Wolfgang Van Halen Blames Dad's Failed Tribute Concert On 'Difficult' People

The world was hit with the devastating news of iconic guitarist Eddie Van Halen's death in October 2020 after a long battle with throat cancer.

His only son, Wolfgang Van Halen broke the sad news on social media via a statement saying the rock icon "lost his long and arduous battle with cancer."

Following Eddie's passing at 65, a tribute concert was set to hold to honor his impactful legacy. Unfortunately, nothing has happened yet and fans have been wondering.

In a recent interview, Wolfgang gave an insight into what and who held up his father's tribute concert and if it would ever happen.

Over the weekend, Wolfgang sat down with Rolling Stone magazine to discuss the proposed tribute among other topics like his next album and internet hate.

When asked by the interviewer about the state of the tribute concert which would have involved his uncle, Alex Van Halen and Joe Satriani, Wolfgang said, "What I can say is that there was an attempt at doing something. But, you know, I don’t like to speak negatively about people, but there are some people that make it very difficult to do anything when it comes to Van Halen."

Elaborating on the topic, the 31-year-old who followed in his father's musical footsteps revealed that the problem originated from his late dad's band, Van Halen.

He shared that during his time as a bassist in Van Halen, he worked hard to create an environment where no one had to walk on eggshells or deal with another person's personality. However, all that effort to change the vibe of the band didn't pan out for his dad's tribute concert.

"But, you know, from my time in Van Halen, there was always some stuff that gets in the way from just making music and having a good time. And, I think, that’s what happened," he noted.

When asked to expatiate on exactly what went wrong in the planning of the concert, the "Mammoth" singer said that while he would like to spill the truth, he couldn't because of what Eddie experienced.

"There are plenty of interviews my dad did, where he straight up just said everything. And people hated him for it and thought he was lying," Wolfgang explained to the publication. "So I could just say s**t, but people have already decided how they feel about things, facts or not. So I can say the facts. But that may not align with how certain people feel."

Wolfgang seemingly suggested that fans' attitude to Van Halen played a role in the abandoned concert, saying, "I know how Van Halen fans get. They are very motivated by which specific people they like in the band. And it’s just not worth it. Just, we made an attempt, and some people can be hard to work with, and made it not happen."

When asked who "we" was, Wolfgang disclosed that his uncle Al was responsible for the overall decision-making while he was just there to be supportive and represent his late dad when needed.

He noted that despite giving his blessing to the idea and planning of Eddie's tribute concert, it didn't work out. In his words, "It was in such an early stage that it never even got off the ground. I would really like to do something for Pop."

Wolfgang cleared the air on what the tribute was meant to be saying it was a one-off tribute concert and not a tour, and still Van Halen couldn't work together to pull it off.

He lamented, "Look at anything that’s happened with Van Halen. And look how things have fallen apart. You know?  The fact that in my tenure, in Van Halen, we managed to do three tours, put an album of original material and a live album out is a f**king miracle."

Wolfgang remained careful not to mention anyone's name but he did bring up former Metallica bassist Jason Newsted's name. Newsted was responsible for telling the world that there was an Eddie Van Halen tribute concert in the works in an April interview.

Wolfgang blasted Newsted, saying his revelation "fucked everything up."

Elaborating on why he felt that way, the California native said, "People love to pin every decision Van Halen has ever made on Dad. But Al’s the brain. Al has been the guy forever. He’s the dude. When it comes to Van Halen, Dad just wanted to play guitar. But, you know, Al’s mentality, and it’s the mentality that Van Halen took for the entirety of its band, is that there’s nothing worth talking about unless it’s happening. So the reason that nothing has been talked about from Van Halen, the official channels, is because nothing’s happened. And I know how that will stir people up and piss them off. But that’s how the operation is run."

Wolfgang's cryptic revelation about the abandoned concert comes weeks after SiriusXM radio personality Eddie Trunk alleged that David Lee Roth was responsible for stalling the all-star tribute concert.

According to Blabbermouth, Trunk said on his show, "I had a very, very, very reliable source tell me last night at THE BLACK CROWES show that the hold-up on the VAN HALEN-anything happening is a lot of it falling on David Lee Roth, that David Lee Roth — to no surprise."

He continued, "it shouldn't be a surprise to anybody — is a difficult guy to wrangle, a difficult guy to get an answer on, a difficult guy to get focused on anything, a difficult guy to get to sign off on anything. He is all over the map, as you would expect and have seen throughout history, and that the big hold-up in anything happening with VAN HALEN is not Alex, who wants to do it and is trying; it's actually Roth who needs to sign off and be involved."