Class act, this guy.

Much too classy to be associated with the Van Halen brothers.

Class act all the way around, which makes me wonder how he lasted in that band as long as he did? Hopefully he was well paid and saved his dough, because I don’t see him makinf a lot of money with Sammy.

Classy, but I suspect more greedy, more machiavelian machinations behind this recent turn of events.

Since this is not an “official” reunion, VH will still have their fans waiting (with open wallets) for the time when all the guys get together for one very loud, orgasmic concert.

Do you really think a band as big as Van Halen does anything without a big committee meeting?

How can a guy who looks like he belongs on “To Catch a Predator” be so gracious and classy?

he’s waaay too nice.

Do you think that Wolfgang, 16 years old, will be strong enough to front audiences of 20 000 people every night ?

MY concern about this Wolfgang thing (and I think it’s been addressed before by others) is how well he can harmonize. Michael Anthony has long been a vocal secret weapon for VH’s classic tunes.

Well, it’s too bad that Van Halen has decided to snub Mike like this, but it is nice to see him nonplussed by the whole thing. After all the mudslinging that’s gone on with various members of this band, it’s refreshing to see one of them act like an adult.

I think that pudgy Wolfgang will BOMB in front of large crowds. Most likely can’t sing for shit, either.

Nice to see one member of the original four isn’t a narcissistic dick.

Don’t shit where you eat, good call.

No need to mention – *Already made more money than I’ll ever spend…*

Class act.

Eddie is wrong wrong wrong to take his son on the road. He should be in school, like other kids his age. Dad maybe a legend, but he’s no example to follow.

Michael Anthony deserves way more than this. In fact, so does Sammy, who had the merit of bringing musical credibility to Van Halen, after Dave’s early-80s antics reduced the band to goofy hit-makers instead of musical heavy-hitters.

Michael Anthony deserves better than this, but he’s showing more class than anyone in VH has. I guess touring with Sammy as “The Other Half” got ol’ Eddie PO’ed. As we have seen, it’s not a good idea to get on Eddie’s bad side… or is it ??? If it’s true that Sammy was cool with Anthony bolting to do a REAL VH reunion, it shows a bit of class on his part as well. Nothing against Wolfgang, but I’m afraid he’s going to receive a rather icy reception from those who wanted a real VH reunion. He’ll have nobody to blame but his Dad for that.

They have to be all in pretty good standing seeing how Sammy and him got the RnR hall of fame nod.

First he remembers to thank Gary Cherone at the Rock and Roll hall of fame and now this…….Mike you deserve all the respect and fortune that you have gotten!!!

Sort of like the standing that the remaining surviving members of CCR had with John Fogerty !!! They all were at the HOF induction ceremony, but John Fogerty performed with an all-star band, and the other two were not allowed to perform. Another note: Sammy and Michael were at the induction ceremony, but Eddie was not there. From what I remembered, they both showed class at the ceremony in wishing Eddie well, as he admitted himself into rehab shortly before the ceremony and tour.

Too bad Mike has that additude of being so lax, has no fire, and just doesn’t have much say. He kind of just does whatever and doesn’t really add or take away anything from a band. Kind of just fills in. I like Mike, but it kind of doesn’t matter who is on the bass. As long as EVH is there and sammy or dave is singing, Van Halen Rocks the world.

Most of you obviouly don’t know jack about VH. Michael Anthony is a huge part of the VH sound. His high harmony (as someone mentioned) will be greatly missed.

i know i’d rather see michael up there on stage with vh,but you still get eddie’s great solo +david lee’s great vocals . i hope wolfgang can keep up with alex, keepin’the show rockin’

This is what I call a gentleman, a rare find in the rock world.
My respects to Michael!

“I don’t see him making a lot of money with Sammy”…..Are you kidding me????

I’d be willing to bet that Sammy has more money than both VH brothers put together. He’s 60 years old, has had solo and group success, a wildly popular tequila brand (that he just sold and banked a fortune), business ventures from Chicago to Cabo, and has been touring FOREVER with a near cult-like following. Don’t sell Sammy short.

It’s nice to see a celebrity acting like a role model intstead of a whiney and complaining beeotch. Rock on, dude.

As great as it is to see Dave back, it just won’t be the same without Michael A. His bass lines and backing vocals were a huge part of the signature VH sound and who knows if teen-Wolfie can even begin to fill his shoes. Mike showed tons of class at the Hall of Fame induction and continues to be the grownup of the group.

I think it’s fairly obvious now that Eddie has been the giant d*ck for all these years. If he doesn’t deliver the goods this tour, I won’t hesitate to boo him from my $125 fifth row seat.

Wolfy is 16 for goddsakes…
Unless he’s a musical prodigy (probably not), he’s going to be out of league playing with VH. His Dad and Uncle were at least 5 years older when they first started seriously gigging in LA. Eddie should let his son be a kid, practice his muscial chops, and stay in school. As stated here a few times: Michael A. is a class-act guy.

Mike’s background vocals are extremely over-rated. Background vocals are not the most important part of a song. Eddie sang background with Mike anyway. Not having Mike on background may affect a song but won’t take away much in the grand scheme of things.

As a long time fan, who’s had his patience tried, friends ask me if I’ll go to this semi-reunion. I say: If the early reviews are good, I’ll probably go. If they’re bad, I’ll DEFINITELY go! If I hear they suck and Wolfie’s getting booed, I might shell out $1000 for front row!

Yeah. Mike is great and all and has a good background vocal range, but big deal. Van Halen is above all that. They can surely to stand to replace Mike. I do wish Mike was still in the lineup though.

Wolfies’ been trained by one of the best guitar sligers in the world…he may surprise us all. Mike is a straightup class act.

Doesn’t Michael A realize that he’s profusely bleeding from the head??!!!

Dear Van Halite, You’re exactly right. But I’m not surprised; he’s got VH blood coarsing through his veins. The naysayers completely dismiss this fact. Musical talent definitely comes from DNA, and that’s not a small thing, it’s extremely significant!
And Eddie said that Wolfie’s doing extremely well with the B VOX. Why should I doubt what this virtouso musician said?

As a Van Halen fan since the beginning, I’m pissed. Why Eddie couldn’t put his huge ego aside for once and do the right thing completely burns me up, and I definitely won’t go to the shows. I’ve seen VH since they were backing up Blue Oyster Cult and every year since…until Dave left and they went commercial…so there’s no reason to see an “almost” reunion tour. I’ll go see the Other One’s, tho…

GR, why would you not go to the shows? Bands make personnel changes all the time. There’s ovious tension between EVH and Mike A. There’s stuff going on behind the scenes that we’re not privy to. Everybody is quick to blame Eddie for Mike not being in the band. I just don’t believe that Mike is as innocent as everybody seems to think. MA had to have done SOMETHING to piss Ed off. I’m not blaming Mike for all of this, I’m just saying that I can’t see how MA didn’t have at least something to do with him not being with VH on this tour.

Sucks that Mike won’t be there, but what a true stud for going ultra high class and not slinging the mud. Maybe one day we can get a true reunion. Maybe it is kind of like the Pink Floyd/Roger Waters shows of years past where at least we got to see two cool shows even though it was not a true Pink Floyd show and this this will not be a true Van Halen show, but we do get our two different camps of shows.

GarageRock, VH went commercial “after” Dave left? Are you kidding? I guess you never heard “Pretty Woman,” “Dancing in the Street,” “Jump” and “I’ll Wait,” all of which were sung by….David Lee Roth!
Gimme “5150,” “OU812″ and “FUCK” anyday.

Best of luck to Mike and Sammy on tour. It’s fine if Ed wants to play with son – do a project or something… the band VAN HALEN is Eddie, Alex, Dave, and Mike… at least until the brothers can’t stand Dave anymore and they break up again. Any bets on weather they finish the entire tour???

bukowski, are u serious? yeah, Mike DID SOMETHING… he got tired of sitting around for years waiting for VH to do something. So he went to play with Sammy, produced a hot sauce line, etc… Mike is a class act. Don’t get me wrong, I love EVH and glad for the tour, but just watch the press conference and you can see Ed is not feeling/being too pleasant these days.

Man, I wish I’d watched the press conference before I shelled out for tickets. Dave sounded like an obnixious carnival barker, Eddie was slurring and seemed miserable, and Wolf – somebody tell the roadies to hide the twinkies. It will be a great show if this tour is everything Dave is hyping it to be but all signs point to trainwreck at the moment. Considering that Eddie has managed to alienate every VH member who isn’t a relative at some point, I hope Ticketmaster is cool about giving refunds for cancelled shows.

True about Mike. He must have done something to piss off ed. Ed looked great at the press last week. Appeared very excited about everything.

God come on — you know? Who cares about diamond Dave and the Van Halens. Obviously they have become snobs and could care less about the fans and their formers bandmates and friends. Dave still has leed singers disease and it wont last long. I already saw the best shows this year Heaven and Hell and Rush–everything else pales in consideration. Looking forward to the Sammy tour comming up he ALWAYS puts on a good show so down to earth. My prediction of course is the lambs will still buy tickets and sell out the tour just like the police farce LAME LAME LAME and on my permanent lame list

When are they going to canonize Michael Anthony for sainthood? Give me a fuckin’ break!

Mike is the man. I wish the brothers and DLR had that much class

I just heard about this tour. Psyched, but CANNOT BELIEVE the MA snub. Mike is a terrible bassist, but his vocals helped define the unique sound of the band. This sucks…. and EVH is screwing the fans.

its great daves back it will be weird without mike.

Why not have Van Halen tour with Van Hagar as the opening act. They can call it the Best of Both Worlds tour. (They had the title before she had it.)

Why not have Van Halen tour with Van Hagar as the opening act. They can call it the Best of Both Worlds tour. (They had the title before she had it.)

We love you Mike… at least someone in this whole clusterfuck has a bit of honor.

Hey lets be happy this is happening! Its a start! Now we all know that you never buy a car the first year it comes out right?..So im sure this will lead to better things!I just pray they make all there dates. Im in miami and dont get to see them….Thats what really sucks

No wonder Eddie can’t stand being around Sammy or Michael. Between their love of tequila and Jack Daniels, he probably blames his alcoholism on them, lol.

David Lee Roth=great vocals?!?! COME ON!! Have you ever listened to any of the old VH shows on youtube? Roth screamed over everything instead of sang, and forgot the words half the time. It’s pretty obvious to me now that there must have been some pretty major doctoring of Roth’s studio vocals. I’ve yet to hear a live clip of Dave on a live VH show where he sounds remotely like the record.
I’ll take Sammy’s band with Mike live any day over the current VH conglomeration.

After all these years, Egos still are punishing the true VH Fan. It will never be a reunion tour without MA. Eddie, you have outshined Diamond Dave and became Rock -n-Rolls BIGGEST A**HOLE

After all these years, Egos still are punishing the true VH Fan. It will never be a reunion tour without MA. Eddie, you have outshined Diamond Dave and became Rock -n-Rolls BIGGEST A**HOLE

After all these years, Egos still are punishing the true VH Fan. It will never be a reunion tour without MA. Eddie, you have outshined Diamond Dave and became Rock -n-Rolls BIGGEST A**HOLE

Wow. Big ups to you Mike. I’ve mad respect for the way you’ve handled all this. After all is said and done, you come out winning.

What goes around, comes around. Let there be a new in all that we do, or it would not be worth the effort to succeed in what we do or what we have done.
Share the glory and be happy!!

I still can’t believe Ed sobered up long enough to do a press conference.

I can’t believe people are saying Michael A. Is a bad bass player. Must be people that haven’t seen him play with anyone but VH. I even remember an interview I read with Eddie saying he usually told Michael what to play because Eddie wanted to be a rock n roll band and Michael tended to have prog rock tendencies. When Michael is playing with other people, he’s fricking AMAZING! I just think that Eddie needed to dumb Michael down so that Alex could keep up with him. Alex is one of the sloppiest/crappy drummers I’ve ever heard! God Hot for teacher just makes me cringe. If you think Michael is a bad bass player, you can blame Eddie for that because he’s basically doing Eddie Van Halen bass lines. I love Van Halen, don’t get me wrong…but if there’s a weak link in their musicianship, it ain’t Michael. It’s Alex.

~Paul

Ed is taking Wolfie for one reason, to put himself in the spotlight. I saw the practice videos, Wolfie is a decent musician, decent back up vocalist, but zero stage presence. His body language while jamming is that of a guy standing in line to buy a Big Mac, not a seasoned entertainer out to make sure the audience has a good time.

The shows will be decent, the sound will be great, but Mikes stage presence will be sorely missed.

Hey bukowski!!
right on the money dude! MA wants everyone to see he’s the good guy and EVH the bad one. Let’s remind these naysayers that in an interview MA did after the 1996 aborted reunion, MA said he did not want to play with DLR ever!! Plus durning the DLR/SH 2002 tour MA had a chance to patch things up with DLR yet ignored him and wanted to jam with his buudy SH. What! MA not even a “How ya been Dave, since to see ya Dave?” You want to know about class and respect, at least DLR paid respects to EVH and AVH when both their father and mother died. Now that’s class!!! But lets still get the “DLR the arsehole” theme still going for all you SH wankers. Truth hurts?

HOWIE HUBBERMAN GOT ME IN AT STAPLES CENTER TO SEE MY FAVORITE ALL-TIME BAND REHEARSE ! THERE I WAS WITH HOWIE H. ANIMAL AND MAYBE 80 OTHER PEOPLE WATCHING HISTORY BEING MADE !! AND WOLFGANG(ALTHOUGH A LITTLE OVER WEIGHT) WAS INCREDIBLY ENERGETIC AND ADDS TO THE SCENE !! THANKS HOWIE AND ANIMAL !! YOU MADE MY DREAM COME TRUE !! I OWE YOU !! HAMMY

Mikey’s stage presence? Yeah he might have stage presence, but lets face it Dave and Eddie’s stage presence is classic VH!! Plus I don’t think VH would want a clone of MA. They would be the first to acknowledge MA part in the VH histroy. They would much prefer Wolfgang become his own in the new VH. VH do CARE about their fans!! Hell! maybe Wolfgang can write a song!! Exciting times ahead. We’re only 24 hours away from Rock n Roll history, the toast master salutes you all!!! VH ROCKS!!!!!!!!!

Hey old vh fan!
John Paul Jones and John Entwistle never had any stage presence. Lets not forget Wolfgang is 16 years old, first tour, still in school, son of the greatest guitarist ever, playing along side the greatest frontman in rock n roll history and has uncle Alex’s solid rock foundations to carve his own name!! What were you doing when you were 16 years old?

Mike=conflict of interest.You are in van halen or not in van halen.Sammy or Eddie….his choice.He chose Sammy.Now he has to sleep in the bed he made.Play or be played.

get a clue,Van Halen will survive just fine on this tour.. I saw the rehearsal at Staples,Howie Hubberman got me two passes,with my buddy Hammy..we saw history being remade,, Wolfgang will do just fine,And Eddie Van Halen,, still incredible,,and sober !! HL

meanwhile…enjoy the very fine album: “Van Halen Live:Right Here, Right Now”. Vintage 1993 Van/Hagar recorded in Fresno on the “For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge” world tour.

Michael,

They can’t go out there without you and real fans NOT notice. I saw the band several times from 80 to 83, and they won’t get a dime from me without you in the band.

You are a classy guy, and they can’t take that away from you.

Eddie did not want Mike back in the band as early as 1996

Real fans should be pissed. We waited how many years for a VH reunion? Eddie and Dave with their 1st grade tiff along with their ego problems have made a tour possible without a main contributor from the begining. Fine if you want your son to come out and play on a song or two, but not haing MA on the tour makes you realize how immature Eddie is. I played in many bands, and everyone is a contributor, not just the front man and guitarist. Get Mike on the second leg of the tour and lets really call it a reunion.

I’m really disappointed to see the little chuck in a video and will Not go see the show. I can’t believe they did this to Michael. : (

I’m really disappointed to see the little chunk in a video and will Not go see the show. I can’t believe they did this to Michael. : (