Van Halen, Rock And Roll Hall of Fame inductees and one of the most important and influential rock bands of all time, announced their return to the live stage with an extraordinary 2012 North American tour. The announcement was made during a once-in-a-lifetime performance, at the intimate Cafe Wha? in New York City. Known around the world for some of the most iconic live performances in music history, the legendary rock band will begin their tour on February 18. Kool & The Gang will join Van Halen for select tour dates.

Tickets for the Live Nation-promoted tour go on sale beginning January 14 at Ticketmaster.com andLiveNation.com.

In addition, Van Halen confirmed their new album, A Different Kind Of Truth, will be released in the U.S. by Interscope Records on February 7. The first single from the album, “Tattoo”, and its accompanying video will be debut simultaneously on Tuesday, January 10th, with album pre-orders starting that day. A Different Kind Of Truth is Van Halen’s first original studio album with singer David Lee Roth since the band’s classic multi-platinum album 1984.

Fans can expect Van Halen to perform selections from A Different Kind Of Truth alongside songs from their arsenal of epic hits that include:  “Eruption,” “Running with the Devil,” “Jamie’s Cryin’,” “You Really Got Me,” ”Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love,” “Everybody Wants Some,” “Unchained,” “And The Cradle Will Rock,” “Beautiful Girls,” “Mean Street,” “Somebody Get Me A Doctor,” “Jump,” “Panama,” “Hot For Teacher,” “I’ll Wait,” and more from their classic albums Van Halen, Van Halen II, Women and Children First, Fair Warning, Diver Down and 1984.

Van Halen – who the Los Angeles Times recently called “a force of nature” and “one of the flat-out greatest rock bands on the planet” – was inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame in March of 2007.

Formed in Los Angeles in 1974, Van Halen changed the rock and roll landscape forever with the release of their self-titled, 1978 debut album displaying unparalleled stage presence, revolutionary musicianship, and extraordinary songwriting abilities. With more than 75 million albums sold worldwide, the band’s record of achievement is hard to top.

Among a long list of awards, recognition and accolades, Van Halen joins an elite short list of two time Diamond Award honorees in the history of the music industry. Presented with two Diamond Award RIAA Certified Status’ for their albums Van Halen and 1984, the band has produced a repertoire of hits that remain some of the strongest and most influential rock songs ever written that fans will admire for decades to come.

Kool & The Gang found a special sound at the unique intersection of jazz, R&B, funk and pop. Their music has been created by the same core of players for over thirty years: Robert “Kool” Bell, his brother Khalis Bayyan, their longtime friends Dennis “DT” Thomas and George “Funky” Brown.

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Sammy Hagar, most well known for his stint as lead singer of Van Halen, has published a memoir detailing his days as a rock star.  However, the most notable portion of Red: My Uncensored Life in Rock is not about groupies, fights, or drugs.  It is about alien abduction.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee has a section in his memoir that recounts some strange dreams about UFOs that Hagar had as a youngster.  Hagar also reports in his book that he believes he may have been “manipulated” in some way by a force not of this Earth, if not abducted by aliens.

In an interview with MTV Hive about the memoir, Hagar goes into more detail about his belief in aliens and alien abduction.  “People say there’s no other life in the universe. But you know how big the universe is? It’s freakin’ huge! If we’re really the only ones out there, that’s scarier to me than thinking there are aliens,” Hagar told MTV.

Hagar stated in the interview, and in his book, that he believes he may have been abducted by aliens.   In his book, he describes a dream where he was connected to aliens.  “I saw a ship and two creatures inside of this ship… And they were connected to me, tapped into my mind through some kind of mysterious wireless connection,” the passage reads in part. Only, he believes it was real and not just a dream.  Speaking in the interview about the experience, Hagar insists it was not a dream.  “It was real. [Aliens] were plugged into me. It was a download situation. This was long before computers or any kind of wireless. There weren’t even wireless telephones. Looking back now, it was like, “Fuck, they downloaded something into me!” Or they uploaded something from my brain, like an experiment. “See what this guy knows.”

He also describes another strange experience that he did not include in his book.  “Another thing happened when I was about four that I didn’t put into the book. One time I saw what I considered to be, well, at the time I thought it was a car with no wheels. We lived out in the country and I saw this thing floating across a field, creating this big dust storm. I threw rocks at it and shit. And I don’t know what happened after that.”

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