Alex Van Halen Recalls Setting His Arm On Fire and Failing

A Fiery Mishap On Stage

Alex Van Halen once shared an unforgettable memory from a Van Halen concert when he accidentally set his arm on fire. However, his roadie, who had a fire extinguisher nearby, didn’t come to his rescue and help him out.

This incident is one of the reasons why both he and his late brother, Eddie Van Halen, weren’t fans of the classic movie This Is Spinal Tap as Alex revealed in his recent memoir Brothers as reported by LAist.

“For me, fire symbolizes the fleeting nature of things – only the present moment truly matters,” Van Halen then reflected, referring to his frequent stunt of playing drums while his drum kit was set ablaze.

“The flame appears, and in an instant, it’s just gone. It’s just like life. There was also a sense of danger, as we were handling it in such an unprofessional manner”

He added:

“My favorite memory of that routine was when we had almost perfected it. One night, during the performance, lighter fluid started dripping down my arm. Suddenly, I noticed my arm was on fire. My immediate thought was, ‘That’s probably not good.’
“I looked over at my tech, Greg, who supposedly had a fire extinguisher at the ready. He looked back at me, smiled, and gave me a thumbs up, saying, ‘Looks great, man!’ That’s something I’ll remember forever.”

When Fiction Feels Too Real

In another section of the book, Van Halen shared his reaction to the iconic 1984 “rockumentary” about the fictional band Spinal Tap. “It wasn’t funny to me at all,” he commented.

“Ed and I watched it together and thought, ‘That’s exactly what we’ve been through!’ It really captures how things unfold in reality. It’s quite surprising. The public has no real idea what goes on behind the scenes, And I’m definitely not going to spoil that illusion.
“But that movie—many parts of it were actually more realistic than they were exaggerated.”