I'm an avid reader of Metal Sludge (since way back when), and this week they have a very disturbing article about the (still) rumored reunion of the mighty Van Halen with David Lee Roth. It links back to a KNAC breaking news article Eddie Van Halen: "The Ball is in Dave's Court". I would love to see a reunion of the classic band, but the complete band. I was lucky (and old) enough to have seen Van Halen on both the Diver Down and 1984 tours, and although I love Van Halen with Sammy, I still love the classic band. Yes, Dave was more of a front man than a singer, and on any given night he could really ruin a a show. But when he is on, the band really kicked. Go out and find yourself some of the bootlegs from the 76-80 era and listen for yourself.
But how great that band was is a whole different topic. Seems as though Eddie is finally putting the pressure on Dave to come back to do a reunion tour, but he is still pissed at Michael Anthony and is attempting to have his son Wolfgang play bass for this rumored reunion. Here's a clue Eddie, get off the drugs and get the whole band back together, including Michael. The classic band isn't the classic band without him, and I'm not going to pay $100+ a ticket to see 3/4's of the classic band do a reunion. I think it is pretty tasteless to try to replace Michael with Wolfy and call it a reunion. Hopefully Roth is man enough to tell Eddie where to stick it, because without Michael the odds are slim that Eddie and Dave will both survive a tour. Michael is the only one that has the balls to stand up to Eddie, and without him Dave will be out there on his own. The long standing rumor (via Metal Sludge) is that Eddie was slipped some Meth in his coke back before Sammy was first fired, and he has been a meth addict ever since. With Eddie's current mental condition, it wouldn't surprise me (anyone that let's Valerie Bertinelli get away has to be crazy).
If Eddie wants to go out and do the classic Van Halen material with his brother and his son Wolfgang, that fine with me. It has a bit of charm because it is his family, and I wouldn't begrudge anyone from wanting to go out on tour with their brother and son. If he was to go out and schedule shows at the larger clubs (less than 2000 people), I'd be there. If he wants a Dave clone, do like Dave has done with his recent solo bands, and get the replacement player from the best Van Halen tribute out there, The Atomic Punks (in this case that means Ralph Saenz). If you want the best of what Dave is/was (a showman), plus get someone that can sing and remember the words to all the songs, you want Ralph Saenz. I'm not saying that Eddie should go out and hire Ralph over Dave, but if he isn't truly looking to get the whole band back together, I'd rather see the Van Halen family plus Ralph Saenz, over the very dysfunctional Van Halen family plus a miserable David Lee Roth. I saw the Sam & Dave tour back in 2002 at the Trump Marina in a nice large club style show (about 1500 people with no seats, just like the bar scene), and man that was great. At the time, I had thought to myself that I'd go see Eddie in a venue like that, and without Dave or Sammy, there is no way he is doing any arenas. But if he wants to get Dave back in the band, do the right thing and bring back Michael too (oh, yeah, and get off drugs and figure out a way to make up with Valerie, too). Is that too much to ask?