Prime Shots: Van Halen

ISO 1600 | f/2.8 | 1/125 | 180mm

Jacob Zinn

David Lee Roth and Eddie Van Halen get up close during “Unchained”, the opener to Van Halen’s sold-out performance at Rogers Arena in Vancouver on Monday. The band is touring on their 2012 album, A Different Kind of Truth, their first album with Roth since 1984’s 1984.

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Van Halen Announce 2012 Tour Dates

FEB 18	Louisville, KY KFC Yum! Center
FEB 20	Detroit, MI The Palace of Auburn Hills
FEB 22	Indianapolis, IN Bankers Life Fieldhouse
FEB 24	Chicago, IL United Center
FEB 28	New York, NY Madison Square Garden
MAR 01	New York, NY Madison Square Garden
MAR 03	Uncasville, CT Mohegan Sun Arena
MAR 05	Philadelphia, PA Wells Fargo Center
MAR 09	Buffalo, NY First Niagara Center
MAR 11	Boston, MA TD Garden
MAR 15	Montreal, QC Bell Centre
MAR 17	Toronto, ON Air Canada Centre
MAR 21	Ottawa, ON Scotiabank Place
MAR 24	Atlantic City, NJ Boardwalk Hall
MAR 28	Washington, DC Verizon Center
MAR 30	Pittsburgh, PA Consol Energy Center
APR 01	Rosemont, IL Allstate Arena
APR 10	Fort Lauderdale, FL BankAtlantic Center
APR 12	Tampa, FL St. Pete Times Forum
APR 14	Orlando, FL Amway Arena
APR 16	Jacksonville, FL Jacksonville Arena
APR 19	Atlanta, GA Philips Arena
APR 21	Greensboro, NC Greensboro Coliseum
APR 25	Charlotte, NC Time Warner Cable Arena
APR 27	Nashville, TN Bridgestone Arena
MAY 01	Tulsa, OK BOK Center
MAY 05	Tacoma, WA Tacoma Dome
MAY 07	Vancouver, BC Rogers Arena
MAY 09	Calgary, AB Scotiabank Saddledome
MAY 11	Edmonton, AB Rexall Place
MAY 17	Winnipeg, MB MTS Centre
MAY 19	St. Paul, MN Xcel Energy Center
MAY 22	Kansas City, MO Sprint Center
MAY 24	Denver, CO Pepsi Center
MAY 27	Las Vegas, NV MGM Grand Garden Arena
JUN 01	Los Angeles, CA Staples Center
JUN 03	Oakland, CA Oracle Arena
JUN 05	San Jose, CA HP Pavilion
JUN 06	Anaheim, CA Honda Center
JUN 14	San Diego, CA Viejas Arena
JUN 16	Phoenix, AZ US Airways Center
JUN 20	Dallas, TX American Airlines Center
JUN 22	San Antonio, TX AT&T Center
JUN 24	Houston, TX Toyota Center
JUN 26	New Orleans, LA New Orleans Arena

On Thursday, sometime during their one-hour performance at the 250-capacity Café Wha? in New York City, Van Halen released the dates of their upcoming, 45-show North American tour with Kool & the Gang as their supporting act.

The band will be hitting the road for the first time since their 2007-2008 reunion tour with lead singer David Lee Roth.

With the new single, “Tattoo”, coming out Tuesday and A Different Kind of Truth–the band’s first album with lead singer David Lee Roth since the diamond-certified 1984–due for Feb. 7, Van Halen has been heavily promoting their return to the U.S. and Canada. The band has been rehearsing at the Roxy nightclub in Hollywood for two months in preparation for a finger-tapping, double-kicking, high-pitched good time.

If their Café Wha? set list resembles the hits for this tour, fans are in for shows akin to their ’80s heyday:

1. “You Really Got Me”
2. “Runnin’ With the Devil”
3. “Somebody Get Me a Doctor”
4. “Everybody Wants Some”
5. “She’s the Woman”
6. “Dance the Night Away”
7. “Panama”
8. “Hot for Teacher”
9. “Ice Cream Man”
10. “Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love”
11. “Jump”
12. “Beautiful Girls”
13. “Unchained”

The band is also sure to perform other classics that they played on the last tour like “And the Cradle Will Rock…”, “Little Guitars”, “Jamie’s Cryin'”, “Mean Street”, “Romeo Delight” and their cover of Roy Orbison’s “(Oh) Pretty Woman”.

With the current line-up having Roth on vocals, Eddie Van Halen on guitar, Alex Van Halen on drums and Eddie’s son Wolfgang Van Halen on bass, the band leaves no room for longtime Roth replacement Sammy Hagar or original bassist Michael Anthony.

The tour starts in Louisville, KY and zig-zags between the midwest and northeast, then through the south and up to the pacific northwest, across the Canadian prairies and eventually to the southwest, rounding out in New Orleans, LA.

Tickets for some shows go on sale through Live Nation and Ticketmaster Jan. 14 while the first date goes on sale Jan. 16. VIP packages through VIP Nation go on sale Jan. 10. Onsales for other dates are to be announced.

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Top 5 Cock Rock Frontmen

It was the early ’70s. The hippie counter-culture was on its way out and all that was left to do was popularize cock rock for the next several decades.

The name of the genre refers to the bulge in the tight pants of rockstars–a bulge responsible for the bedding of plethoras of groupies. A prominent resurgence three decades ago saw peace, love and music make way for sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll; women walked this way for Steven Tyler and teachers were hot for David Lee Roth.

Related Articles Top 5 Songs about Ramblin’ Top 5 Classic Rock Songs about School

While cock rock climaxed in the ’80s, this list looks at the forefathers of the genre, the ground-breaking lyricists who made in-your-face, pelvis-thrusting crotch shots not only mainstream, but the norm.

5. Paul Stanley of KISS

Stanley can be credited with bringing cock rock moves to the oversexed genres of glam rock and hair metal. KISS had always worn tight leather pants, but as the frontman, Stanley was the only member to use it to his advantage. Gene Simmons might’ve had the tongue, but Stanley had the balls… to flash his cod-pieced Love Gun to the crowd.

4. Roger Daltry of The Who

There perhaps is no better a display of cock rock than The Who’s 4:00 a.m. performance from Woodstock ’69. Daltry shakes his wild locks during parts of “My Generation” and “Pinball Wizard”, with low angles complementing his protrusion. Whether it’s real or not, groupies of the time might or might not say they won’t get fooled again.

3. Mick Jagger of The Rolling Stones

Arguably the first to introduce the moves, Jagger is a prominent sex symbol of the time, known for shuffling his hips during songs like “Honky Tonk Woman”. With allegedly countless love-children, Jagger proved that these moves work, creating a legion of followers who want the same pants as those on the cover of Sticky Fingers.

2. Jim Morrison of The Doors

The Doors’ music may not have been as sexual as their peers, but Morrison’s onstage performances left little to the imagination of fire-lighting gypsies. While Morrison wasn’t as controversial as Oliver Stone made him out to be in the 1991 biopic, The Doors, he was certainly one of the earliest rockers to use the moves, which surely got him more than a few L.A. women.

1. Robert Plant of Led Zeppelin

Anyone who’s seen the 1976 concert film The Song Remains the Same has witnessed one of the originators in all his long-haired, bare-chested, blue-denim bell-bottom jeaned glory. Plant made every woman in Madison Square Garden sweat and groove with the sway of his hips, putting them in a hypnotic trance. His two-sizes-too-small britches that emphasized his trouser snake made him an icon for cock rock, one that both men and women looked up to (figuratively and literally).

Honourable Mentions

• Steven Tyler of Aerosmith
• David Lee Roth of Van Halen
• Vince Neil of Mötley Crüe
• Bret Michaels of Poison
• Sebastian Bach of Skid Row

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The History of Seattle’s Hard Rock

Move over, Space Needle–the Experience Music Project is the destination for tourists in Seattle, Washington.

At least, to me it is. From Hendrix to Cobain, the EMP museum has awe-inspiring exhibits and a gallery of classic guitars that provoked much heart-pounding, jaw-dropping amazement.

Now that I’ve returned from several days in Seattle, here are some photos from my trip (all rock ‘n’ roll related).

For more information on the Experience Music Project, visit their website.

A wall of famous musicians from the Sound & Vision exhibit, which features interviews with artists on hit records, concerts and related phenomena.

Smells Like Kid Spirit. (This boy sat in front of the main entrance of the Nirvana: Taking Punk to the Masses exhibit. The contrast in his age and that of the teenagers and young adults amused me enough to take the photo. He moved his head during the snap of the shutter, which blurred his face.)

Nirvana won Best Alternative Video for “Smells Like Teen Spirit” at the 1992 MTV Video Music Awards. This is their Moon Man.

Eddie Van Halen’s signature Kramer Frankenstein guitar. (With all the drooling of onlookers, I understood why it’s kept behind glass.)

(This guitar with the girl painted on it intrigued me. It’s part of the If VI Was IX guitar sculpture at the Experience Music Project. Photo taken from the second floor.)

A mural at Jimi Hendrix’s memorial in Renton, Washington. Rest in peace, Johnny Allen Hendrix.

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Top 5 Classic Rock Songs about School

Summer’s approaching, and so is the end of the school year for many kids and teens worldwide. For as long as hard rock has been around, rockstars have written songs about school which their young fans can relate to.

Here comes another top five.

Top 5 Classic Rock Songs about School

5. “Rock ‘n’ Roll High School” by The Ramones (1979)
Those trouble-making Ramones–they just wanna have some kicks and they just wanna get some chicks. But they don’t mind irritating the teachers and the principal along the way, as noted in the film of the same name. Let them have their fun.

4. “Smokin’ in the Boys Room” by Mötley Crüe (1985)
Originally by Brownsville Station, “Smokin’ in the Boys Room” is about the rebellious teenage youth who just don’t like sitting through class. In the cheesey video, a student with an attitude hangs out with the Crüe in the boys room after a trip to the principals office. When the principal returns with an apology and an A on his paper, he still sticks it to the man.

3. “Hot for Teacher” by Van Halen (1984)
The video features David Lee Roth behind the wheel of the schoolbus, driving an apprehensive Waldo do his first day of school. He and his classmates–which include Eddie and Alex Van Halen with Michael Anthony and Roth–soon find out that their teacher is a bikini-clad pageant winner who table dances on the desks. If only everyone who ever crushed on their teacher could relate.

2. “Another Brick in the Wall (Part II)” by Pink Floyd (1979)
Perhaps the most well-known of the three parts, “Another Brick in the Wall (Part II)” contains the cryptic lyrics, “We don’t need no education, we don’t need no thought control,” sung by Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour and repeated by a school choir. The album version starts with a trademark scream from bassist Roger Waters before the boarding school protest anthem begins. It’s eerie from start to finish.

1. “School’s Out” by Alice Cooper (1972)
If you didn’t see this coming, you haven’t heard enough anti-school rock songs. “School’s Out” was the anthem of that years graduating class and ones to come. The bell has rung–class dismissed!