Earlier this year when former Metallica bassist Jason Newsted leaked that a Van Halen tribute show and/or tour was possibly in the works, it made major headlines in the rock world. Joe Satriani further elaborated that he had been in talks with drummer Alex Van Halen and singer David Lee Roth about doing something to honor the late Eddie Van Halen.
Roth even commented: “IN MY MIND, “VAN HALEN 4K”, IN THE AGE OF COVID IS GOING TO REQUIRE TWO OF US FOR EVERY POSITION. SATRIANI AND LUKATHER, ANTHONY AND NEWSTED, AL OR TOMMY LEE. PROBABLY THE ONLY ONE WHO COULD DO MY JOB TODAY WOULD BE PINK.”
Later in an interview with Rolling Stone, Eddie’s son, Wolfgang, elaborated on why the plans haven’t materialized. “What I can say is that there was an attempt at doing something,” he said. “But, you know, I don’t like to speak negatively about people, but there are some people that make it very difficult to do anything when it comes to Van Halen. After being in Van Halen for a long time, I really have strived to have an environment where there is no walking on eggshells and there is no personality that you have to deal with. It’s just guys having fun making music and just having a good time. But, you know, from my time in Van Halen, there was always some stuff that gets in the way from just making music and having a good time. And, I think, that’s what happened.”
Former Van Halen singer Sammy Hagar recently weighed in on the situation in a new interview with Rolling Stone. Hagar was asked if Satriani, his Chickenfoot bandmate, had told him of the jam with Alex Van Halen and Jason Newsted.
“No, because the Van Halen camp is 100% secrecy. I bet when he walked through the door, they made him sign something, and I’m dead serious. Alex is a very, very secretive guy. I don’t know how he can keep his lips so sealed. I could probably say something horrible about him right now and he wouldn’t even respond. Don’t take that the wrong way. I have nothing bad to say about him. I’m just talking about how stubborn he is. He does not budge. But Joe told me about it later, after it happened. I knew there was talk of it because [Van Halen’s manager] Irving Azoff had called me. He said, ‘I want to do a residency in Vegas with you and Mike and Al and a superstar guitar player.’ And I said ‘Like who?’ And he said, ‘Like Joe Satriani.’ I said, ‘It just sounds like Chickenfoot with Alex Van Halen instead of Chad Smith.’ I wasn’t much for that, as much as I love Joe. He could do that job best, without a doubt, because he’s so friggin’ anal about the way he plays, and every single note. I said to Irving, ‘I’m going to call Joe.’ When I did, he told me what happened. And I said, ‘Jason Newsted? What the f*ck is going on here, man? Whose idea is this? This must be a Dave [Lee Roth] idea.’ And Irving said it was a Dave idea.”
“Why would he want anyone but Mike?” he continued. “It’s probably because he knows that Mike and I are so close. I would imagine if they would’ve called Mike, Mike would’ve said, ‘Yes, I’ll do it with Sam.’ Because without Ed, there is no Van Halen to start with. So now, you’re going to go out and just play the early songs, and not play the second era? That would be the biggest failure Van Halen ever had if they call themselves ‘Van ‘Halen if they didn’t have Mikey. If it’s just Alex with other guys, that’s like what Jason Bonham does with Led Zeppelin. There’s a million bands out there doing that. It would be totally nuts. Also, I’d prefer that nobody attempts to replace Eddie Van Halen. I think that’s blasphemy and should be illegal. Anyway, I think that Irving boohooed it, and Dave went around him and did it anyway. I’m surprised that Alex went that far, but Alex might have just been his methodical self and said, ‘Well, let’s see what this is like. Let’s see how it feels.'”
Hagar was asked if he would do a tour of Van Halen material should a tribute materialize. “Not a tour, no,” he said. “I wouldn’t leave what I’m doing for that. I would make myself available to have a rehearsal and see which guitar player would work the best. I’m telling you, Joe would be the best. But like I said, then it’s just kind of Chickenfoot with Alex, which there’s a problem there. And I think that’s probably what they were thinking when they tried to get a different bass player, but that’s stupid, too. I would definitely love to play with Alex and Mike with a great guitar player that doesn’t try to just mimic Eddie perfectly. There’s so many great guitar players. There’s Steve Vai. There’s frigging John 5, who is a great guitar player.”
“I’m thinking of one-off weekend or something where we give the money away to some cause. It can’t just be, ‘Hey, we’re going to grab some money.’ I got plenty of money. There’s nothing that I would do for money that I just wasn’t in love with the idea of doing. And I’m not in love with the idea of being Van Halen without Eddie Van Halen. Matter of fact, I’m dead against it. But I would love to play music with Alex and Mike again. I would love to play those songs again. And if we did a residency or a tribute, I would sing 50/50. I would sing half the Dave songs too for the Van Halen fans. And those songs are great. I don’t mind singing some of them. The lyrics don’t fit in my life today, but neither does ‘Rock Candy’ or ‘Bad Motor Scooter’.”
“But I just think it’s crazy to do anything that’s called Van Halen without Eddie,” Hagar continued. “I would love it if Dave wanted to do a tribute where he’d sing ten of his songs, and then I’d come out and do ten of mine. That would be great with Alex and Mike and maybe a bunch of different guitar players. 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.”
Hagar then made a definitive statement as to where he stands. “But now, I’ll make a statement. If there was ever a situation where there was a Van Halen tribute in some kind of way with Alex, Mike, myself, Dave, if he would cooperate, and Wolfie playing Eddie’s parts, now that would be worthy of calling ‘Van Halen,’ for a moment. Wolfie would be crazy to drop his life and his creativity and his career to be his dad’s mimic. But for a moment, it could be great.”
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