III Tour

III Tour

Tour by Van Halen
Start date	March 12, 1998
End date	November 2, 1998
Legs	8
Number of shows	78 played, 20 cancelled
Van Halen concert chronology

The III Tour was a 1998 concert tour by hard rock band Van Halen. It was the band's first and only tour with vocalist Gary Cherone, in support of the only album he recorded with the band: Van Halen 3

History

The tour under-performed by Van Halen standards (albeit at a commercial level; reviews were positive), and was the last part of Van Halen's general decline after the early 1990s. It would be Van Halen's last tour until 2004, and last moment of stability (the 2004 tour was surrounded with controversy, and was the band's last until 2007). It was Van Halen's last tour outside of North America until the 2012-2013 A Different Kind of Truth Tour, with dates in Europe, Australia/New Zealand and Japan. The Australian and New Zealand concerts were the first in Van Halen's history, and despite poor sales in some regions, these concerts were very popular. The band brought all the equipment for their US arena tour with them, whereas many bands scale down for Oceanic tours.

One of the benefits of Gary Cherone, who joined Van Halen as a big fan of the band, was his willingness to include material from both previous Van Halen vocalists. Sammy Hagar had only allowed a few Roth-era classics into his sets while he sang for Van Halen, much to fan disappointment. Also Cherone's voice was deeper than Hagar's, making it more suited to Roth-era songs, yet he possessed enough vocal range to perform Hagar-era songs as well. (Subsequently, when Roth rejoined Van Halen in 2007, he did not allow any Hagar-era material on the concert set lists.)

However, dissatisfaction with the new album and the band's various troubles in 1996 (big press arguments over Sammy Hagar's sudden departure, followed by a brief reunion with Roth which also ended abruptly) led to the tour's low popularity. Grunge had changed the face of rock music, and Van Halen's fame had endured due to their past heritage, which they lost when Hagar left.

Alex Van Halen was reported as looking sick throughout the first leg of the tour, because of an arm injury. This led to most of the European dates being cancelled, as well as other later dates. The Puerto Rico date was cancelled at first due to a hurricane, but also a second time due to Gary Cherone having tonsillitis - luckily this was the last date of the tour.

This was the first tour that did not feature an instrumental Michael Anthony bass solo. He did however sing lead vocals on "Somebody Get Me a Doctor" nightly. On occasion, Eddie shared lead vocals for a song.

Additionally, the April 20th show in Sydney Australia was recorded live for an MTV special, Live From The 10 Spot. It aired on May 1, 1998.

Tour dates

Date	City	Country	Venue
Pre-tour warm up gig
March 12, 1998	Hollywood	United States	Billboard Live
Australian Leg
April 10, 1998	Wellington	New Zealand	Queens Wharf Events Centre
April 11, 1998	Albany		North Harbour Stadium
April 14, 1998	Launceston	Australia	Silverdome
April 17, 1998	Melbourne		Rod Laver Arena
April 18, 1998	Canberra		AIS Arena
April 20, 1998	Sydney		Sydney Entertainment Centre
April 23, 1998	Newcastle		Newcastle Entertainment Centre
April 24, 1998	Brisbane		Brisbane Entertainment Centre
April 27, 1998	Adelaide		Adelaide Entertainment Centre
April 29, 1998	Perth		Perth Entertainment Centre
First North American Leg
May 13, 1998	The Woodlands	United States	Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion
May 14, 1998	Dallas		Starplex Amphitheater
May 16, 1998	Rosemont		Rosemont Horizon
May 17, 1998	Cleveland		Gund Arena
May 19, 1998	Auburn Hills		The Palace of Auburn Hills
May 21, 1998	Boston		FleetCenter
May 22, 1998	New York City		Madison Square Garden
May 24, 1998	Philadelphia		CoreStates Spectrum
European Leg
May 27, 1998	Helsinki	Finland	Helsinki Ice Hall
May 29, 1998	Nuremberg	Germany	Rock Im Park
May 30, 1998	Halle		Eissport Halle
May 31, 1998	Nürburgring		Rock Am Ring
June 2, 1998	Berlin		Huxley's Neue Welt
June 3, 1998	Hamburg		Alsterdorfer Sporthalle
Second North American Leg
July 1, 1998	Phoenix	United States	Desert Sky Pavilion
July 3, 1998	Del Mar		Del Mar Fairgrounds
July 4, 1998	San Bernardino		Blockbuster Pavilion
July 5, 1998	Mountain View		Shoreline Amphitheatre
July 7, 1998	Concord		Concord Pavilion
July 8, 1998	Sacramento		Arco Arena
July 10, 1998	Portland		Rose Garden Arena
July 11, 1998	George		The Gorge Amphitheatre
July 14, 1998	Park City		The Canyons
July 16, 1998	Greenwood Village		Fiddler's Green Amphitheatre
July 18, 1998	Bonner Springs		Sandstone Amphitheater
July 19, 1998	Maryland Heights		Riverport Amphitheater
July 21, 1998	Cincinnati		Riverbend Music Center
July 22, 1998	Noblesville		Deer Creek Music Center
July 24, 1998	Burgettstown		Starlake Amphitheater
July 25, 1998	Columbus		Polaris Amphitheater
July 26, 1998	Hershey		Star Pavilion
July 28, 1998	Scranton		Toyota Pavilion at Montage Mountain
July 30, 1998	Charlotte		Blockbuster Pavilion
July 31, 1998	Atlanta		Lakewood Amphitheater
August 2, 1998	Antioch		Starwood Amphitheatre
August 4, 1998	Palo Robles		California Mid-State Fair
Third North American Leg
August 12, 1998	Boston	United States	Hard Rock Cafe
August 14, 1998	Mansfield		Great Woods
August 15, 1998	Wantagh		Jones Beach Amphitheater
August 16, 1998	Holmdel Township		PNC Bank Arts Center
August 18, 1998	Raleigh		Walnut Creek Amphitheatre
August 19, 1998	Virginia Beach		Virginia Beach Amphitheater
August 21, 1998	Bristow		Nissan Pavilion
August 22, 1998	Atlantic City		Mark G. Etess Arena
August 23, 1998	Saratoga Springs		Saratoga Performing Arts Center
August 25, 1998	Corfu		Darien Lake Performing Arts Center
August 26, 1998	Toronto	Canada	Molson Amphitheater
August 28, 1998	Richmond	United States	Classic Amphitheatre at Strawberry Hill
August 29, 1998	Hartford		Meadows Music Theatre
August 31, 1998	Syracuse		New York State Fair
September 2, 1998	Grand Rapids		Van Andel Arena
September 3, 1998	Clarkston		Pine Knob Music Theater
September 5, 1998	East Troy		Alpine Valley Music Theatre
September 15, 1998	Myrtle Beach		House of Blues
September 16, 1998	Lake Buena Vista		House of Blues
September 17, 1998	Fort Lauderdale		Sunrise Musical Theater
Fourth North American Leg
October 2, 1998	Paradise	United States	The Joint
October 3, 1998
October 13, 1998	Anchorage		Sullivan Arena
October 16, 1998	Honolulu		Neal S. Blaisdell Center
Asian Leg
October 20, 1998	Hiroshima	Japan	Hiroshima Sun Plaza
October 21, 1998	Fukuoka		Kokusai Center
October 23, 1998	Osaka		Osaka Castle Hall
October 24, 1998	Nagoya		Nagoya Rainbow Hall
October 26, 1998	Iwate		Sangyo Bunka Center
October 28, 1998	Tokyo		Nippon Budokan
October 29, 1998
October 30, 1998
November 2, 1998	Yokohama		Yokohama Arena

External links

• Van-Halen.com - The official Van Halen website
• Van Halen NewsDesk