Wolfgang Van Halen: Yes, He Played ‘Live’ At Taylor Hawkins Tribute

Wolfgang Van Halen and his guitar playing were one of many highlights at the Taylor Hawkins Tribute Concert in London. Regardless, some people thought he was using a backing track.

This notion that Wolfgang wasn’t actually playing was taken to task by musician/producer/engineer Rick Beato via his YouTube channel. Beato received an email from a viewer with the subject line “Was Wolfie a little too perfect?”

Beato breaks down a variety of points in the video below, but he made a point to say, “Wolfgang Van Halen started playing in Van Halen in 2006 when he was 15. He’s a multi-instrumentalist, he plays every instrument incredibly well…Did you notice that his vocals were exactly dead-on? Well, maybe that’s because he sang the background vocals with Eddie when he was replacing Michael Anthony. He was in Van Halen.”

The cherry on top of the breakdown was, “He’s playing it and it sounds like his dad, right? Well, of course it sounds like his dad – he played guitar with his dad all the time.”

If you want further proof of his chops (even though no further proof is needed), Wolfgang recently shared a clip of him playing “Eruption” back in 2015 in honor of the 45th anniversary of the recording of the iconic guitar track.

Wolfgang Van Halen Playing “Eruption” in 2015

Wolfgang is slated to perform at the second Taylor Hawkins Tribute Concert taking place September 27 at the Kia Forum in Los Angeles. A number of the same names that performed at the London show will also appear at the L.A. show. Some notable different musicians appearing at the L.A. show include Sebastian Bach, Geezer Butler, Phil Collen, Joe Elliott, Joan Jett, Alanis Morissette, Krist Novoselic, P!nk, LeAnn Rimes, Gene Simmons, Nikki Sixx, Chad Smith, Brad Wilk and Nancy Wilson.

As of publishing, there hasn’t been any announcement about the L.A. show streaming anywhere.

Taylor Hawkins Tribute Concert: Photos from the London Show