After years of speculation and unanswered questions, Van Halen with David Lee Roth back on vocals played a warm up show on January 5 at Café Wha?
Interestingly enough, the Greenwich Village nightclub’s history goes all the way back to the sixties, and is owned by Roth’s uncle Manny. The show was a quite an intimate one, as it only holds 250 people, and this is one of the first times in God knows how long a rumor about Van Halen hit the ‘Net and actually came to pass.
The new Van Halen song is called Tattoo, and it will be released on January 10. The album is reportedly titled, A Different Kind of Truth, which is slated for release on February 7. As reported on Blabbermouth, the set list for the show didn’t include any new songs, and the band opened with You Really Got Me, followed by Runnin’ With the Devil, Somebody Get Me a Doctor, Everybody Wants Some, She’s the Woman (an old club song that featured one of the riffs from Mean Streets), Dance the Night Away, Panama, Hot For Teacher, Ice Cream Man, Ain’t Talkin Bout Love, Jump, Beautiful Girls, and Unchained.
The tour also kicks off in Louisville, Kentucky, and it includes two nights at Madison Square Garden on February 29 and March 1, and a stop in L.A. at the Staples Center on June 1.
Oddly enough, the opening act for some of the shows will be Kool and the Gang. Of course, the real test will be how the new Van Halen material holds up against the old stuff we all know and love. Good, bad or indifferent, the truth will be out there soon enough if Van Halen still have the goods, or is destined to hang on to the past for the rest of their careers.
