Michael Anthony said he spoke with Alex Van Halen following Eddie Van Halen’s death in October.
In a new interview, Anthony said, “I spoke briefly with Alex right after Eddie passed, but I wanted them to have their privacy.” He added, “Alex has been pretty much grieving, or however you wanna put it, pretty much been to himself. So I’m just kind of letting that happen, and I’m sure at one point we’ll talk again here or even get together.”
Anthony made headlines recently when he said in an appearance on Talkin’ Rock with Meltdown that he wasn’t able to reconnect with Eddie Van Halen before his untimely passing.
“We actually hadn’t spoken [for the last few years], and unfortunately, we didn’t get a chance to,” said Anthony. “And, you know, it kind of bothers me because we had some issues that were never resolved. But I mean, what can you do? We were on track for a reunion, which I’m really sad never happened. But, you know, life and the show goes on.”
The Van Halen reunion – which was slated to feature David Lee Roth, Sammy Hagar and Gary Cherone – was the topic of rumor dating back to December 2018 when Roth alluded to it in an interview with Vulture. Since Eddie Van Halen’s death, Van Halen manager Irving Azoff confirmed that the tour was, in fact, in the works.
In a new interview with Pollstar, Azoff said, “We had lots of stops and starts, but there was every intention of doing a summer stadium tour (in 2019), and as the cancer moved around, [Eddie Van Halen] was physically unable to do it…There is no doubt in my mind that it would have been massive.”
Azoff mentioned the tour would’ve boasted different special guests at each stop, including Foo Fighters and Metallica.