Eddie Van Halen Was Considering a “Kitchen-Sink Tour” Featuring David Lee Roth, Sammy Hagar, Michael Anthony, and Gary Cherone
We’ve already known for some time that rumors of a proposed Van Halen stadium tour reuniting the band with original bassist Michael Anthony more than just rumors.
We also know that when Eddie Van Halen passed away last month, he and the band’s former singer, Sammy Hagar, had squashed their beef.
We ALSO also know that fans have salivated for years at the prospect of a Van Halen tour featuring David Lee Roth AND Sammy Hagar (the closest we’ve ever gotten being a tour the two singers co-headlined with their solo bands in 2002).
All that being the case, here’s another reason to be depressed about Eddie’s death: according to son (and Anthony’s successor), Wolfgang Van Halen, the iconic guitarist was considering a “kitchen-sink tour” (as in “everything but the”) which would have included all members of Van Halen past and present. That means Roth, Hagar, Anthony, and, just possibly, Gary Cherone, whose short tenure with the band included their least-beloved record, Van Halen III.
“If only things had been better, it would have been amazing,” Blabbermouth tells me Wolfie told Howard Stern earlier today (Monday, November 16).
They also report that the youngest Van Halen commented on the possibility of releasing anything Eddie may have left in his proverbial vaults before he passed:
“Wolfgang also said that his father left ‘a shit-ton of tapes’ of unreleased material that ‘will take a very long time to go through’ and decide if there is anything there that could eventually see the light of day. He added: ‘That’s not the priority right now. I can’t put a timeline on it. There will be a time we go through it. Not for the foreseeable future.’
“Wolfgang said that some of his father’s unreleased material is ‘ideas that probably aren’t out there for good reason,’ but added that ‘I’m sure there’s amazing shit in there.’”
Okay, so some Van Halen albums are clearly better than others, but I’m guessing on Eddie’s worst day, he was probably still better than 99.9% of all other hard rock and metal musicians. So yeah I agree, there is almost certainly some “amazing shit” composed by Eddie that we’ve never had the privilege of hearing. I’m not surprised getting that stuff out is “not the priority right now” — Eddie’s death is still very fresh — but I’m sure we’ll get to hear at least some of it in the future.
Meanwhile, if for some reason you’re hoping that DLR, Hagar, et al will reunite despite the fact that Eddie is no longer with us, you can drop that fantasy: Wolfgang shot down the idea a couple of weeks ago.
In related news, Wolfgang also released his first solo single today. It’s called “Distance,” and it’s dedicated to his father. You can listen to it here.
