Wolfgang Van Halen has reflected on one of the most emotional performances of his career: the night he stepped up to play his late father’s music at the Taylor Hawkins tribute concerts, calling the experience a moment of catharsis and a way to honor both the fallen drummer and his dad, the legendary Eddie Van Halen.
Speaking in a new interview with “Andy Guitar“, recorded at last weekend’s Download festival in the United Kingdom, Wolfgang looked back on what it meant to take the stage with Van Halen material nearly four years ago.
Over two concerts in September 2022, the younger Van Halen performed three of the band’s songs, “On Fire“, “Hot For Teacher” and “Panama“, backed by Dave Grohl on bass, Josh Freese on drums and The Darkness‘ Justin Hawkins on vocals.
“Yeah, to me, it was like closing a book. 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,” Wolfgang said.
He went on to describe just how much pressure he put on himself that day.
“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. ‘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.’ [And] I ended up playing it pretty all right. I still made mistakes, but it was just all live and in the heat of the moment. 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 a 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,” he added.
This is not the first time Wolfgang has opened up about the tribute shows. Back in a March 2023 interview with Pablo of the Minneapolis, Minnesota radio station “93X“, he described the night as a blur of pure emotion.
“I’ll never forget it. At the same time, it went by so fast, I can’t even remember it. It was just all energy… It was really, really crazy. It was one of the most special things I’ve ever had the opportunity to do,” he said at the time.
When asked whether playing Van Halen songs under those circumstances came easily, Wolfgang admitted the difficulty was emotional rather than technical.
“More difficult, just emotionally. I don’t think people realize how much I don’t listen to Van Halen anymore. It’s a tough thing; it’s a tough subject. But it felt like the right thing to do in the moment. Taylor would have been really, really stoked. From the one time I met him — he came to a Van Halen show in 2012. He was just the coolest, most friendly guy. He left such a huge impression on me,” he admitted.
Wolfgang also recalled the unusual way the invitation came about — a text message he initially refused to believe was real.
“Dave [Grohl] texted me and I thought it was… I didn’t believe that it was him. I had to hit up [Foo Fighters guitarist] Chris Shiflett, ’cause I had just done his podcast. I was, like, ‘Hey, is somebody punking me or is this Dave?’ He was, like, ‘Yeah, that’s Dave. You should hit him back.'”
The two tribute concerts, held at London’s Wembley Stadium and Los Angeles’ Kia Forum, brought together a sprawling roster of rock’s biggest names to celebrate the life of the late Foo Fighters drummer, who died in March 2022. For Wolfgang, the appearances stood out as a rare and deliberate decision to revisit his father’s catalog onstage — something he has long been reluctant to do.
