Video footage has surfaced of Extreme guitarist Nuno Bettencourt guesting at the 2025 Monsters of Rock Cruise with Nerd Halen, a tribute band who look like what might have become of Weezer if the Blue album had failed to sell.
Standing out as the only man on stage without glasses, Nuno appeared relaxed as he tore through some of Van Halen’s finest licks.
Joining Nuno were Extreme bassist Pat Badger, who replicated Michael Anthony’s famous backing vocals, and regular Nerd Halen guitarist Caleb Rapoport. Bowing down in a “we’re not worthy” gesture during the guitar solo, Rapoport looked blown away by what he was witnessing.
It’s not the first time we’ve seen Nuno rip through Hot for Teacher. He fired off a lot of it on a Stratocaster during his 2023 Rick Beato interview. He also took an impromptu turn with another VH tribute, the Atomic Punks, back at the 2015 Monsters of Rock Cruise. Unlike those earlier versions, however, it appeared that Nuno had fully learned the song for this performance.
Bettencourt delivered many of Edward Van Halen’s signature licks note-for-note, and made the intimidating intro tapping section look easy. There were only a couple of moments, like the sequence of ascending notes halfway through the solo, where he appeared to be winging it.
Nuno even sounded like Eddie, with less of his signature palm-muted percussiveness and a fluidity reminiscent of Van Halen himself. Playing Eddie’s rapid pull-offs to the open B string, Nuno was a ringer for EVH.
It was a rare opportunity to see Nuno without his trademark Washburn N4. Instead, Bettencourt borrowed an EVH Bumblebee striped replica from Caleb Rapoport.
EVH nerds will notice that this is not a typical EVH Striped Series. The partial pickguard, visible pickup routing, and white ‘tone’ knob all point to this being a refinished EVH Frankie or Frankenstein Relic. Playing it on Instagram, Caleb refers to it as his “Bumblestein” build.
Nuno is known to be a fan of the bumblebee color scheme, and he owns a custom N4 with a replica finish. “That was my favorite Eddie guitar ever,” Nuno has stated. “It was always the most magical one.”
Few were as blown away by Nuno’s performance as Caleb Rapoport, who posted to Instagram: “The Great One played my guitar through my rig with my band last night and I'm still not able to come to terms with it.
“Thank you @nunobettencourtofficial for the thrill of hearing you play Hot For Teacher with The Mighty @nerdhalen. Unforgettable,” he continued.
Since getting his bumblebee N4, Nuno has been covering Van Halen on stage with Extreme, tackling the likes of Mean Street and Ain’t Talkin’ ’Bout Love.
Meanwhile, Alex Van Halen has stirred controversy by suggesting that he could use AI to complete Eddie’s unfinished final recordings.
