From the moment Eddie Van Halen passed away two years ago this week, there have been people asking for an Eddie tribute tour. One that might consist of his son Wolfgang Van Halen playing guitar with Alex Van Halen, Michael Anthony and either David Lee Roth or Sammy Hagar singing, or maybe both. While we haven’t heard from Alex both Sammy and Wolfgang had said no to that idea, but Sammy might be changing his tune.
The singer tells Rolling Stone, “I would love it if Dave [Lee Roth] wanted to do a tribute where he’d sing 10 of his songs, and then I’d come out and do 10 of mine. Look at what Dave [Grohl] just did for Taylor [Hawkins]. That’s one of the greatest events in rock history. That’s right up there with the early Farm Aids, and right up there with Live Aid. That was a great event, and that could be done for Ed with everybody playing.”
It is rumored that in that situation you’d have different guitarists stepping on stage to play like Joe Satriani or Steve Lukather. But speaking of the Taylor Hawkins tribute shows, Eddie’s son Wolfgang Van Halen did get on stage and pay tribute to his Dad while also celebrating the life of Taylor Hawkins. He says though, that’s a wrap.
He told Classic Rock that the “dysfunctional” nature of Van Halen makes any reunion chances slim and that he wouldn’t take part because “I think I already did it with the Taylor Hawkins tributes. I feel a lot of closure because my part of the show was a tribute to my father. When it comes to Van Halen and entities surrounding the band it’s unfortunate, certainly compared to Foo Fighters who have their [crap] together with interpersonal relationships. I don’t know what it is with some bands but certain personalities just can’t get over themselves to work collectively for one purpose — that’s been the curse of Van Halen for its entire career. So my playing at the Taylor shows delivered that catharsis without the stresses of dealing with the Van Halen camp, and the players involved.”
After that article was posted Wolfgang took to Twitter and he was not happy.
I implore you to read the full interview when it actually comes out. Not this “pull quote to get biggest reaction” shit social media is so privy to.
— Wolfgang Van Halen (@WolfVanHalen) October 3, 2022
Weird thing to pull quotes from an interview that ISN’T OUT YET that talked about many other things, but gotta get those clicks🤷♂️ https://t.co/2SNG3pWR2b
Time will tell if anything will happen. In the meantime enjoy Sammy Hagar’s new album Crazy Times that came out this past Friday.
