Former Van Halen bassist Michael Anthony recently spoke with Eddie Trunk regarding the rumored Eddie Van Halen tribute show and if it would take place. Michael said “I have spoke with Alex [Van Halen] and it still pains him a lot as far as Eddie goes and will probably for the rest of his life. I spoke with him and Dave [Lee Roth] last year and we basically just had a conference call about having a conference call and the other call never happened. I told them I’d obviously be interested and it would be more of a celebration of the music rather than putting something together and calling it Van Halen, because that just wouldn’t be right at this point”. Anthony went on to say “I think it all really hinges upon Alex and he’s gotta be the person, really, that wants to do this and give his blessing to the whole thing for it to move forward.”
According to Blabbermouth, the spark to these Van Halen tribute rumors started when former Metallica bassist Jason Newsted spoke to The Palm Beach Post and said he was approached by Alex Van Halen about playing bass in a tribute project about six months ago. Newsted said that he agreed to go to California and jam with Alex and guitarist Joe Satriani to see if it felt right to him. Newsted said to The Palm Beach Post he eventually realized he would not do the project justice, and didn’t want it to be viewed as a money grab.
Eddie Van Halen died in October 2020 at the age of 65. He was diagnosed with mouth cancer in 2000 and had tongue surgery. He later battled lung cancer and had been receiving radiation treatment in Germany. Things took a turn for the worse in early 2019 when Eddie got in a motorcycle accident. He was subsequently diagnosed with a brain tumor, and received gamma knife radiosurgery to treat the illness.