Fans of Van Halen have been eagerly anticipating a star-studded tribute concert to honor the legendary rock band. However, those dreams have been dashed, and former bassist Michael Anthony has shed light on the reason behind the scrapped project.
During an appearance on The Hook Rocks podcast, Anthony revealed that the tribute fell through because "one of the ingredients was not playing ball with everybody else." While he avoids naming names, his comments point to a potential clash within the band's extended circle.
"All I can say is — I'm not gonna point fingers — but through all of this, one of the ingredients was not, let's say, playing ball with everybody else. And that's all I'm gonna say. I'll let you all figure it out. And that's why none of it worked. And you've read it probably with Wolfgang's Van Halen, interviews, too, that he's been doing this past year."
Prior attempts to assemble the tribute involved guitarist Joe Satriani, with rumors of former Metallica bassist Jason Newsted also being considered. Anthony himself confirmed being approached by band members Alex Van Halen and David Lee Roth, and mentioned discussions with Satriani who was tasked with reviewing material, but progress stalled.
"You're talking about Joe being approached by Alex and Dave. And then there've been people that — all of a sudden, in the press, I read that Jason Newsted, who played with Metallica, was approached about it as well. Now I, myself, I got a call from Alex and Dave a few years, right around that same time. And they wanted to put something together, and Joe was in the mix. I remember talking to Joe a couple of times after that, too. And Joe was telling me, 'Yeah, well, they gave me some of that album and told me to listen to it or whatever.'"
Anthony also expressed his sadness, referencing past tensions within the band, including the snubbed Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony which only former singers Sammy Hagar and himself attended.
"It's pretty sad, because even when the band was inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame — this was in 2007 — Sammy and I were the only two from the band that showed up, and we weren't even in the band at the time. And it was pretty sad, because I turned to Sammy during the show — I forget who was on stage playing — and we were sitting at our table and I go, I go, 'Sammy, could you imagine if all of us, if we were all here and everybody got along and we got up there, we would kick the ass out of this thing. It'd be an induction ceremony that nobody would ever forget.' And sadly enough, it wasn't to be."
