In a new interview with Andy Guitar conducted at last weekend's Download festival in the United Kingdom, Wolfgang Van Halen reflected on what it meant for him to perform his late father's songs at the Taylor Hawkins tribute concerts nearly four years ago.

The son of Eddie Van Halen played three VAN HALEN songs — "On Fire", "Hot For Teacher" and "Panama" — over the course of two concerts in September 2022 alongside Dave Grohl on bass, Josh Freese on drums and THE DARKNESS's Justin Hawkins on vocals.

Wolfgang said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Yeah, to me, it was like closing a book.

It was my way of being able to not only honor Taylor, but honor my dad by playing some of his material and just kind of keep out of the mess that is the… And so it was definitely a do-or-die thing for me." He continued: "I get anxiety normally when I'm doing nothing, but for that day, my uncle Patrick will tell you, I was very...

I was losing it that day.

'Cause to me, it was, 'If I don't do this right, if I don't serve this justice, then my life will be over.' [Laughs] [And] I ended up playing it pretty all right.

I still made mistakes, but it was just all live and in the heat of the moment.

But it was really special.

Being able to have Dave and Justin and Josh there supporting me, being able to play with three idols of mine supporting such an emotional and difficult thing for me to do was really special, and I don't think I could've done it without 'em… Yeah, that was a day of catharsis, for sure." Wolfgang previously spoke about the Taylor Hawkins tribute concerts in a March 2023 interview with Pablo of the Minneapolis, Minnesota radio station 93X.

He said at the time: "I'll never forget it.

At the same time, it went by so fast, I can't even remember it.

It was just all energy… It was really, really crazy.

It was one of the most special things I've ever had the opportunity to do." Asked if it was easy or hard for him to play VAN HALEN songs under those circumstances, Wolfgang said: "More difficult, just emotionally.

I don't think people realize how much I don't listen to VAN HALEN anymore.

It's a tough thing; it's a tough subject.

But it felt like the right thing to do in the moment.

Taylor would have been really, really stoked.

From the one time I met him — he came to a VAN HALEN show in 2012.

He was just the coolest, most friendly guy.

He left such a huge impression on me." As for how he ended up taking part in the Taylor Hawkins tribute concerts, Van Halen said: "Dave Grohl texted me and I thought it was… I didn't believe that it was him.

I had to hit up [FOO FIGHTERS guitarist] Chris Shiflett, 'cause I had just done his podcast.

I was, like, 'Hey, is somebody punking me or is this Dave?' He was, like, 'Yeah, that's Dave.

You should hit him back.' [Laughs]