“Eddie would give me a kiss on the lips and ask me how I’m doing”: Skid Row’s Dave Sabo says he received kisses – and free amps – on 1995 Van Halen tour
Skid Row guitarist Dave Sabo has opened up about what it was like touring with Van Halen in the 90s.
Opening for Van Halen on their 1995 tour, Sabo notes how Skid Row was treated “so great” by all members of the band.
Asked what the late Eddie Van Halen, in particular, was like “up close and personal”, Sabo tells host Trevor Joe Lennon [via Ultimate Classic Rock]: “He treated us so amazingly. They all did. They treated us so great.”
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“I would see Eddie every day. I made sure – I wanted to see the soundcheck every day, ‘cause I’m just such a fanboy,” he explains. “And I wanted to be around him and his playing as much as I could while we were out on the road.”
Sabo also recalls the affectionate manner by which the late guitar legend used to greet him, saying: “I used to walk on stage right before a soundcheck, and he’d walk over to me, and we’d hug each other, and he’d give me a kiss on the lips and ask me how I’m doing. And he was just such a sweetheart.”
It wasn’t just kisses Sabo had received though. The musician says that he and fellow Skid Row guitarist Scotti Hill also received some pretty amazing gifts from Van Halen on that tour.
“We were talking about his amps, and at the time he was working with Peavey and doing the 5150 amplifiers through Peavey and doing the Wolfgang guitars through Peavey as well,” Sabo says. “And I’m like, ‘Those amps are just incredible.’ He’s like, ‘Oh, really? OK, cool.’”
“Well, cut to a couple of days later, we’re playing in Camden, New Jersey at an amphitheatre, and we were all still living in Jersey at this time. And so we drove our own cars down there. It was just really cool to be able to pull up in our own vehicles, and a bunch of family and friends were there.”
He continues: “And so we’re coming in the back area and he sees Scotti and me. He goes, ‘Hey, hey, guys, come here. I got something for you.’ And he had two of the 5150 combos there waiting for us as gifts. And I was like, ‘You’ve got to be kidding me, man. Eddie Van Halen is giving us his signature amplifier. It’s just crazy.’ And so my heart will always have a special place [for Eddie].”
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Source: www.guitar-bass.net
