Eddie Van Halen + Michael Jackson, live - one time only!

[slash-ed]

Hardcore EVH fans like Hot Grits have probably seen this already... or maybe not? Either way, cool footage of EVH and MJ performing Beat It onstage back in 1984, never to be repeated.

I blogged a little about it (the video is attached to the post), together with an excerpt of a recent CNN interview with Eddie deconstructing his approach to doing that iconic, kick-ass solo:

http://sixstringsamurai.co.nz/2012/12/0 ... time-ever/

[Some Bozo]

If they had repeated that a few years later, Eddie would only be the second whitest guy on stage

[rickenbackerkid]

No wonder they only performed together live only once - Eddie fluffed his own solo and spend the rest of the song making whammy bar noises. Poor musicianship if you ask me.

[Danger Mouse]

No wonder they only performed together live only once - Eddie fluffed his own solo and spend the rest of the song making whammy bar noises. Poor musicianship if you ask me.

I've never liked that solo... but hats off to EVH for doing it even worse live.

[rickenbackerkid]

I think it's a GREAT solo, I'd love to learn it. But, EVH made a hash of it there.

[Hot_Grits]

Not new news to me, unsurprisingly. What is relatively new to VHND this week is the video footage, which is different and better to what has been out there before.

It's not Ed's finest moment onstage as far as the extra twiddling mid-song and the clams. Luckily he can still sleep at night, even if he requires a dog on his pillow.



My favorite beat-it solo video is this one: Greg Howe subbed for Batten for a leg of an MJ tour. That's what got him started on all the sideman gigs. Anyways, it's my fave because he had to do it wearing Jennifer's bleached mohawk wig. Nice!

Unfortunately I don't have the ability to serve up the link to the youtube page to SSS for convenient multi-click access and pop-up box fun, so I'll have to settle for directly embedding the video:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WJsqEzZfbw[/youtube]

[willow13]

Greg Howe subbed for Batten for a leg of an MJ tour. That's what got him started on all the sideman gigs. Anyways, it's my fave because he had to do it wearing Jennifer's bleached mohawk wig. Nice!

I didn't read all your post before watching the vid so thought it was jennifer....then saw it was a black dude and though why the hell is he wearing the wig

[slash-ed]

Unfortunately I don't have the ability to serve up the link to the youtube page to SSS for convenient multi-click access and pop-up box fun, so I'll have to settle for directly embedding the video:

Hah, your loss - I hear that's the way of the future