An Eddie Van Halen tribute concert didn't happen because "some people are too full of themselves to let others have a good time" says son Wolfgang

Wolfgang Van Halen says that plans to stage a tribute concert to honour the life and music of his late father Eddie have fallen through because "some people can be hard to work with, and made it not happen."

In a new interview with Rolling Stone, the late guitarist's son declined to point the finger at anyone in particular for the fact that "an attempt" to stage a posthumous tribute gig for the legendary Dutch-born guitar hero came to nothing, but stated that "some people are too full of themselves to let others have a good time."

"I would love to just sit here and say everything and say the truth," Wolfgang continues. "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. So I could just say shit, but people have already decided how they feel about things, facts or not."

When writer Brian Hiatt asks 'if someone were to assume that the main problem was a certain singer with three initials, what would you say to that?' Wolfgang responds, "I would say 'Do your research on the history of Van Halen, and come to your conclusions'."

"What I can say," Wolfgang states, {"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.

"After being in Van Halen for a long time, I really have strived to have an environment where there is no walking on eggshells and there is no personality that you have to deal with. It’s just guys having fun making music and just having a good time. 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."

Wolfgang Van Halen will play the Taylor Hawkins tribute gig in London in September,

Artists

A music writer since 1993, formerly Editor of Kerrang! and Planet Rock magazine (RIP), Paul Brannigan is a Contributing Editor to Louder. Having previously written books on Lemmy, Dave Grohl (the Sunday Times best-seller This Is A Call) and Metallica (Birth School Metallica Death, co-authored with Ian Winwood), his Eddie Van Halen biography (Eruption in the UK, Unchained in the US) emerged in 2021. He has written for Rolling Stone, Mojo and Q, hung out with Fugazi at Dischord House, flown on Ozzy Osbourne's private jet, played Angus Young's Gibson SG, and interviewed everyone from Aerosmith and Beastie Boys to Young Gods and ZZ Top. Born in the North of Ireland, Brannigan lives in North London and supports The Arsenal.