Wolfgang Van Halen recently opened up about his emotional experience performing his late father Eddie Van Halen’s music at the Taylor Hawkins tribute concert. He explained why he considers that performance a definitive closing chapter on revisiting Van Halen material live.
Van Halen reflected on what the tribute performance meant to him personally. It was not only a way to honor Taylor Hawkins, but also a means of paying tribute to his father without getting caught up in the complexities surrounding a full Eddie Van Halen tribute show.
“Yeah, to me, it was like closing a book,” Van Halen said. “It was my way of being able to not only honor Taylor, but honor my dad by playing some of his material and just kind of keep out of the mess that is the… And so it was definitely a do-or-die thing for me.”
He went on to describe the intense anxiety he felt leading up to the performance, admitting that the pressure was overwhelming.
“I get anxiety normally when I’m doing nothing, but for that day, my uncle Patrick will tell you, I was very… I was losing it that day,” he continued. “‘Cause to me, it was, ‘If I don’t do this right, if I don’t serve this justice, then my life will be over.’ [Laughs] [And] I ended up playing it pretty all right.”
Despite acknowledging a few mistakes, Van Halen described the moment as deeply meaningful. He credited the support of those around him for making it possible.
“I still made mistakes, but it was just all live and in the heat of the moment,” he said. “But it was really special. Being able to have Dave and Justin and Josh there supporting me, being able to play with three idols of mine supporting such an emotional and difficult thing for me to do was really special, and I don’t think I could’ve done it without ’em… Yeah, that was a day of catharsis, for sure.”
The performance at the Taylor Hawkins tribute marked a personal and emotional milestone for Van Halen. He has since made clear that he has no plans to revisit Van Halen material in a live setting going forward.
The Taylor Hawkins Tribute Concerts took place across two nights in 2022. The events brought together some of rock’s biggest names to celebrate the life of the late Foo Fighters drummer. Wolfgang’s appearances at both shows gave him a rare and emotionally charged opportunity to step into his father’s musical legacy in front of a live audience.
Wolfgang performed three Van Halen classics across the two tribute shows — “On Fire,” “Hot for Teacher,” and “Panama.” He was joined by Dave Grohl on bass, Josh Freese on drums, and The Darkness frontman Justin Hawkins on vocals. The London show took place on September 3, 2022 at Wembley Stadium. The Los Angeles date followed on September 27, 2022 at the Kia Forum.
The combination of musicians made for a particularly powerful tribute. Grohl, Freese, and Justin Hawkins rallied around Wolfgang to help him deliver a performance that carried the weight of two losses at once — the passing of Taylor Hawkins and the earlier death of his father Eddie Van Halen in October 2020.
In the aftermath of the tribute concerts, Wolfgang expressed confidence that Eddie would have approved. He stated that he knew his dad would have been really proud of what took place on those two nights.
The performances have since been widely regarded as one of the most emotionally resonant moments of both tribute events. For Wolfgang, they represented not just a musical achievement, but a deeply personal act of closure — one he has made clear he does not intend to revisit.
Source: Andy Guitar
