Eddie Van Halen’s son, Wolfgang Van Halen, is a talented musician in his own right.
In 2006, he replaced bassist Michael Anthony, before joining Van Halen on their 2007/2008 North American tour aged just 17.
This tour was also notable for the fact that singer David Lee Roth, who fronted the group from 1974 until 1985, was reunited with his former bandmates, Eddie and drummer Alex Van Halen.
This lineup recorded the final studio album by Van Halen, A Different Kind of Truth, that was released in 2012.
Sadly, in October 2020, the electric guitar legend passed away.
The follow month, Wolfgang was interviewed on Entertainment Tonight where he was asked, “Will there be a tour in the future? There have been rumours that you may go out and you may replace your dad in the band.”
“No way. That’ll never happen,” asserted Wolfgang.
“You can’t have Van Halen without Eddie Van Halen. It’s impossible.”
Though it would, of course, be impossible to replace Eddie Van Halen, fans and peers continue to pay homage to his incredible legacy.
Excitement surrounding the possibility of an Eddie Van Halen tribute concert has continued to grow following an interview with former Metallica bassist Jason Newsted that appeared in The Palm Beach Post in April.
Though the article reported that Alex Van Halen and Joe Satriani were on the lookout for a bassist with respect to a Van Halen tour, Newsted maintained he felt unable to do the band’s legacy justice.
“There’s nobody that can top it,” he said, “so how do you show it honour? I didn’t want it to be viewed as a money grab.
"And then it kind of just all fizzled.”
In an interview published by Rolling Stone this week, Wolfgang directly tackled the tricky subject of a tribute concert by confirming, “there was an attempt at doing something.”
And although it appears to be too early to confirm one way or the other, fans have been given a glimmer of hope.
There are some people that make it very difficult to do anything when it comes to Van Halen
Wolfgang Van Halen
“I don’t like to speak negatively about people,” he continues, “but there are some people that make it very difficult to do anything when it comes to Van Halen.”
Remaining equivocal, Wolfgang highlighted the importance of Van Halen’s fanbase with respect to such decisions.
“They are very motivated by which specific people they like in the band,” he said. “It’s just not worth it. We made an attempt, and some people can be hard to work with, and made it not happen.”
Prompted by the interviewer as to whether he was referring to “a certain singer with three initials,” (read: David Lee Roth) Wolfgang suggested, “Do your research on the history of Van Halen, and come to your [own] conclusions.”
Order A Different Kind of Truth here.
