For the first time in more than a decade, Alex Van Halen and David Lee Roth are back on stage together — and now we can finally watch it.
The complete TEDxFargo conversation featuring Alex, Roth and acclaimed artist Robert Vargas has been released online. The 15-minute talk, titled “Beyond Boundaries: How Human Experience Informs Art and Music,” was filmed July 30 at TEDxFargo’s 2026 “CHARGE” event in Fargo, North Dakota.
And yes, there’s plenty of Van Halen talk.
The conversation focuses on creativity and the different experiences that shape an artist’s work, but Alex and Dave also offer some fascinating insight into the creative chemistry — and occasional chaos — behind Van Halen.
Early in the conversation, Alex sums up his philosophy on creating art:
“I think that the most important thing in art is that you do your homework and you learn the basics and then you break all the rules.”
Roth takes that idea a little further, saying an artist needs to experience life before having something worth writing about.
“You got to go get your heart broken. Then you got to get it broken in a foreign language. And then you have to run away and join the Foreign Legion. Now you got a song.”
Later, the conversation turns directly to Eddie Van Halen. Alex talks about the almost instinctive musical connection he had with his brother.
“When Ed played, that’s what it did for me. We never talked about how or what we were going to do. He just played.”
Dave then jokes that these are some of the first times he and Alex have publicly discussed what went on “behind the kitchen” during their years together. He describes the Van Halen everyone saw out front as the restaurant, while behind the scenes, “mom screams, dad yells.”
And, naturally, Roth brings up his famously combustible relationship with Alex.
“Alex and I are famous for that. Oh my God. There should be a star in front of three different clubs in Hollywood where we practiced Brazilian jiu-jitsu over the set list.”
Alex follows the joke with a more serious explanation of why those clashes ultimately worked.
“But that was exactly what made it happen. There was no one predominant style of creativity that took over.”
Alex says that everyone in the band learned to share the creative process, pointing out that Eddie and he might come up with something that Roth would later add to and make better.
“There was stuff that Ed and I did that Dave later on added to and embellished, and it became better than it was before.”
Later, Alex talks about how broad Van Halen’s musical influences really were. He recalls growing up next door to jazz saxophonist Joe Henderson and says Henderson’s ability to make music sound happy and sad at the same time influenced Van Halen’s vocal harmonies.
Roth even demonstrates the difference for the audience, contrasting what he calls a happy-sounding “McCartney note” with the more melancholy “Lennon note.”
“It’s in every Van Halen stack of harmony that we use,” Roth says. “So no matter what mood you’re in, we got it for you.”
Alex also offers one of the simplest explanations of his philosophy about music:
“Music doesn’t really know boundaries. It’s only how people perceive it that create boundaries. And if you put it in the right light or the right context, it can go anywhere.”
Asked what advice they would give a young creative person, Alex says:
“You have to learn everything and then unlearn it.”
He explains that artists can eventually free themselves from rules and restrictions — but only after they’ve actually learned the fundamentals.
Vargas closes with his own advice: “Be true to your work and your work will be true to you.”
The appearance was a significant one for Van Halen fans. Alex and Roth hadn’t appeared on stage together since Van Halen’s final concert at the Hollywood Bowl on October 4, 2015.
The talk ends with the TEDxFargo host telling Alex and Dave that he had visited Vargas’ mural at 5:30 that morning and heard “Jump” playing as Vargas worked. He then thanked Van Halen for its contribution as “one of the greatest bands in the history of our world.”
The audience responded by giving Alex, Dave and Vargas a standing ovation.
Watch the complete conversation below.