Less than 24 hours after David Lee Roth told SiriusXM’s Opie & Anthony that Van Halen was planning an extensive world tour, manager Irving Azoff has come forward to shoot down the singer’s comments.
"Nothing's been discussed yet," Azoff tells Rolling Stone. "Why would he say this? Hey, Dave's a talkative guy. Why don't you call and ask him?"
“We’re going to be playing Europe,” Roth told the SiriusXM hosts on Monday. “Probably 50-60 shows outside of the United States starting at the end of this year and then come back around the US.”
Azoff emphasizes that the band's only scheduled shows remain an April festival date in Australia, three June gigs in Japan, and a headlining gig at the Rock USA festival in July in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.
Would Van Halen possibly do a broader tour, or more dates in 2013? "Not unless something special comes up," Azoff says. "It certainly won't be a tour of Europe."
Rolling Stone reported that Roth could not be reached for a response at press time.
Roth’s tour news this week was a surprise following his comments of frustration last month over the band’s lack of profile outside the States.
“There's nothing on the ticket as far as travel, and that's a disappointment, frankly,” Roth told Rolling Stone in February. “How long have I been back with the gang? Maybe six years, we'll say and we have yet to travel to Europe, South America, Japan, anywhere outside of those basic 50 cities in the United States. And again that's been a disappointment. We have an audience and we have a potential future in many, many places, but our story is one of a whole lotta Shakespeare going on. And I don't know where the Van Halen future lies aside from the States. We'll always be able to play our hits – and keep in mind we have more hits than Beethoven, we have more hits than Tony Soprano – so getting onstage and playing that is glorious, and certainly getting onstage with the brothers will always be an excitement for me. But in terms of taking the music past where we found it, I'm not sure where that's going to go.”
As far as the appearance of chaos and confusion inside the Van Halen camp, it should be noted that Azoff manages Eddie, Alex and Wolfgang Van Halen, while Roth has his own representation.
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