EDDIE VAN HALEN been dead for two weeks, and there have been tributes of all sorts (Zahzoo just posted about an upcoming tribute conversation with a bunch of musicians like the Appice brothers, Steve Morse, Kulick, etc.). I keep reading, however, about ideas for an Eddie Van Halen tribute concert...and I don't think I really feel good about this idea...especially because the way most of these tribute concerts are done, they suck:

1) THE GUITAR PROBLEM: Part of what makes Eddie worthy of such praise & tribute is that he simply was unbeatable and really not copyable on that-there guitar. I've seen some really good players in guitar shops who can really simulate Eddie's sound/playing. And bands like Atomic Punks do a great job of sounding like VH. But tribute concerts don't usually bring out such technicians (nor do I see the point in having faceless technicians just copy Eddie). In the end, these shows bring out famous musicians (popular by modern music-standards) playing those songs. And, frankly, I don't want to watch a concert in which people like The Edge, Jack White, Dave Grohl, Richie Sambora, etc. play classic VH songs. I like U2 (though the only album I've liked in the last 20 years is NO LINE ON THE HORIZON) and I like Jack White...but let's face it: they'll get the currently-popular/cool rock guys to do this tribute instead of getting people who could pull off at least some of the technical shit. They could get Steve Vai, Satriani (putting aside any Chickenfoot bitterness, I actually think Sammy's done worse things), Dweezil (he's a great player and loves Eddie)...but they won't get those guys. They'll get shit like Maroon 5 to desecrate JUMP. They'll get Dave Grohl...and he'll ruin AIN'T TALKIN' 'BOUT LOVE.


2) THE SINGER PROBLEM: These tribute things usually suck. The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert in 1992 was admittedly good...not perfect, but good. Classic Bowie/Ronson/Hunter footage, for one...and a lot of good Queen stuff (anyone can make fun of me, but the George Michael & Queen thing was good...and Robert Plant singing CRAZY LITTLE THING with the band was also awesome).

But the only sort-of-worthy VH tribute concert for me would be Dave, Michael, Wolf & Alex on stage (or Dave, Wolf & Alex, but I bet a million dollars that Wolf would make sure Mike is invited, especially after the 2019 overtures), joined by a few truly amazing hard rock/metal guitarists. And if Wolf really has learned a lot of his Dad's stuff, it would be fun to see him maybe play a couple of songs on guitar. It wouldn't be the same, but hey...it would be better than what they usually do. But...yes, mainly just Dave.

I don't want to see Miley Cyrus, Taylor Swift, Dave Grohl (I don't hate the guy...I loved the THEM CROOKED VULTURES show...but he's simply not on-level with some of heavy rock's biggest legends except his drumming) singing Van Halen songs. If you want a tribute to Eddie, you know people mostly want to hear the classic material. And, I'm sorry, the only singer I know who does those songs justice is Dave. If they really wanted to make sure they cover the whole Eddie catalog, I guess they could invite Sam out to sing HUMANS BEING and "5150"...I guess I wouldn't mind that. But stop there. Fine, let him fucking sing RIGHT NOW. But most people who casually know the band and might watch this thing on T.V. would switch to another station if the band spends an hour letting Sam sing WHEN IT'S LOVE, WHY CAN'T THIS BE LOVE, LOVE WALKS IN, CAN'T STOP LOVIN' YOU, DON'T TELL ME (WHAT LOVE CAN DO) and on and on and on.

And don't even consider inviting Gary Cherone. Outside of hardcore Eddie fans (I am a hardcore Eddie fan who mostly pays attention to 7 of his albums, 8 if you count the recent live-LP), nobody on Earth would be able to name one song from their 1998 album...

I have to admit, if they didn't make it just Dave, I'd even rather Sam sings a few songs than having to listen to goddamn Sheryl Crow sing I'LL WAIT, Bono sing JUMP, Beyoncé sing PANAMA, and on and on. Even if they made it more of a metal thing, as much as I love Rob Halford, Brian Johnson (Bon is still better), James Hetfield (fuck you, Metallica-haters), Bruce Dickinson, I don't really need to listen to a concert with those guys trying to do Dave songs. That said, if Sam didn't show and Dave refused to do any of Sam's songs (which he would) and they still wanted to play a few non-Dave songs, it would be pretty awesome to hear Rob Halford do something like RIGHT NOW and have it not sound nearly as lame (though the lyrics still suck). Still, at the end of the day, Van Halen is Van Halen with Dave.


3) THE WHOLE IDEA IS POINTLESS: Even if the actual members of Van Halen did this concert...even if they kept it mostly Dave singing...even if they pulled off the guitar thing and had a few people we all respect play serviceable guitar-renditions of the classic material with maybe Wolfie helping...IT WOULD BE OKAY TO WATCH WHEN IT HAPPENS AND THAT'S IT. How many of us would want to go back and watch this again (and again)? Anytime I'd want a VH fix for my home-theater, I wouldn't watch this. I'd dig out any of the classic concerts (Montreal '84, Sao Paulo, US Festival) and blast that. It would be an even greater injustice if this thing aired on TV and then got released on Blu-ray/4K. Imagine if the only Van Halen concert with Dave one could purchase in stores or Amazon (or stream) would be a concert that doesn't even feature Eddie Van Halen playing. Even worse, imagine if a bunch of young people who don't know Van Halen watched this thing and then concluded, "I don't get what's so amazing about this band? The guitar is fine but it's not blowing my mind!"


I still maintain that the best two tributes they could do for Eddie once the dust has settled a bit (pardon the pun) would be:

a) Release a few classic Eddie concerts (e.g. Oakland) on Blu-ray, stream said shows, do a T.V. airing on VH-1, Palladia, etc.
b) Dig out the A DIFFERENT KIND OF TRUTH outtakes (allegedly 12 more songs they worked on, though I read one source saying they recorded a ton of material and then Eddie in one interview claims they used most everything they actually recorded, with much more written) and then get Dave into the studio to turn the outtakes into finished songs with vocals. Then they could get Wolf & Michael Anthony to lay down a bunch of solid backing vocals to Dave's new lead vocals. If not A DIFFERENT KIND OF TRUTH outtakes, they could instead go through the tons of material still in the archives and do a lot of digital work to turn everything into a bunch of finished masters (new drums from Alex, if necessary), again with Dave singing and the others doing new backing vocals. In other words, a new VH album with Dave...AND with Eddie, playing his heart out. I read someone say that if they dig into the archives, there's no way they could get Dave to sing on instrumental outtakes from the Sam years...but that's fucking bullshit. I read Eddie in an interview say there were four finished recordings left off the crappy FOR UNLAWFUL CARNAL KNOWLEDGE, even more outtakes left off BALANCE, and I think two guitar songs left off OU812 (to make way for the keyboard stuff). Where is it written that Dave couldn't take these songs and do the vocals, even ignoring anything Sammy originally sang on them? And you know why I think such a rule is bullshit? Do you know why I don't think Eddie would give a shit? Because CAN'T GET THIS STUFF NO MORE is a BALANCE outtake called BACKDOOR SHUFFLE, originally completely finished and even having a finished Sammy vocal on it. Eddie took out the recording, mixed out Sammy's vocal (maybe he even wiped it off the multi-track, who knows?) and let Dave put new vocals on it and make it his own. Sam was apparently pissed and their awful manager at the time sent Sam a check for $35,000 to shut him up. This was all verified in interviews. I don't think it makes a fucking difference when it was recorded. If Eddie was happy to let Dave take a Sammy outtake and make it his own (and CAN'T GET THIS STUFF NO MORE rocks and is truly a David Lee Roth Van Halen song), then those making a new album with Dave from the archives should be fine with the idea too.


I'm not really interested in any tributes to Eddie, concerts or albums, unless Eddie is playing.

We at this site have declared a million times over the years: It ain't Van Halen without Diamond David Lee Roth. Well, I can't believe we've come to the point that we have to add to this: It ain't Van Halen without Eddie Van Halen.