That was just terrible.
I can’t think of any of Van Halen’s songs that would have a tuning other than E Flat, so I doubt this is the case, especially since Ed would be more than capable of playing a guitar in finger positions a step or two up or down.
What I was hearing was a series of high frequency noises that were obstructing the band’s playing. I didn’t hear a pitch difference in the music.
Are you saying the guitar and keyboard part have no pitch difference? Because they’re clearly WAY off. If you have any doubt, check the part where the keys drop out for the guitar solo. When the guitar solo ends and the keys come in, the keys are not anywhere near the same key as the guitar solo.
In the approximately 15 Rush shows I’ve been to (some people have been to many many more, so my sampling might be quite small by comparison), my answer to that would be: rarely.
The worst I’ve seen them do is screw up a time signature change in Freewill coming out of the guitar solo. But it was only for a couple measures and they got it fixed. The most common mishap with triggered sounds is the samples being played too loudly - but YMMV depending on seating location.