Eddie Van Halen’s guitar technician explains disaster ‘skips’

The 2007 incident when Eddie Van Halen performed Van Halen’s classic song “Jump” completely out of tune has become a famous story among fans.

The moment in Greensboro, NC, is one of the few occasions the legendary guitarist has been seen to really mess up on stage, and speculation has circulated for years that this was in fact a problem with the track from keyboard accompaniment played in the wrong tone.

One person who has always known the real story – Van Halen’s guitar technician Tom Weber – said he was silent about it because it was a “sore point” with his late boss. But in a recent podcast co-interview with Jeremy White and Mitch Lafon, Weber finally shared his memory of the moment.

“It had nothing to do with keyboards,” he says. “Ed loves making noise with the guitar; we all know… you’re likely to hear all the supernatural sound Ed can do with a guitar. … So at one point he picked up the guitar and literally stuck the neck head in the stage a few times. … My job is to be ready for him with another guitar, which I was.

Although he lifted the spare instrument above his head to indicate that it was available, Van Halen motioned for Weber to step away and seemed pleased with the tuning fit of whoever was he had. The technician said it was “passable” but not perfectly tuned, so bassist Wolfgang Van Halen adjusted his own instrument accordingly. “So they’re up to it – you’ve got the guitar and bass up to it,” the roadie noted.

You can watch the interview below.

It worked well for the closing songs of the main set. Usually the band would come off the stage before returning for the encore of “Jump,” but that night in Greensboro, the members remained on the stage, so Weber couldn’t trade Van Halen’s guitar as usually.

“So now you have Wolfgang on his bass and Ed with his guitar out of tune on a keyboard piece that’s right,” he says. “Ed didn’t have keyboards in his monitor mix, so he didn’t hear he was out of tune. So that’s where it all went.

He added that the guitarist was oblivious to what happened until several weeks later, when he was shown a video of the performance before another show.

“So I was called into the dressing room full of people, and he said, ‘You gave me a guitar out of tune.’ I said, ‘No, I didn’t.’ I said, ‘If you remember correctly you hit the head of the guitar on the stage a few times that night and then you didn’t go out of the stage to get the guitar at the end of the show for the reminder.

You can watch the incident below.

Van Halen claimed the doll’s turn “wouldn’t make a difference” to the setting and “proceeded to wedge it in the locker room floor,” Weber explained. “And in front of a room full of people, he comes back – and he’s totally out of tune.” I said, “Just say …”. And that’s the last time I heard of it.

In addition to losing fees from Van Halen’s “kitchen sink” tour which was abandoned due to the guitarist’s precarious health, Weber noted that he also lost a “record year” of revenue when the industry live music stopped. the coronavirus. He is now fighting to keep his house. You can help by donating any size to GoFundMe.