Oh, man, I should have went Friday!
I hate doing the same set every night.
Our conversation touched on much more than the upcoming Vegas residency.
Sammy Hagar says he’s written a song that pays tribute to Eddie Van Halen.Scott Dudelson/Getty Images
Did the summer tour exceed your initial expectations?It exceeded it as far as business goes.
We sold 250,000 tickets the first day it went on sale.
That was for 28 cities.
Then they just kept selling; in some places we had 17,000 or 18,000 people.
But the biggest surprise was how well the people responded.
From the bottom of my heart, I knew it would be good.
I really, really got into it.
Its a great song.
I love doing covers.
In Cabo I do Led Zeppelin all the time.
I do Cream, I do the Stones.
I like to play my favorite songs, and Panama would have to be one of them.
Its a cool song, and that was for the fans, and we only did half of it.
We didnt do the full song.
I felt good about doing that.
I felt good for the fans.
Well, maybe two, because I like when Mikey sings Aint Talkin bout Love.
Lets talk about what Joe brought to this show.
Joes a very serious musician, and so he took it serious, and he really brought it.
Every night, Im sitting there watching him do his long solos and stuff in a song like 5150.
And Im watching the fans and theyre checking him out, man.
Their jaws are dropping, like, Holy shit, hes doing it.Related ContentI’m 73.
He didnt play note for note.
You cant stray from that.
Other than that, when Eddie jammed, Joe knew he was jamming and Joe jammed.
Joe brings something very distinct.A 12-year-old kid that can probably play Eruption and those songs.
Theres plenty of them, Ive seen them Theyre just mimicking the song.
Joe knows what Eddie was doing, and so Joe does what Eddie was doing.
Hes playing it in a musical sense, and feeling it, and knowing what it is.
Eddie and Joe dont have the same style at all.
A lot of people think, Oh, yeah, he was a perfect match.
No, he wasnt a perfect match.
I mean, it was like this could be a song that Eddie and I wouldve written.
When you hear the intro on this song, youre going to shit, man.
Its just as iconic as anything Ive ever been involved with.
Having Mikey with his voice and everything, to me just validates what were doing.
Thats why were moving forward with him.
Number one, hes one of the greatest drummers on the planet.
I think hes been on more million-selling records than any musician in the world.
And he did so well on this tour, and he plays with Joe on a full-time basis.
We need our beach time and our taco nights, Taco Tuesdays and stuff.
Trying to get it together, it really helps by having Kennys schedule be with Joe.
If Joes available, Kennys available, and its not trying to put pieces together.
We can rehearse any day of the week.
And he blew my mind.
Tell me what songs were playing.
Okay, here they are.
If that dont blow a musicians mind, I dont know what would, especially these kinds of songs.
These songs are crazy.
Theyre fuckin Van Halen arrangements.
Then all of sudden he said, Look, my mom took a bad turn.
I gotta go.
It was a day off, and I hit Kenny.
I sent him a live recording of the set.
He got in at six in the morning.
We came in for a soundcheck, went through the things he had questions for.
We played that night in Cincinnati.
It was fucking great.
How did the Vegas residency come together?Ive been working towards it.
Im going to pat myself on the back.
Ive got restaurants in Vegas.
It was people wearing masks and all that shit.
Then I came for the Birthday Bash.
I did the two nights at the Pearl.
It was 5,000 seats, and we sold that out in one day, one hour.
I said, Yeah.
I acted like I was surprised, but in my head thats what I wanted.
Im the luckiest guy in the world.
I dont have to brag about that.
We all know Im the luckiest guy in the world.
Things just fuckin happen.
The whole Van Halen catalog, mainly my catalog….
I feel like I own it now, because nobody else can do it.
Its like theres no one that can do that catalog except a cover band.
It was the most expensive tour Ive ever had.
It costs more than the Van Halen Monsters of Rock tour to take this tour on the road.
Why?The production.
I could have done it cheaper, but I wanted this to be a Van Halen show.
I spent a huge amount of money on production and six, seven trucks, seven buses.
Thats big by todays standards for an amphitheater tour.
Thats pretty much a stadium tour.
So, I wanted a residency.
When youre on tour, you cant rehearse and you cant put new songs into the set.
Its really hard, because you dont have time.
With the residency, were playing Wednesday, Friday, Saturday every week.
We have Thursday off.
The buildings [dark], so we can go in and change songs.
TheTwistersong, Humans Being.
Dont Tell Me What Love Can Do.
Im talking deep tracks.
Cant Stop Loving You.
I want to play Montrose.
I want to play Rock Candy, Bad Motor Scooter, and Space Station #5.
I want to play more Chickenfoot, because basically this band is Chickenfoot with a keyboard player.
Even Mikey will change.
We do Aint Talkin bout Love, but well do Runnin With the Devil sometimes instead.
Thats a cool song too.
Theres plenty of material.
In nine shows, I hope we can get a shitload of them songs in there.
Im sitting there thinking in my head, Yeah, but heres the problem.
I also might not like being in the same place every night.
I even used different band members half the time.
I used the Wabos a couple of shows.
I used the Circle.
Bob Weir came out and played with me.
That was a fun thing, so I didnt mind being in the same place every night.
It might start fuckin with me, but well see.
Might you bring it back out on the road?
Id love to see it at the Garden and other arenas.Ive thought about that.
I dont know what I want to do, man.
I hate to say it, and I dont want to scare anybody, but Im getting old.
The road scares me, because Im so active on stage.
I cant help myself.
I cannot just stand there and sing, and these songs are tough.
My knees are killing me.
Half the time Im having to take anti-inflammatories.
I dont like all that stuff.
I dont want to get out there and be unable to do the job.
The residency seems like its the answer, without the travel.
You and Wolfgang Van Halen were both at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame last month.
Did you get the chance to catch up with him?Yeah.
I really feel hes the closest thing to Eddie on this planet right now.
He looks like him, when you look him in the eye.
He does his gestures.
He takes his finger and he pushes his hair out of his face like Eddie.
He did that when I was talking to him.
I said, I cant even look at you, Wolf.
Im getting teared up.
Yeah, I love him and what hes doing.
Im sure you read about Alex Van Halens book.
I would feel like I was robbing the fans, to start with.
When you put yourself in his shoes, Im saying, Okay, I feel sorry for him.
It makes it easier for Mike and I.
This music is too good to throw away.
When we played 5150 and Summer Nights, its like, Oh, my God.
Youre sitting there going, Is this real?
These people are happy.
Before he hurt his back, he was talking to Dave about a possible tour.
Are you able to understand that at all?Yeah.
This shows about me.
What are you talking about?
I shied away from doing too much about Eddie on the Best of All Worlds Tour.
Im so careful about that.
If it wouldve been, it wouldve been a whole different kind of vibe.
No, this was about the music of Van Halen and my legacy too.
Like I said, I played seven of my songs.
I think its important that people know that.
If I was making it a Van Halen tribute, Id call it Van Halen or Van Hagar.
This is a celebration to the fans, a celebration of the music and my songs.
Tell me more about this new song you made with Joe.
Will it be a standalone single?Itll be a single, I guess.
Were working on it right now.
Mike and I just finished the bass and the background vocals.
I took a shot at a lead vocal, but I dont know if its done yet.
Joes got his parts done.
I gotta tell you, it was emotional singing it, because the song, its about Eddie.
Thats the best I can put it.
They sat down, talked, cried, and hugged it out.
These are guys in their eighties.
I want to give him some more credit about that book.
The way he wrote it is soulful and touching.
I mean, about their childhood.
Its like a love letter to his brother, and thats touching to me.
I want to give him some love for that.
I understand he probably couldnt have done the whole era in one book.
I want to be friends, though.
I dont want to play in a band with Al.
Im not asking for that.
I can see that hes not capable of doing that.
If he was, Id be happy to play with him, but its not what Im looking for.
I just want to friends again.
