Here’s the BBC:

Legendary rock band Van Halen have confirmed they will reunite with the group’s original singer, David Lee Roth, for the first time in 22 years.

The Chicago Tribune has more analysis:

A few attempted reunions went bust, most recently last January. An expected tour announcement was derailed when guitarist Eddie Van Halen entered a rehab clinic for undisclosed reasons in March.

Despite racking up more No. 1 hits on Billboard’s mainstream-rock chart than any band, and releasing two 10-million-selling albums (Van Halen in 1978 and 1984 in 1984), the quartet has had a fractious history. After Roth was fired in the mid-’80s, he was replaced by Sammy Hagar, who parted ways with the band a decade later. Van Halen regrouped to record new music with Roth, only to have that brief reunion dissolve in acrimony. Gary Cherone took over as vocalist, and lasted for one album before being ousted in 1999. Hagar came back aboard for a reunion tour in 2004, and then split again. The lastest twist is that founding bassist Michael Anthony has been given the boot, and Van Halen’s teenage son, Wolfgang, has replaced him.

More internal politics could be read into the four-page press release announcing the tour from the tour promoter and two public-relations firms. The release mentioned neither Hagar nor Anthony, and focused exclusively on the six albums the band recorded with Roth from 1978 to 1984, even though the band subsequently scored nine Top-40 hits with Hagar.

Though the band has not recorded an album of new material since 1998, the renewed ties with Roth are expected to command instant sell-outs along the lines of the current Police reunion. The arena tour with Hagar three years ago brought in more than $54 million.

Here’s David Lee Roth at the press conference:

Roth clarified, “This is not a reunion; this is a new band.”

And:

Roth promised that the reunited Van Halen would not disappoint. “The bar is set unbelievably high,” he said. “We know what your expectations are. Are you prepared for it to be better than it ever fucking was?”

Van Halen’s Seattle stop is Key Arena in early December.