January 4, 1998 - Without You, the first single and video from the forthcoming album Van Halen III, will begin airing on radio stations across the USA from January 27! The single will be available in stores from February 3. Van Halen III will be released on February 15 in Japan and in the USA on February 24, 1998.

January 8, 1998 - Australia's Frontier Touring have released the first dates for the upcoming Van Halen Australasian Tour! The band's first ever down under tour will visit Auckland, New Plymouth, Newcastle, Canberra, Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Launceston, Adelaide and Perth.

Tasmanian newspaper The Examiner featured a front page article yesterday about Van Halen's only gig in the Apple Isle at the Launceston Silverdome, set for April 4. Tickets for the concert go on sale January 27.

January 10, 1998 - Call it a leak, deliberate or otherwise, but radio stations across North America are playing Van Halen's new single Without You! The song is already being spread around the internet, with FTP and Web sites popping up all over the place with MP3 and WAV versions of brief parts of the song. A brief review: IT ROCKS!!!!.

Above: A sneak preview of the Van Halen III cover art (thanks Pat!) - taken from a tour promotional advertisement. The ad features more good news for Australian fans - Van Halen III will be released on February 23, one day before the USA.

January 14, 1998 - The USA release date for Van Halen III has been pushed back to March 17, 1998. An extra track titled Josephina has been added to the album, causing the delay. Think positive, people! If Van Halen are delaying the release of the album so this track can be added, it must be one killer track!

New release dates: Australia - March 16 (Wolfgang Van Halen's birthday), USA - March 17, Japan - approx 1 week before USA.

We're awaiting official confirmation about whether the Australian and New Zealand tour dates will be re-scheduled. At this stage the most likely scenario is that the current tour dates will be pushed back by around three weeks. As soon as we hear anything we'll post it on the VHND!

January 16, 1998 - The Official Van Halen Web Site has just been updated with an excellent new multimedia section on the making of Van Halen III. Video, audio, you name it - it's there! Don't hesitate to click on the graphic (right) and view this awesome sneak preview for yourself!

January 23, 1998 - The Warner Bros. Van Halen web site has been updated with new details on Van Halen III, including the cover art (see left) and final track listing.

The Japanese cover art will be exactly the same as the rest of the world this time. (The Balance cover had to be altered for the Japanese market.) According to the Official Van Halen Site there are currently no plans to include extra tracks on the Japanese version of Van Halen III.

RIGHT: Final track listing for Van Halen III. The order is slightly different from previous listings posted here.

The March issue of Guitar World, featuring a brand new interview with Eddie Van Halen, has hit the news stands! You can't miss it - Eddie is on the cover (see below). (Thanks for the scan, Dave!)

Australian and New Zealand tickets went on sale yesterday. Van Halen fans came out of the woodwork and camped out at box offices everywhere. The good seats were snapped up very quickly - we've heard reports that the floor area for both the Sydney and Melbourne shows sold out within 10 minutes. We will be attending the shows in Melbourne, Canberra and Sydney!