The incomparable frontman David Lee Roth is on board both for Van Halen's 2012 North American tour -- which stops in the Bay Area in June -- as well as the band's forthcoming album A Different Kind of Truth, the first Van Halen album he's appeared on since the iconic 1984. The tour is set to arrive at Oakland's Oracle Arena on June 3 and San Jose's HP Pavilion on June 5, while the album's first single, "Tattoo," drops on Jan. 10.
The announcements were made last night during a performance at New York's 250-capacity Cafe Wha?. Writing for Grantland, author Chuck Klosterman dubbed it "The Incredibly, Insanely, Undeniably Awesome Return of Van Halen."
Village Voice music editor Maura Johnston was also there, and reported that the group is off to a healthy start: "Last night Van Halen tried to blow away any last traces of the rancor and bad blood that arose again and again in the years since Roth's long-ago departure for a solo career," she wrote, "and it mostly succeeded."
Tickets for the Van Halen tour go on sale on Jan. 14, but this doesn't include our Bay Area shows, which will be available at a yet-to-be-announced date. No word yet on whether Kool and the Gang, the announced opening act for some of the dates, will be part of the local shows. But it'll be a celebration either way. Update: Tickets go on sale on Live Nation at 10 a.m. on Jan. 28, and Kool and the Gang has been confirmed as the support act.----
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