Watch Pete Thorn shred Van Halen classics with Mitch Malloy's VH Experience
The performances were part of an Eddie Van Halen tribute concert in Destin, Florida put together by Malloy
On October 9, session and YouTube guitar ace Pete Thorn took the stage at Mattie Kelly Arts Village in Destin, Florida with briefly-tenured Van Halen singer Mitch Malloy and his VH Experience band for a high-energy set of Van Halen classics.
The concert – held as a celebration of the late Eddie Van Halen's life and work – was headlined by Malloy and Thorn's band, which was rounded out by Phil X bassist Daniel Spriewald and session drummer Wayne Killius.
You can watch the all-star group take on a couple of 1984 mega-hits above (Panama) and below (Hot for Teacher).
Malloy – who currently serves as the frontman of Great White – served very briefly as the lead singer of Van Halen in 1996, after the departure of Sammy Hagar, and before the subsequent tenure of singer Gary Cherone.
Though Malloy auditioned for and rehearsed with Van Halen, he never performed publicly with the group, backing out after the band's highly public, tumultuous reunion with David Lee Roth at that year's MTV Video Music Awards.
Thorn – who rocked an EVH Frankenstein replica electric guitar for the performance – is quite the Van Halen aficionado himself, having recently put 23 pickups through their paces on his YouTube channel in a bid to find the most Eddie Van Halen-esque set.
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Jackson is an Associate Editor at GuitarWorld.com. He’s been writing and editing stories about new gear, technique and guitar-driven music both old and new since 2014, and has also written extensively on the same topics for Guitar Player. Elsewhere, his album reviews and essays have appeared in Louder and Unrecorded. Though open to music of all kinds, his greatest love has always been indie, and everything that falls under its massive umbrella. To that end, you can find him on Twitter crowing about whatever great new guitar band you need to drop everything to hear right now.
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