Popular rock radio host Eddie Trunk has followed up on David Lee Roth teasing a Van Halen summer 2019 tour doing the ‘original thing.’ Trunk said he heard a rumor from a reliable source who said the band will tour in 2019 with Michael Anthony returning to the band after 14 years for an original lineup reunion. He said a second person in the industry also told him he had heard rumors the original Van Halen lineup will reunite.
The original Van Halen lineup last performed together live on September 2, 1984 in Nuremberg, Germany. David Lee Roth left in 1985 and was replaced by Sammy Hagar. They briefly reunited in 1996 after Hagar’s exit to record the new song “Me Wise Magic” and to appear onstage together at the MTV Video Music Awards. The reunion fell apart and Gary Cherone became Van Halen’s third singer.
Michael Anthony left Van Halen following their 2004 reunion run with Sammy Hagar, with Wolfgang Van Halen replacing him. David Lee Roth returned to Van Halen in 2007, and the band have toured intermittently since then, though they have been on a break since 2015. Sammy Hagar has hinted at wanting to reunite with Van Halen, but he wasn’t mentioned in the rumors Trunk reported on.
David Lee Roth recently gave his first interview in three years with Vulture, and he hinted at Van Halen playing live next summer, with a possible festival or shows with Foo Fighters, Guns N’ Roses, Metallica, Jason Aldean, Church, and Chris Stapleton. He also mentioned Yankee Stadium in New York.
“When we come back through town in the summertime and do the original thing, maybe somewhere sportin’, maybe with somebody famous,” Roth says, “I’ll make sure we get you all tickets so you can see what we do for gainful employment. My mom still wonders.”
He later said, “We don’t think about the price. Because, you know, next time my rock band will be playing the same place that the Yankees play. Okay?”
Below is an excerpt from the Q&A.
Are you telling me that Van Halen will play Yankee Stadium next summer? You promised four New York copy editors free tickets today.
“Yeah, but I can’t … If I say something on tape here and everybody goes, ‘Oh, this leaked…’ But, the band will be — I can’t say.”
Come on.
“Well, I don’t know how far this privacy actually goes. But the band is solvent. And I can say that I contacted colleagues about being part of the show — Metallica, Guns N’ Roses, Jason Aldean, the Foo Fighters, Church, and Stapleton. And they all said that, if everything happens, they would certainly be involved.”
So this would be a festival?
“No, all I talked about was a phone call.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wuZgNmotiEs
