Michael Anthony: One Person Was 'Not Playing Ball' for VH Tribute

Michael Anthony recently discussed the failed attempts to launch a Van Halen tribute tour, claiming that one unnamed member "was not playing ball with everybody else."

Reports of the trek emerged in 2022, when former Metallica bassist Jason Newsted claimed in an interview that Alex Van Halen had approached him about taking part in the road trip alongside guitarist Joe Satriani, who would be taking the place of the late Eddie Van Halen. David Lee Roth was also rumored to be involved.

Reflecting on both the failed Van Halen tribute tour and his upcoming Best of All Worlds tour with Sammy Hagar and Satriani, Anthony told The Hook Rocks! podcast: "It's really interesting how everything just kind of weaves together. You talk about Joe being approached by Alex and Dave. And then there have been people that — all of a sudden, in the press, I read that Jason Newsted, who played with Metallica, was [approached too]. Now I, myself, I got a call from Alex and Dave a few years back, 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."

The bassist continued: "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 [Van Halen]'s interviews, too, that he's been doing this past year."

The younger Van Halen had the opportunity to pay tribute to his father at the Taylor Hawkins tribute concerts in 2022, where he covered "On Fire," "Hot for Teacher" and "Panama." He said those shows "delivered that catharsis without the stresses of dealing with the Van Halen camp, and the players involved. Their camp is very dysfunctional — everyone! — hell, it was difficult to make plans even when the band was active."

Michael Anthony Reflects on Van Halen's Rock Hall Induction

Anthony also lamented the missed opportunity for a Van Halen reunion at the band's 2007 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction. "Sammy and I were the only two from the band that showed up, and we weren't even in the band at the time," the bassist recalled.

"And it was pretty sad, because I turned to Sammy during the show — I forget who was onstage playing — and we were sitting at our table and 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."