MICHAEL ANTHONY TALKS VAN HALEN REUNION WITH BOTH ROTH AND HAGAR
24th June 2017



van halen

Former Van Halen bass player spoke to News Herald recently and was asked why he thinks now is the right time for a reunion of the 'classic' VH line-up. Michael said:

"Well, I mean, partly because you obviously see all of these other bands doing it these days. And also for Van Halen's fans. Maybe some kind of proper closure or something. I'm not sure. Everybody in the band is still relatively healthy and alive. So there's one thing right there. And Sammy [Hagar] has brought it up quite a few times in interviews he's done. He'd be open to doing a tour with him and Dave [Lee Roth] singing."

Dave Lee Roth and Sammy Hagar already toured together, more than a decade ago, and Michael continued:

"Yeah, that tour started kind of harmoniously, but didn't finish up that way. I went out and guested with Sammy on a handful of those shows and things got maybe a little strained. But at this point, I personally am through with all of the drama that comes with everything. I want to go out, play music and have a good time. I want to go to my grave a happy guy."

Anthony, Hagar, Alex and Eddie Van Halen last teamed up in 2004 for a US summer tour and the bassist reportedly had to agree to take a pay cut and sign away his rights to the band name and logo. He has played primarily with Hagar in the thirteen years since he last performed with Van Halen, in Chickenfoot and The Circle and others.

The Van Halen brothers, Wolfgang Van Halen and Dave Lee Roth announced they would be hitting the road for a reunion tour in 2007 and Anthony later told Music Radar that he "found out about that tour like everybody else did — in the press."

Anthony said in May on SiriusXM about Sammy Hagar's comment that he would be open to a Van Halen reunion tour including Roth, with the two frontmen taking turns performing their classic VH numbers:

"I think now's the time, especially if you listen to some of the interviews Sammy has been doing. Right now he's saying the proper way to do a Van Halen tour, he's saying, 'Let's do it with Dave and myself.'

"If we did, like, an hour with one singer and then an hour with another singer, you never know — there might be a lot of people that don't wanna come for the first hour, or don't wanna come for the second singer, or whatever. This way you mix it up and everybody's gotta stay for everything. And believe me, if something like that came to fruition, I guarantee there wouldn't be one person who would leave that show disappointed with anything — with either singer, probably."

He went on to say that a Van Halen reunion involving all the original members plus Hagar would only happen if "everybody was equally excited to do it.

"Because you don't wanna go out and have it be work, you don't wanna do it and have people say, 'Well, they're doing it just for the money'. I wanna truly go out there and just kick ass and give the people everything, and that's what it would have to be."







 
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