Longtime VAN HALEN bassist Michael Anthony has revealed that he had been involved in talks concerning the potential tribute tour dedicated to his former band and bandmate, Eddie Van Halen.
Michael has also apparently reached out to numerous other musicians to see if they had any interest in participating in the tour, however nothing has come to fruition as of yet.
The bassist says he had “a conference call with [manager] Irving Azoff, Alex [Van Halen] and Dave [Lee Roth] last year” about a tour honoring Eddie Van Halen in a new interview with The Mitch Lafon and Jeremy White Show. From what we already know, guitar virtuoso Joe Satriani had also been involved in talks about being a part of the tour.
“I spoke to Joe about it, and it was more, you know, just something kicking around,” explained Anthony.
Earlier this year, former METALLICA bassist Jason Newsted revealed that Alex Van Halen had approached him about six months prior about participating in the alleged tour.
Speaking with The Palm Beach Post, Newsted said that he ultimately declined, saying, “How could you?,” and adding that “there’s nobody that can top it, so how do you show it honor? I didn’t want it to be viewed as a money grab. And then it kind of just all fizzled.”
Anthony touched on Newsted’s potential involvement, saying it came as a surprise to him, as he had been in on the initial talks, so he was unsure of “what the Jason thing was all about.”
Currently, Anthony is still holding out for the trek, hoping it will come together sooner than later. “I hope something happens in the future,” he says. “I think Joe was mentioning in some of the interviews that it’s more a celebration of the band and of the music than calling it ‘Van Halen.’ Obviously, Eddie being probably the most integral part of the whole band, you can’t really call it Van Halen after that.”