo date that was going to be announced and go on sale in two weeks.

As you know, 97 Rock listeners supported our petition drive and Live Nation was able to confirm a Buffalo date, which was to have been May 17th. Stories of problems within the band appear to be the source of today's news. This of course is not the first time Van Halen has had internal problems during their career.

Van Halen management has told Live Nation they will play the remaining dates that have been booked through April 11, but the future on-sale dates are on hold. 97 Rock will keep you updated on this story and any news from the Van Halen camp.

Things are not looking too good for the last leg of the Van Halen tour. Who would have guessed it?

:roll:

Posted: **Fri Feb 29, 2008 11:36 pm**

heard a radio add this morning for the show next wed, i doubt they would pay for an ad if the show wasnt going on, and val has the book signing that day.

Posted: **Sat Mar 01, 2008 8:25 am**

KLOS RADIO

"Valerie Bertinelli was on KLOS yesterday and talked about why the band is having issues. She says Wolfie filled her in. Stressed that it's not Dave vs. Ed, that it might surprise people, that it's a more 'personal' issue that she said Eddie needs to talk about, not her. "

Posted: **Mon Mar 03, 2008 12:58 pm**

It's over with. Tour is cancelled.

Posted: **Mon Mar 03, 2008 11:38 pm**

Voyager wrote:It's over with. Tour is cancelled.

Ok some one here owes me ...I said from the very begining this tour would'nt finish out!!!got a few laughs but ...as of TMZ it's over!

Posted: **Tue Mar 04, 2008 12:10 am**

I was supposed to take my son to tonight's show in Dallas, and it was to be his first concert. This news, as well as the late timing of it, seriously hacks me off. I am so tired of Eddie's b.s.

Posted: **Tue Mar 04, 2008 2:02 am**

If the knocking down the amp stacks was no big deal, why did the camera people quickly go to a shot of DLR 30 seconds before? Quick thinking in the booth, evidently they were ready for something like this. :oops:

And that solo. Bad audio sure, but he sure sounds drunk.

Posted: **Tue Mar 04, 2008 3:18 am**

wildone wrote:
Voyager wrote:It's over with. Tour is cancelled.

Ok some one here owes me ...I said from the very begining this tour would'nt finish out!!!got a few laughs but ...as of TMZ it's over!

But it went a lot longer than anyone every imagined. I don't think that many really believed it would go all the way through..so nothing there.
I don't think even you thought it would go this far.

MR

Andrew, do you have any news on the Van Halen cancellations?

Andrew, do you have any news on the Van Halen cancellations?