Watch Dave Grohl and Wolfgang Van Halen prank an entire festival with cover of Van Halen's Eruption

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By ( Classic Rock ) published

In which, for a brief moment, Dave Grohl is the best guitarist the world has ever seen

Dave Grohl onstage soloing
(Image credit: Wolfgang Van Halen)

Dave Grohl and Wolfgang Van Halen have combined their considerable talents to prank tens of thousands of fans attending this year's Welcome To Rockville festival, held at the Daytona International Speedway in Florida.  

The incident took place during Foo Fighters' headline set at the weekend, when the usual mid-set detour into the career of drummer Josh Freese was interrupted by Grohl's insistence on grabbing the spotlight for himself.

"You know who never gets a fucking solo?" Grohl asks the crowd, before answering his own question: "Me, goddamit! I never get a fucking solo!"  

"Since this is the last night of the trip," he continues. "I'm gonna do a fucking solo!" 

Grohl then appears to launch into a note-for-note cover of Eddie Van Halen's iconic Eruption instrumental, which, in real life, he can't really play, a point made all the more apparent as he lifts both hands from the neck of the guitar while the music magically continues. All is revealed as the camera cuts to the wings to reveal Wolfgang Van Halen doing the business, because, of course, it's a solo he can actually play.

“Dude, I told you to keep that cool Wolfie, what the fuck you doing right now?” Grohl asks, keeping things spicy. “Everybody, give it up for Wolfgang Van Halen!” 

Prompted by Freese's drumming, Wolfgang then launches into the introduction of another Van Halen classic, Hot for Teacher, before Foo Fighters resume their set. 

Earlier this year, Van Halen told Classic Rock that Grohl was his favourite songwriter, saying, "As a musician and a songwriter, he influences everything that I do in Mammoth."

Fraser Lewry
Fraser Lewry
Online Editor, Classic Rock

Online Editor at Louder/Classic Rock magazine since 2014. 40 years in music industry, online for 27. Also bylines for: Metal Hammer, Prog Magazine, The Word Magazine, The Guardian, The New Statesman, Saga, Music365. Former Head of Music at Xfm Radio, A&R at Fiction Records, early blogger, ex-roadie, published author. Once appeared in a Cure video dressed as a cowboy, and thinks any situation can be improved by the introduction of cats. Favourite Serbian trumpeter: Dejan Petrović.