Guitarist Rikk Emmett (Triumph) sat down with Ultimate Guitar for an interview, where he discussed the challenges bands like Van Halen had faced in meeting fan expectations.

In the interview, Emmett said:

“It turns out that perhaps what attributed to the strength and focus of Triumph’s performance that day was that they didn’t have much time to plan, plot, or party beforehand. For Triumph, we had played the day before in Orlando, Florida with ZZ Top.

”Climbed on a plane, flew across the country, had a little nap, got up, got in the helicopter, got to the gig, and got ourselves sort of ‘stage ready.’ The other guys in the band didn’t like gigs where we were playing without necessarily having our lights and our special effects and stuff.”

About Van Halen, Rikk Emmett also said:

“We were the outlier band. All these other bands were, like, really heavy. Motley Crue was on the rise up and they were definitely a kind of ‘live-for-today party band.’ And there was kind of a heavy quality to everybody, including the headliner, Van Halen.

”Who, I think the consensus was they didn’t have a great day because maybe there had been too much partying over the course of the long day back in their pavilion and their enclave. So, by the time they got out late at night, that was not necessarily one of their better moments.”