“Dave f**kin’ popped a fuse… The vitriol that came out was unbelievable”: Alex Van Halen blames David Lee Roth for no Van Halen tribute tour
Plans for the Van Halen tribute tour that the world had hoped, prayed and begged were scrapped because David Lee Roth refused to honour the late Eddie Van Halen, according to his brother Alex.
In his first public interview since Eddie’s death in 2020, Alex confirms that the rumours surrounding a planned Van Halen tribute tour were indeed accurate. He reveals that there were even early rehearsals with himself on drums alongside Roth, the band’s original lead vocalist — though it all came crashing down after a bitter argument over how to pay tribute to the late guitar legend.
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“The thing that broke the camel’s back, and I can be honest about this now,” Alex tells Rolling Stone, “was I said, ‘Dave, at some point, we have to have a very overt — not a bowing — but an acknowledgment of Ed in the gig. If you look at how Queen does it, they show old footage.’”
“And the moment I said we gotta acknowledge Ed, Dave fuckin’ popped a fuse.… The vitriol that came out was unbelievable.”
According to the drummer, not only did Roth refuse to pay tribute to his brother, he found the notion offensive altogether — a reaction that did sit well with Alex.
“I’m from the street,” he says. “‘You talk to me like that, motherfucker, I’m gonna beat your fucking brains out. You got it?’ And I mean that. And that’s how it ended.”
“It’s just, my God. It’s like I didn’t know him anymore. I have nothing but the utmost respect for his work ethic and all that. But, Dave, you gotta work as a community, motherfucker. It’s not you alone anymore,” says Alex. According to Rolling Stone, Roth had declined to comment.
That said, the older Van Halen maintains that he has no regrets regarding the aborted tour. “It’s too bad on one hand, but it’s fine on the other,” he says. “Because now, in retrospect, playing the old songs is not really paying tribute to anybody. That’s just like a jukebox, in my opinion.… To find a replacement for Ed? It’s just not the same.”
Earlier this year, David Lee Roth launched a series of verbal assaults against Eddie’s son Wolfgang Van Halen, releasing two YouTube videos where he referred to the latter as a “fucking kid” among other derogatory remarks.
In response to these attacks, Wolfgang suggested that Roth’s anger was misdirected: “I think the big thing, one of the bigger things is that my dad isn’t around. So I think he just went for what’s still there to kind of point at,” he said.
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Source: www.guitar-bass.net
