More than a decade after Van Halen‘s last performance and six years after the death of guitarist Eddie Van Halen, the band’s David Lee Roth and Alex Van Halen are reuniting … improbably for a TED Talk. The event, part of TEDxFargo, will be moderated by painter Robert Vargas at Fargo, North Dakota’s fittingly named Brewhalla on Thursday. Originally, the event was to feature only Vargas and Van Halen, but Roth seems to have been made available after canceling a run of tour dates. The last time the two were in public together was 2015.
Tickets are available for those who want to attend it live (Vargas notes, however, the event will be “remote live, with the three of us in the same room”), but don’t feel like you’re missing out. “The filming is taking place this week and will be posted on YouTube/TedxFargo platforms in a few weeks for the public to view for all time,” the official announcement on Instagram promises.
So what will they be talking about? Nobody’s saying, but it’s safe to assume they ain’t talkin’ ’bout love and they ain’t talkin’ ’bout Sammy Hagar since Alex Van Halen ended the narrative of his Brothers memoir before Hagar joined and wouldn’t even say the singer’s name during a 2024 Rolling Stone interview. “The heart and the soul and the creativity and the magic was Dave, Ed, Mike [Anthony], and me,” he said at the time. Also, the famously motormouthed Roth will have plenty of other subjects to discuss. Odds are especially good that Roth will link the TED Talk to a Ted Templeman joke and that Roth will do most of the talking. He’ll probably talk about another Ted, Teddy Swims, too.
Roth recently spoke with Rolling Stone when he made a surprise appearance to sing “Jump” with Teddy Swims at Coachella. In the interview, he reflected on Van Halen’s oeuvre. “Our stuff is like West Side Story,” he said. “You can play it on a ukulele. You can play it in an orchestra. You can play it alone on a harmonica. And each variegated rendition reveals a different kind of an emotional content to it.” On Thursday, Alex Van Halen will have the chance to agree or disagree.
