This was the band's first tour with Sammy Hagar on lead vocals, following the acrimonious departure of original singer David Lee Roth. It promoted the band's first album with Hagar, 5150. Like many Van Halen tours, the routing took the band across North America only, as traveling internationally was hard for the band's complicated and heavy stage set. Furthermore, Hagar wanted to establish himself as the new singer in their homeland. The first leg of the tour was entirely United States dates, though Canadian ones slipped into the second and third legs. The tour took place in the aftermath of the David Lee Roth-Van Halen split, with the fanbase being split too. Those who had joined the new Van Halen's side used the concerts as an opportunity to voice their stance, frequently via unison chants of "Fuck Dave!" The tour set a trend later Hagar-era ones would follow: the number of pre-Hagar Van Halen songs was kept to a minimum, with the singer willing only to play that era's best-known songs. An Eddie Van Halen/Hagar guitar duel was also a usual part of the concerts. "Rock and Roll" by Led Zeppelin was the closing song every night. Canadian rock legends Bachman–Turner Overdrive, Loverboy and Kim Mitchell opened a few dates in Rochester and Buffalo, and were support acts on many of the outdoor stadium gigs in North America. The tour was supposed to start with dates in Hawaii and Alaska, but they were cancelled at the last minute, due to the band finishing the mixing of the album. The group's biggest hit, "Jump", was usually omitted from the set list, or sung by the audience instead of Hagar. Almost all the songs from 5150 were played, as well as covers and some of Hagar's pre-Van Halen work. The latter included his recent MTV hit "I Can't Drive 55" and Montrose songs. The addition of Hagar's guitar gave Eddie Van Halen more room to move, or to play keyboards on certain songs. The tour was a major high for the band, albeit with a couple of low points. The first was when their new manager Ed Leffler was hospitalized in Texas after an altercation in a hotel elevator. The second was when Eddie's wife Valerie Bertinelli suffered a miscarriage; she didn't reveal to Eddie that she was pregnant at the time, until it was too late. "We were selling records faster than they could print them and we were selling out every show," recalled Hagar. "We felt invincible." The second concert at New Haven Coliseum was filmed and shown live on television and released on VHS as Live Without a Net; it has subsequently been released on DVD.
