Living His Life Like There’s No Tomorrow: Mammoth AKA Wolfgang Van Halen Lets The Fur Fly At His Hard Rock Casino Debut, Ottawa, Canada, March 7, 2026

Running!
Cab rides!
Finger tapping!
And missing both the two opening acts and a possible case of pneumonia!

It was a gamble when attempting to include an 8k jaunt with the OH3 Hobo Hash before heading off to another celebration at the end of the world and getting caught in a sudden rainstorm. And, so, perhaps it was fitting that the debut of MAMMOTH’s first headlining performance in Ottawa would take place at the Hard Rock Casino. It was a venue that certainly had the room for hosting a near-sell out gig, having hosted a variety of acts ranging from NAZARETH to LOVERBOY to YUNGBLUD. It even hosts a variety of music memorabilia varying from amps and instruments donated by members of RUSH and LOVERBOY to stage outfits that Britney Spears and Jennifer Lopez had been so generous in donating to the esteemed music institution. Plus, on the casino end, the venue also boasts as much of a large non-smoking area as it does a vast collection of slot machines and online games for the health-conscious player wishing to avoid catching emphysema while hedging their bets.

Not bad for a recently revamped former raceway. Take note, Sin City.

And speaking of notes, MAMMOTH had plenty of ‘em to deal out at their Ottawa debut.

With a panoramic-sized screen in the background displaying all sorts of mesmerizing and animated images ranging from a skeleton watching TV in the middle of the desert to a Tron/Back To The Future hybrid-inspired 80’s themed car chase to the various stages of artsy impressions of the band’s logo (“all done by humans and none of that AI shit”), MAMMOTH opened their set with “One Of A Kind”. The quintet, featuring guitarists Frank Sidoris and Jonathan Jourdan, bassist Ronnie Ficarro and drummer Garrett Whitlock and fronted by one Wolfgang Van Halen (whose last name clearly checks out), are more of the modern and modest alternative hard rock persuasion in their musical delivery to much of the surprise and occasional confusion of some of the gathering of audience members proudly displaying their concert T-shirts from the Fair Warning ’81 tour, but with EVH no longer with us and DAVID LEE ROTH having recently announced that he was throwing in the shoes (or out), Wolfgang, unbothered by the foot fetish of the old school, has long since brought in his own individual collection of footwear. And what was first a touching tribute ballad about the loss of a loved one that appeared to be a one-off single has since given way to three studio albums and several high-profile opening slots for the likes of the SCORPIONS and METALLICA among other bands who also shared the stage with VH many years prior. It takes a special kind of colossal beast to be able to conquer the big stage and Wolfgang answered the call. Calm, collected and pretty much the opposite of Diamond Dave when I’d seen him forget half the words to “Romeo Delight” 14 years earlier, Wolfgang worked the stage to his advantage and made it entertaining for all of the right reasons. A couple of the numbers did have a bit too much of a familiar-sounding similarity to them, but MAMMOTH were overall bristling with spontaneity when it came to the more recognizable numbers like “Another Celebration At The End Of The World”, “The Spell”, “Epiphany”, “I Really Wanna”, “Don’t Back Down” and the emotionally-tinged “Distance”, whose performance flanked by grainy home video footage of a young Wolfgang celebrating his childhood with one Eddie Van Halen – a guitar deity to both you and me, but to Wolfgang, he’s best known as Dad. And if there was one other thing that EVH truly excelled at in life, it was in encouraging his son to create and navigate a separate identity and sound. On occasion, Wolfgang does give in to temptation and gives his own finger-tapping skills a go, but otherwise, he’ll leave a high-flying solo up to either Frank or Jonathan to try out – and their playing works exactly for the songs they’ve crafted.

“Where did you all come from?” might not immediately catch on as quickly as “Look at all the people here tonight!” but when you’re the frontperson and the face of a band like MAMMOTH who also happens to be the son of a legendary virtuoso, it’s probably the best-suited battle cry for that same fledgling band carrying a trunk full of three studio albums and a big name to aspire to – and that gamble has paid off significantly. Hopefully their next Ottawa stop doesn’t require a commute through an airport to attend their concert.

Setlist:

“One Of A Kind”
“Another Celebration At The End Of The World”
“The Spell”
“Like A Pastime”
“Optimist”
“Stone”
“Happy”
“Mammoth”
“Resolve”
“Distance”
“Something New”
“Epiphany”
“Take A Bow”/”Right In Two” (TOOL cover)
“I Really Wanna”

Encore:

“Don’t Back Down”
“The End”

https://mammoth.band/
https://www.facebook.com/MammothWVH
https://www.instagram.com/mammothwvh/
https://x.com/MammothWVH

And belated apologies to the openers JAMES AND THE COLD GUN and 10 YEARS, whose loud and proud yet modern New Wave KATE BUSH-inspired numbers/band name and dark moody slabs of alternative metal heaviness respectively, I’m told, were as much of a highlight as the headlining act itself. Wish I’d have been there to see it myself, but hopefully the several hundred other concertgoers in my absence enjoyed your performance as well.

https://jamesandthecoldgun.com/
https://www.10yearsmusic.com/