Van Halen Discussed Anthony, Hagar and Roth ‘Kitchen Sink’ Tour

During an interview on the Howard Stern Show, Wolfgang revealed discussions that began in 2015 when he began work on his solo album. He approached his father, Eddie Van Halen, with an idea he had: “I would say, ‘Hey Dad, you know what would be cool … if I opened up for you guys and we let Mike come back. ‘”

Eddie initially insisted that his son stay in the band, and Wolfgang eventually thought he could get into a song or two from A Different Kind of Truth. “But in the course of time he warmed up to the idea,” explained Wolfgang. “I got him upset about it. And at one point it became what we were kidding about the Kitchen Sink tour. Because he was okay with that arrangement, it was like, ‘Shit, let’s get Dave [Lee Roth] and Hagar and even Cherone, and let’s just do a huge, damn great thing. ‘”

They passed manager Irving Azoff, who got the ball rolling. Just before Christmas 2018, Roth announced that a tour of what he called “the original” was planned for next summer. A few weeks later, Anthony denied having had any contact with anyone; By February he admitted talking to the band last October, but “something broke in the end”.

Before the news could be released, Eddie’s health began to deteriorate. It started with the discovery of a brain tumor after a motorcycle accident in early 2019. A procedure called gamma knife radiosurgery appeared to have been used, but then “the shit just kept piling up and piling up,” said Wolfgang. “It just never went away,” and the stage 4 lung cancer that Eddie was diagnosed with in late 2017 began to worsen and the tour was canceled.

Wolfgang wanted to let the fans know that the tour “was real and we were so excited about it. All of us. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out. It would have been crazy.”

The multi-instrumentalist, who debuted his new single “Distance” on Stern’s Show, raised rumors of a new version of Van Halen in which he featured on guitar and Anthony on bass. He said the conversation was the work of “desperate fans”. That’s damn stupid. You can’t have Van Halen without Eddie Van Halen because I’m not dad. I won’t replace him you know I’ve spent my life making sure I’m not like him. I am my own person. And my father would be mad again. He would say, “What the hell are you doing? Do your shit. ‘”

Wolfgang understood that fans just “want the music to go on. But some things just suck, and that’s one of those things. … So, my opinion [is that] Except maybe a tribute show at some point down the line and archive releases below, it’s done.

“I no longer have a father,” he added. “And I’m going to put up with it, and I’m trying to deal with it, so I think the fans have to try to put up with it [it] and figure out how to deal with the fact that we won’t have Van Halen anymore. The music will live on forever, but you can’t go on without Eddie Van Halen. “

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