During a new conversation with “The Hook Rocks” podcast, guitarist Joe Satriani talked about the upcoming 2024 summer tour with Sammy Hagar, Michael Anthony, and Jason Bonham. Satriani was asked why he thinks this tour has come together while the proposed Van Halen tribute featuring him, David Lee Roth, and Alex Van Halen failed to materialize more than two years ago when it was first brought up:
“That’s tough. I didn’t know Eddie (Van Halen) and I don’t know the family and I don’t think I’ll ever really understand David Lee Roth. I thought I really understood Alex, and I think I do. I really think I understand his point of view or where he’s coming from.
“I tend to think that the real difference here is that Sammy has a real sort of inclusive way of looking at life and he notices when there’s conflict that is getting in the way of doing something good and he’ll try to fix it. So as a result, it’s just like he says, ‘Yeah, we’re gonna do ‘Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love’. I know it’s not my song, but that’s cool.’
”Now you ask David Lee Roth, ‘Hey, are you gonna do ‘5150’?’ Of course he’s never gonna do it. So there’s a big difference there, is that you have one guy who is very flexible because he’s thinking about the fans, and then you have another guy who, I don’t know why Dave is so inflexible on a couple of subjects, I really don’t, because I don’t know him. I should ask Steve (Vai) about it; I mean, Steve knows (David well). I can’t say that I really know him.”
He continued:
“I felt that Alex really wanted to do it and his heart was pure in its intention. But I don’t know about Dave. I know that Sammy and Mike, their intentions are pure. They really do wanna celebrate the music and they’re willing to mend any fence to make it happen on stage. They’re the original guys. It’s more than just a tour.
”And you feel that when you’re standing next to Sammy and Mike. There’s just an immense amount of power and love with the two of them and playing those songs. And people, they want to experience it and they should be able to experience it.
“I would hope at some point that (Alex, Eddie’s son Wolfgang Van Halen, and David) figure it out. Basically, Wolfgang is the guy to do it, he’s the guy to do any tribute there is. The rest of us are just gonna be copying the album as close as we can, but it’ll be fodder for the guitar army out there to criticize, like, ‘Well, you should have done it like this,’ and, ‘He could have done it like that,’ and, ‘She should have done it like this,’ because we’re not Eddie, and we’re not Wolfgang.”
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Alex was so intensely close with his brother. Leave the dude alone it’s not his bag playing songs he witnessed Ed compose or her played a part in. It’s too heavy or too weird.