According to several sources, including this article from CNN, Van Halen is postponing 31 upcoming tour dates. Of course, that has caused a bit of stir among fans who were looking forward to seeing them. Hopefully EVH is okay and not relapsing into illness (cancer) or otherwise.
I know that many fans may be pissed off about this development, but I tend to be a lot more sympathetic as a gigging musician. I’m on my fourth consecutive day of gigging this week (I’m my own roadie, by the way), and I’m exhausted, plus in lots of pain from my arthritic hip. Most folks don’t realize the toll that gigging takes after awhile. Crap! I’m only on my fourth day! It’s hard to imagine the physical, mental and emotional toll that touring puts on you.
So I wish Van Halen all the best. Hopefully, this postponement doesn’t become a cancellation – one can only hope – but I personally hope all is well with the band and especially EVH.
Guitar Gear 
People might be upset because there has not been any communiciation from the VH camp as to the reasons for the cancellations. Also no word as to if these dates are permanently shelved or are just postponements to be made up at a later time.
“EVH implodes again and postpones / cancels tour, dozens confused”
that was the headline I got. and while I miss the old VH I’ll definately miss the newer VH shows anyways. If I liked the new music that would be a different story but songs like “stay frosty” just don’t do it for me. It took me a while to get into OU812 but I’ve listened to the new songs many times and just don’t get it. I don’t believe it’s a reschedule due to the cost involved in ticket sales/returns etc.. and Dawg I was my own roadie last week, one day I played an acoustic set at one stage, an electric set at another and then at at local bar where I bring the PA so I feel your pain, It was Dixon May Fair week. I played four days six shows with 14+ hours playing. Carrying the PA and amps is the hard part.
I would guess that VH carries almost none of there stuff since a pulled muscle means a huge problem for any of them.
No kidding! All my solo gigs are acoustic, and I used to lug around a traditional PA: A GigRack 8 channel mixer and two Yamaha passive PA’s with stands. Now, it’s a the Fishman SA220 array, and while it’s a lot easier, it’s still lugging gear. All in all, for all 4 days, it’s about 14 hours of playing for me as well. But even for all that, I’d still rather be gigging than not. 🙂 And with yesteday’s gig, I got a wedding out of it, plus some summer parties, so it turned out to be a pretty useful gig with respect to marketing.