Alex Van Halen Knighted in the Netherlands as Old Tensions Resurface

On Tuesday, Alex Van Halen was appointed a Knight in the Order of the Netherlands Lion in Nijmegen, the city where he and his late brother Eddie spent much of their childhood. Mayor Hubert Bruls presented the honor at Radboud University’s Berchmanianum — a rare personal recognition for the Van Halen drummer.

The ceremony arrives during a congested stretch of Van Halen-related news. On July 30, Alex appeared alongside David Lee Roth at TEDxFargo, their first public appearance together since the band’s final show in 2015. The interview, conducted by artist Robert Vargas, followed a week of turbulence: Roth had just cancelled all remaining 2026 tour dates, reportedly due to low ticket sales, with only his Sturgis Motorcycle Rally appearance still on the books.

The coexistence of the two former bandmates felt significant. Roth’s spring cameo appearances with Teddy Swims at Coachella and Stagecoach put him back in front of large crowds, but the subsequent cancellations suggested a full return to the road was not holding. That same week, Sammy Hagar extended a public invitation for Roth to join his Las Vegas residency with bassist Michael Anthony — a gesture that, given the band’s internal history, reads as both conciliatory and provocative.

Alex Van Halen, however, has not softened his assessment. In a new interview with Roadie Crew, asked about Hagar’s memoir Red, he answered plainly: “In my opinion, Sammy Hagar is a complete idiot.” It’s the latest escalation after he told Billboard in 2024 that Hagar and Anthony’s tribute shows “weren’t doing the band justice.”

Amid the friction, Rhino has scheduled a reissue of A Different Kind Of Truth, the band’s 2012 album with Roth, for October 23.