Van Halen’s recent postponement of 31 summer US tour dates continues to be a topic of interest and speculation, despite last weekend’s release by the group of a David Lee Roth video explaining the situation.
“As usual, we bit off way more than we can chew when it came to scheduling,” Roth said. “The band is winning, but our schedule has been sidelined for unnecessary roughness. If we continue past July 4th and all the way into Australia and Japan, then we’re asking for the robot zombie tour. We’re gonna take a break because this tour is gonna take us about two years.”
Watch Roth’s video here.
The few days between the postponement and the Roth footage left the band open to wild theories from all corners of the planet about what was going on.
Former VH singer Sammy Hagar blamed the situation on his former bandmates directly, telling the Denver Post "They're hard people to get along with, those brothers. Otherwise I'd still be in the band,” adding, "I'm surprised it took this long" for the tour to experience major difficulties. "I predicted this was going to happen a lot sooner. I lost money on that bet!"
Now, former VH bassist Michael Anthony has been asked for his take on the postponement.
"I don't know. Everyone's got their own opinion as to what happened,” Anthony tells American Rock Scene, who caught up with the Chickenfoot bassist on the road. “I don't really care to comment on that. I've got my own theories on it. To me, it just sounds kind of interesting that if you're saying you're tired, or whatever, you wanna recharge your batteries, you don't go and put 30 shows on sale. If I were a fan, I'd be saying, 'Well, then why do you go and put 30 shows on sale?' If I were a fan, I'd be going, 'Wow, that just seems kind of odd.'”
Regarding the three day gap between postponement and an explanation, Michael speculated, “That’s three days you take to come up with your story. I don’t know.”
“I wish them well,” continued the bassist. “They put out a great album and they are a great live band, always have been. I heard that [Eddie Van Halen's] been sober, and that's great. A talent like that… I've seen too many great talents — all the way back to Hendrix — it's a waste to see something like that happen."
Asked if he would ever consider playing with Van Halen again if the opportunity arose, Michael responded, “I don't know. As time goes on now, less and less… I mean, Ed's got his son [Wolfgang] up there with him now and they’re having a great time with that. I don't know. I really couldn't say. The circumstances would really have to be right. I was always the 'never-say-never' guy in the band. But as time goes on, I don't think about it, really, anymore. If it's gonna happen, it'll happen. I'm having a great time in my life doing what I'm doing now. That's what's important to me. My wife and I just bought a house, I have a daughter that's [getting] married this year, I have Chickenfoot. My relationship with those guys and everything is great."
See also:
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