The first leg of the 13-city caravan launches February 16 in Boise, and makes stops in Denver, Kansas City, Minneapolis and Dallas along the way, including a two-night stand at the Vic Theatre in Chicago.

The band, which split up soon after, reunited for a show October 25 at Sacramento’s Arco Arena with Oleander and 3 Doors Down in support. The show was so successful that the original members decided to road-test the band with dates in San Diego, Las Vegas and Fresno, Calif., in December.

It took a DJ’s persistence to get all five original band members to put aside their individual projects and take to the road again as Tesla.

Pat Martin, program director for Sacramento’s KRXQ-FM convinced them to perform for the station’s Halloween concert.

“Pat was so convincing that he actually managed to patch things up to the point where the guys said, ‘Yeah, sure, let’s do it,'” band spokesman Victor Somogyi told Pollstar.

It wasn’t a matter of bad blood, Somogyi stressed; it was just that the former bandmates were really busy.

“They hadn’t really played together all that time. Tommy Skeoch (lead guitar) hadn’t been in the band for six years. It wasn’t like guns and knives and all that. It’s just that the guys have other things. Brian Wheat (bass) has the Soulmotor project (with drummer Troy Lucketta), and Frank Hannon had Moon Dog Mane,” Somogyi stressed.

“Tommy and Jeff Keith (vocals) have a side project with Bar 7, and they were all just busy. But getting together seemed like a good thing to do. It was a local show, and it was great. It was a terrific bill.”

Somogyi told Pollstar that the tour should expand into three legs, and a live album culled from the mini-tour is in the works.

“There are plans for doing at least three legs, so we’ll do most of the country. We’re also looking at some summer dates, but that’s still in the ‘thinking about’ stage,” the rep revealed.

Tesla recorded their set at the Sacramento show in October and were to record their December 9 gig at Fresno’s Warnors Theatre as well. But they’re taking a pragmatic view of what they want to release.

“There’s really no hurry on this, so if they’re not absolutely thrilled with the results, then maybe we’ll just record the shows we do in the winter and keep going at it until we get exactly what we want,” Somogyi said.

Tesla first hit the charts in 1986 with their debut album,Mechanical Resonance. They established themselves as a rock band to be reckoned with in 1989 with The Great Radio Controversy, including their breakout single, the ballad “Love Song.”

But it was their followup to that album, Five Man Acoustical Jam, that proved the band’s versatility and scored their biggest hit, a cover of the Five Man Electrical Band’s “Signs.”