Foo Fighters and Wolfgang Van Halen Prank Fans on “Eruption”

Foo Fighters enlisted Wolfgang Van Halen to play a prank on fans during their headlining set Saturday night (May 11th) at the Welcome to Rockville festival in Daytona Beach, Florida.

After playing a medley of Beastie Boys’ “Sabotage,” “Ramones’ “Blitzkrieg Bop,” and Nine Inch Nails’ “March of the Pigs,” frontman Dave Grohl complained to the crowd, “You know who never gets a fuckin’ solo? Me, goddammit, I never get a fuckin’ solo! So, since this is the last fuckin’ night of [our run of spring US dates], I’m gonna do a fuckin’ solo. How about that? … You may think, ‘That guy can’t play a fuckin’ solo.’ You wanna see me do a guitar solo right now?”

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Grohl then appeared to play the classic Van Halen instrumental song “Eruption” like a champ, but things got weird when the song kept going after the Foo Fighters leader raised both arms in the air. It was at that point, the big screens revealed that it was actually Wolfgang playing on the sidelines.

“Dude, I told you to keep that cool, Wolfie! What the fuck you doin’ right now?” exclaimed Grohl, before adding, “Everybody, give it up for Wolfgang Van Halen.”

Wolfgang, who had performed a set with his band Mammoth WVH earlier in the day, then proceeded to play the guitar solo from Van Halen’s “Hot for Teacher,” with Grohl insisting, “That part was not planned.”

Then, as the Foos started to play “My Hero,” Grohl told the crowd, “Since Wolfie fuckin’ took all that time to pull off that joke with us, I’m gonna dedicate this one to him. Let’s sing this one for him, and let’s sing this one for his fuckin’ dad [the late Eddie Van Halen], too.”

The Welcome to Rockville show wrapped up Foo Fighters’ brief spring outing, but the band will be back on the road for a UK/European outing in June and early July, followed by a month-long US stadium tour beginning July 17th at City Field in Queens, New York. Pick up tickets to the Foos upcoming shows here.

Wolfgang, meanwhile, recently launched a headlining US spring Mammoth WVH tour, which will be followed by gigs supporting the Foos, Metallica, and Creed. Tickets to Mammoth WVH’s tour dates are available here.

Watch Foo Fighters and Wolfgang Van Halen pull one over on the Welcome to Rockville crowd in the clips below.

Pulled a prank on the @RockvilleFest crowd with Dave and the Foos last night. Good times. Stoked to rock some shows with them this summer! 🙌

📸: @pb93 pic.twitter.com/5RxN7s3zm4

— Wolf Van Halen (@WolfVanHalen) May 12, 2024