The III Tour was a

concert tour A concert tour (or simply tour) is a series of concerts by an artist or group of artists in different cities, countries or locations. Often concert tours are named to differentiate different tours by the same artist and to associate a specific to ...

by American hard rock band

Van Halen Van Halen ( ) was an American rock band formed in Pasadena, California, in 1972. Credited with "restoring hard rock to the forefront of the music scene", Van Halen was known for its energetic live shows and for the virtuosity of its lead gu ...

, in support of their eleventh studio album, ''

Van Halen III ''Van Halen III'' is the eleventh studio album by American rock band Van Halen, released on March 17, 1998, by Warner Bros. Records. Produced by Mike Post and Eddie Van Halen, it was the band's first studio album in three years after ''Balance'' ...

''. It is the only concert tour to feature vocalist

Gary Cherone Gary Francis Caine Cherone ( ; born July 26, 1961) is an American rock singer and songwriter. Cherone is known for his work as the lead vocalist of the Boston rock group Extreme and Van Halen. He has also released solo recordings. In 2007, he ...

Background

Despite positive critical reviews, the tour underperformed commercially by Van Halen standards, and capped the band's general decline after the early 1990s. It would be their last tour until 2004. In a change from Sammy Hagar-era tours, Gary Cherone – who had grown up a big fan of the band – was willing to include material from both previous Van Halen vocalists. Due to both differing vocal styles and personal animus between himself and David Lee Roth, Hagar had allowed only a few Roth-era classics into the set lists while he sang for Van Halen. Cherone's voice was deeper than Hagar's, making it more suited to Roth songs, yet he possessed enough vocal range to perform Hagar songs as well. (When Roth rejoined Van Halen in 2007, no Hagar-era material graced the set lists.) "It may have looked odd on paper but it actually worked live," Cherone told

KNAC KBUE (105.5 FM, "Que Buena 105.5/94.3 FM") is a commercial radio station Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In te ...

. "I made a concerted effort to do the old Van Halen tunes that Sammy was not doing. I wanted to do the deep cuts… we did songs their fans had not heard in years." However, dissatisfaction with the new album and the band's troubles in 1996 (arguments over Hagar's sudden departure, followed by a brief reunion with Roth that also ended abruptly) led to the tour's low popularity. Grunge had changed the face of rock music, and Van Halen's fame – which had endured due to their heritage – took a big hit with Hagar's departure. A 15-date European tour planned for the end of May and June had to be cancelled after four shows only due to Alex Van Halen's injury. The band also cancelled all of their 4 September dates in Brazil and Puerto Rico. The April 20 show in Sydney, Australia was recorded live for an MTV special, ''Live from the 10 Spot''. It aired on May 1, 1998.

Setlist

#"Unchained" #"Without You" #"One I Want" #"Mean Street" #"When It's Love" #"Fire In The Hole" #"Why Can't This Be Love" #"Romeo Delight" #"Alex Van Halen Drum Solo" #"Dance The Night Away" #"Feel Your Love Tonight" #"Humans Being" #"Somebody Get Me A Doctor" #"Year To The Day" #"Eddie Van Halen Guitar Solo" #"Right Now" #"Ain't Talkin' Bout Love" Encore 1 #

"Josephina" #"Panama" #"Jump" Encore 2 #

"I'm The One"

Tour dates

Box office score data

Personnel

* Eddie Van Halen – guitar, backing vocals * Michael Anthony – bass, backing vocals, keyboards *

Alex Van Halen Alexander Arthur Van Halen (; born May 8, 1953) is an American musician, best known as the drummer and co-founder of the rock band Van Halen. The band was formed in 1972 by Alex Van Halen, his younger brother Eddie, David Lee Roth, and Mark S ...

– drums *

– lead vocals Additional musician *

Alan Fitzgerald Francis Alan Fitzgerald (born July 16, 1949) is an American musician. A multi-instrumentalist, he is best known as the second bassist of Montrose and as keyboardist for Night Ranger. He has also performed with Gamma, and former Montrose bandmat ...

– keyboards

References

External links

Van-Halen.com
– The official Van Halen website
Van Halen NewsDesk
{{Van Halen 1998 concert tours Van Halen concert tours