Bon Jovi Van Halen Jam?
 

Can somebody confirm if Eddie Van Halen jammed with Bon Jovi on the These Days tour, when Van Halen were special guests and were touring for there Balance album?

I don't think Eddie ever came on stage with Bon Jovi, but Jon and Richie joined Van Halen on stage at Don Valley Stadium in Sheffield for a cover of Led Zep's Rock & Roll.

The whole reason Van Halen was there was because of Edward's friendship with Jon, at least if you listen to the other members of the band. They were all against doing that tour, but Eddie pulled rank because he was very good friends with Jon. I have always wondered if that friendship endured because Jon didn't mention it when Van Halen passed away.

Cool!! Didn't know they were friendly, I know Jon praised Eddie constantly and called him THE innovator of modern rock guitar. Never knew they jammed together either! Was Hagar still with them on that tour or was Cherone already the singer??

Hagar. Cherone's stint wasn't until three years-ish after I believe.

I am going a lot from memory, but the situation around that tour (from Van Halen's perspective) was strange.

Firstly, the band was in the midst of breaking up (1996). However, Balance had been received mostly well. Many make the mistake of thinking Van Halen took the Bon Jovi gig simple because they couldn't tour in Europe on their own because they didn't do the touring work in the previous 15 years.

That is partly untrue. In 1993, the band toured European arenas behind a live album (Right Here, Right Now). So, they were able to do around 20 dates in 5,000 - 12,000 seat venues just on a live record. In other words, the band was a relative draw in Europe.

Having said that, Van Halen was still seen locked into the niche of hard rock and never crossed over in Europe as Bon Jovi did. That makes the decision to open for Bon Jovi even more interesting. The band and management must have known that Bon Jovi's audience was not necessarily theirs.

There are plenty of stories - especially about Wembley 95 - regarding the indifference shown by Bon Jovi's audience towards Van Halen. So, if the idea was to open for Bon Jovi to reach larger audiences than in arenas, the idea was a failure.

It is also worth noting that the rest of Van Halen - aside from EVH - lambasted opening for Bon Jovi before, during, and after the tour. Sammy Hagar was openly against it, correctly arguing Van Halen was big enough to tour on their own.

Alex Van Halen was openly critical of Jon Bon Jovi in interviews during the tour. Michael Anthony would later claim Jon treated Van Halen poorly - such as forcing them to watch Bon Jovi play.

While it is not well discussed, Van Halen fans and indeed the band at the time put the tour squarely on Eddie Van Halen's friendship with Jon. I think Alex said at the time about it, and Sammy too. However, if this is true it is amongst the least documented good friendships in rock. Still, the consensus amongst VH fans is the tour happened because Jon and Eddie were friends.

It is also worth adding that I think Eddie was also later critical of the way the band was treated by Bon Jovi on that tour.

Again, Van Halen was a completely dysfunctional organisation by then and remained so for the next 15 years (at least). Eddie certainly was no fun to be around for the year prior to and after Sammy Hagar left, and seemingly for many years after.

I would be quicker to judge Van Halen's behaviour/situation than Bon Jovi's for the failure of that partnership. Let's be honest, by then Bon Jovi was a well-oiled machine and a massive global band. Van Halen tipping up in poor shape and generally being shit (they were not great live at that time) might have caused tension and pushback from Jon and the Bon Jovi camp.

You see Van Halen at that time and they were a shambles. The Balance is a solid record that fits ok into the mid-1990s, but on stage, they were a mess. Eddie is barely able to move, Alex is in a neck brace, and the band is generally just looking scruffy.

That was a tour none of them wanted or needed at that time.

Thanks, man. Always love those background-stories!

But that's the whole point of a support slot - you are there to play to someone else's audience and (hopefully) as a result win over some of their fans in the process. It's actually a great management decision to play to 80,000 people every night instead of 5-15,000 that they would have been playing on their own. The fact that VH weren't able to win over the Bon Jovi audience is on them. It sounds as it they went into this tour negatively. If they'd have gone out there every night prepared to kick some ass it might have been a different story entirely...

cool background stories...
i guess BJ got a lot of disrespect from some of their peers because of their pop image and popularity. For their longevity its surprising how few live jams they have.. i guess from a point they didnt care anymore..
Vh could should give credit to Bj for some really nice rock songs..