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Wolfgang Van Halen decided to get into the April Fool’s spirit by Rick Rolling the audience at his band Mammoth‘s April 1st gig in Cincinnati, Ohio.
At one point in the show, the Mammoth frontman and onetime Van Halen bassist addressed the audience and hinted at playing a song by Van Halen, who included both his late father Eddie and his uncle Alex. Ultimately, Wolfgang and his band launched into a rock arrangement of Rick Astley’s 1987 hit “Never Gonna Give You Up.”
Wolfgang has insisted that he won’t play Van Halen songs with Mammoth, which has remained a vehicle for his personal creative output.
Still, the excitement for him to potentially play some of his beloved father’s iconic material was palpable in the air, which made it all the more hilarious when the band ripped into their arrangement of the heavily-memed pop song (accompanied by the song’s music video on the screen behind them). He then told the audience “April Fool’s,” but tricked them again by playing the Rick Astley song two more times.
Wolfgang, however, did make an exception when he performed a few Van Halen songs at a couple of tributes shows, including a September 2022 concert in Los Angeles.
Mammoth are about to hit the road supporting Bush on their spring North American tour. You can get tickets here.
English (US) · 