As exclusively revealed here earlier this week, Van Halen will announce its reunion tour with David Lee Roth on Monday morning (Aug. 13) during a media event at the Four Seasons Hotel in Los Angeles. The tour is expected to begin in October and encompass 50 dates in North American arenas.
A proposed summer amphitheater tour by the group, first tipped here in late January, never got off the ground, with guitarist Eddie Van Halen entering a rehabilitation facility for undisclosed reasons in March. Roth has not toured with the act in more than two decades.
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— Jonathan Cohen, N.Y.
The Wu-Tang Clan has set a Nov. 13 release date for its comeback album, “The 8 Diagrams,” which will be released on the newly resurrected Loud Records imprint, Billboard.com has learned. Wu-Tang was long associated with Loud founder Steve Rifkind, who is now in partnership with SRC/Universal.
“We’re rekindling flames,” RZA recently told Billboard. “There’s a strong potential this could be a long campaign, so this will keep us on the road together, on TV together and keep us working together.”
Wu-Tang is on the road with the Rock the Bells tour through Aug. 30 in Toronto, and will also play Seattle’s Bumbershoot festival on Sept. 3.
— Jonathan Cohen, N.Y.
The ad-supported free digital music service SpiralFrog has taken a step closer to finally going live. The company this week initiated an invite-only beta launch in Canada and the U.S., allowing select media and other outlets to test the service and provide feedback.
The service currently has a deal in place with Universal Music Group and has approximately 770,000 tracks and more than 3,500 music videos available. The video portion of the service allows users to both stream and download their music videos of choice.
The ad-supported model requires users to watch ads while their songs or videos are downloaded. Each download takes about 90 seconds, during which time a variety of ads and promotional content will air.
— Antony Bruno, Denver