Wolfgang Van Halen made an unexpected appearance during the Foo Fighters’ headlining set at Welcome to Rockville on May 11, performing parts of the classic Van Halen tunes “Eruption” and “Hot for Teacher.”
The surprise came roughly halfway through the Foos’ set, when Dave Grohl typically cedes the spotlight to his bandmates for a medley of cover songs and extended solos. On this occasion, Grohl complained about the usual routine.
“You know who never gets a fucking solo? Me. I never get to fucking solo,” the frontman bemoaned. “Alright, ready motherfuckers? Here we go!” Grohl then declared as he crouched and seemingly began tearing into Eddie Van Halen’s famous “Eruption” instrumental.
READ MORE: Top 10 Eddie Van Halen Guitar Solos
The Foo Fighters’ singer appeared to be crushing the solo, until he raised both arms and revealed he wasn’t the one playing. The camera then cut to Wolfgang standing backstage, performing his father’s famous tune.
“Dude, I told you to keep that cool. Wolfie, what the fuck you doing right now?” Grohl joked. “Everybody, give it up for Wolfgang Van Halen.”
Wolfgang then rocked through a portion of “Hot For Teacher,” accompanied by Foo Fighters drummer Josh Freese.
READ MORE: Ranking Van Halen’s 10 Cover Songs
“Don’t even get us started on that Van Halen shit,” Grohl said through laughter. “We’ll play that shit all fuckin’ night long.”
Foo Fighters then got back to their own material, dedicating “My Hero” to Wolfgang and Eddie. Watch footage of the performance below.
Wolfgang Van Halen’s Friendship With Dave Grohl
Foo Fighters and Wolfgang have developed a friendship in recent years. Notably, the Mammoth WVH frontman performed Van Halen classics at both of the Taylor Hawkins tribute concerts in 2022.
“I had a lot of conversations with Dave. What a kind sweetheart of a man he is. … Initially, he was like, ‘What do you think? Would you be comfortable doing this?’ Initially, I didn’t wanna disappoint Dave Grohl. And I was like, ‘Sure,’” Wolfgang recalled shortly afterwards, noting his trepidation to perform Van Halen material. “It was really exciting. It was really special, man. I’m super happy and proud with how everything came to be.”
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