Wolfgang Van Halen says a tribute concert for his late father Eddie Van Halen couldn’t “get off the ground” because “some people” are “difficult” to work with.
Former Metallica bassist Jason Newsted had recently let slip that guitarist Joe Satriani and drummer Alex Van Halen were in talks to put on a special show in honour of the ‘Jump’ group’s late axe-slayer.
However, Wolfgang, 31, has claimed it was “in such an early stage that it never even got off the ground.”
Without giving any names, the musician – who ended up playing bass for his dad’s band – alleged that there are some people in the Van Halen camp that make it hard to plan anything.
He told Rolling Stone: “What I can say is that there was an attempt at doing something.
“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.”
He went on: “I know how Van Halen fans get.
“They are very motivated by which specific people they like in the band. It’s just not worth it. We made an attempt, and some people can be hard to work with, and made it not happen.”
The journalist then asked Wolfgang if “a certain singer with three initials” is “the main problem”, which is David Lee Roth.
Not willing to single anyone out, he replied: “I would say, ‘Do your research on the history of Van Halen, and come to your [own] conclusions.'”
David, 67, quit the heavy rock group in 1984 to pursue a solo career, despite them being one of the most successful bands of the time, and Sammy Hagar, 74, was hired by the group in a bid to reinvent their career.
David reunited with his bandmates in 2007, and appeared on the 2012 LP ‘A Different Kind of Truth’.
Eddie passed away after a lengthy battle with cancer in October 2020 at the age of 65.
Sammy had confirmed that he had been in talks about joining a Van Halen reunion tour with Eddie, Alex and David before his passing.
He said: “Eddie and Al and Irving Azoff, their manager [and] my dear friend, we were looking at doing the reunion tour with everybody, which is the way it had to be. I’ve been pushing for that for 10 years. I was ready to put [any differences] aside. Let’s go give the fans the biggest band in the world, you know what I mean? You don’t get bigger than Van Halen, and the fans deserve to see it all, hear every song.”
