Eddie Van Halen (finally) Going to Rehab

Link to Article: Eddie going to rehab.

"I would like Van Halen fans to know how much I truly appreciate each and every one of you. Without you there is no Van Halen.

I have always and will always feel a responsibility to give you my best. At the moment I do not feel that I can give you my best. That’s why I have decided to enter a rehabilitation facility to work on myself, so that in the future I can deliver the 110% that I feel I owe you and want to give you.

Some of the issues surrounding the 2007 Van Halen tour are within my ability to change and some are not. As far as my rehab is concerned, it is within my ability to change and change for the better. I want you to know that is exactly what I’m doing, so that I may continue to give you the very best I am capable of.

I look forward to seeing you in the future better than ever and I thank you with all my heart.

Love,
Ed"

This is by far the best news I have read in a long time. As a lifelong Van Halen fan, and one that was ready to give up on them ever getting their shit together, I am just flat out giddy by this news. Yeah I know it is a strange thing to be happy about, but let's face it, Eddie has needed this for a long time. He came out blitzed every night on the 2004 tour, i've never seen him like that, so drunk he could barely play the songs, missing notes all over the place, his "solo" was a mess, he'd get pissy and yell at the audience.. I mean, this wasn't Nirvana on stage, it's EVH, a man who influenced a generation of musicians with a bottle in one hand and a guitar in the other, so when drinking gets to a point where a guy like that can no longer play, you know there's a serious problem. I'm really looking forward now to his getting out, and hopefully, in a better state of mind. Screw the Hall of Fame thing next week, if he can get himself healthy again, i'll be first in line at the next show.*

(* as long as Mike is back in the band. ;-)