[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0f2N5ae3wU]
“Jump,” Ft. Lauderdale train wreck–Roth and backing keyboard track are fine, but is Eddie playing Merzbow?, 2/20/08
Word on the streets of Los Angeles is that Van Halen are canceling hotel rooms and going back into hiding, and not planning to finish the remaining 20 dates of the thus-far seamlessly executed Roth reunion tour. This is sad news if the tour is actually canceled, as the dozens of shows since September have been a nightly slap in the face to naysayers who thought the band wouldn’t last a week. I was almost ready to thank Valerie Bertinelli for writing her book about sex and drugs and Eddie, filling in the gossip that I left out of Everybody Wants Some, but if her Oprah/Larry King/The View dishing has sent Eddie off the deep end and jeopardized this tour, she better not expect a bouquet from Wolfie come Mother’s Day.
There’s a show tomorrow night in Dallas, so we’ll know what’s happening soon enough. And now we know…a little. After a day of truly frenzied Internet rumormongering, Van Halen came forth in late afternoon and announced rescheduled dates for the four shows that were supposed to happen this week, including tonight’s. Everything should be back to normal next Monday, March 11, in Charlottesville, VA. By way of explanation: “According to Eddie Van Halen’s physician, he is undergoing a battery of comprehensive medical tests to determine a defined diagnosis and recommended medical procedures.”
