So why was Van Halen a no-show at the Grammy Nominations Concert Live Tuesday night?
While the Recording Academy, to its credit, never uttered the words Van Halen, rumors had been flying that the band would announce its reunion on the show. In an October press release, the Academy touted that the TV show would “feature a special live announcement from a truly iconic group regarding their historic band reunion set to take place” at the Grammys.
After we all started guessing, the Academy later tweeted, “Does this hint make u wanna ‘Jump” and ‘Dance The Night Away?”” No ambiguity there.
The band, with original lead singer David Lee Roth, has signed a new deal with Interscope Records, following its departure from Warner Bros. after 35 years. The quartet is rumored to be finishing up a new album, the first full set with Roth since 1984.
So where were they? We asked The Recording Academy chairman Neil Portnow after the show. “What happened was very simple,” he says. “In the world of creativity, everything is fluid. In the process of discussions that we had been having with an expectation that perhaps we would be at a point tonight where the artist involved and we, moving forward, would be ready to announce [a reunion], they weren”t quite at that point. So it”s live television, we go on to the next act. It”s rock and roll and so on. That being said, we were genuine about the intention and we are genuine about the discussion.”
So what does this mean for planting the seed in our heads that Van Halen will perform on the Feb. 12 Grammy Awards? Portnow merely said, “We”ll see what happens.”
We”ll try to get more from Van Halen”s management on Wednesday.