Sammy Hagar on the beautiful highs and disastrous lows of Van Halen: 'Man, I miss Ed'

Sammy Hagar isn’t getting any younger.

Those are his words.

The singer turns 77 in October, a day after he's scheduled to auction off his rare 2015 LaFerrari at Barrett-Jackson’s new fall auction in Scottsdale.

And although he has no interest in retiring, much less staging a farewell tour, Hagar started thinking it was time to put a special tour together as a thank-you to fans while also honoring the legacy of what he managed to accomplish with Van Halen.

Hagar took over from David Lee Roth as Van Halen’s lead singer in 1985, a risky move — or so it seemed — that ushered in the legendary rockers’ most commercially successful era.

Hagar left the group in 1996, returning in 2004 for a disastrous reunion tour that ended with Eddie Van Halen smashing his guitar onstage in Tucson, Arizona, bringing the Van Hagar years to a demoralizing finish that still haunts the singer to this day.

It was the last time Hagar ever shared a stage with the Van Halen brothers, Eddie and Alex, though bassist Michael Anthony remains a frequent fixture of the singer’s touring bands, including the band on the 2024 Best of All Words Tour, with guitar hero Joe Satriani and drummer Jason Bonham.

The tour takes its name from "Best of Both Worlds," a single off “5150,” the first of four chart-topping albums Van Halen released with Hagar at the helm.

The setlist is the deepest dive the star has ever taken into the Van Halen catalog while touching on highlights of his solo years and reaching back to the album that launched his career as the voice of Montrose.

Hagar checked in from the road to talk about the tour, how music helped him heal after the hurt and disappointment of that ill-fated reunion tour and making peace with the man he calls Ed before Van Halen's death in 2020, in this exclusive interview with The Arizona Republic.

'The hardest show I've ever done in my life'

Sammy, how are you?

Pretty good considering (laughs). There's a lot to consider here. My age. I'm on tour. I’m doing the hardest show I've ever done in my life, more songs than I've ever sang in one night in my life. So under the circumstances? I'm doing damn good.

These are longer sets than you played in Van Halen?

In Van Halen, we played the same length of time. But the truth of the matter is we would play a two-hour, 20-minute show, but Eddie did a 15-, 20-minute guitar solo. Alex did a 15-, 20-minute drum solo. Mikey did a five-, 10-minute bass solo. I sang an acoustic song for five to seven minutes.

We're not doing any of that. There's no solos. I mean, there's solos within the songs. But we're packing the show with material because it's really a Sammy Hagar legacy tour, a thank-you to the fans that's honoring the music of Van Halen at the same time. We do about an hour-and-a-half of Van Halen, about 35, 40 minutes of Sammy solo, one Montrose tune, one Chickenfoot tune.

We're not going out there saying we're Van Halen. We're just doing a lot of Van Halen songs. There's songs we haven't played since 1986 — "5150," "Summer Nights.” Those songs got dropped early on because they were so difficult to play. Van Halen, whenever we did a new record, we would go out and play damn near the whole new record and we'd sprinkle in some old songs. So a lot of songs got left behind, and I'm just cherry-picking my favorite ones.

"The Seventh Seal." What a deep track. One of my favorite songs of all time. It's a serious message, one of my best lyrics, some of the heaviest music anyone's ever written. That riff Eddie's playing and Alex's drum part. It's just badass. And we’re showing "The Seventh Seal," one of my favorite Ingmar Bergman movies, on the screen behind us.

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The hurt and disappointment of his last Van Halen tour

Did something in particular inspire you to put this kind of tour together?

You know, Mike and I kind of got left out of the whole Van Halen thing when Wolfie (Eddie's son, Wolfgang Van Halen) came in. They replaced Mike with Wolfie, which, you know, God bless Ed for wanting to play with his son. Who doesn't want to do that? So we're not out here complaining about that at all.

But Mike and I went out and did our thing with the Circle, which the Circle is more of a band that plays evenly all my songs. We play a few Montrose songs. We play an hour of Sammy solo. A half-hour of Van Halen. It's a little more balanced. That's why we call it the Circle.

When we heard that it had been 20 years since the '04 Van Halen reunion with Eddie, Alex, myself and Mike, it was like, "What?! 20 years?! We've been waiting around 20 years for Ed to say 'Let's do it again?!'" Or Alex to say, 'Hey, let's get together, get a superstar guitar player and go out and do it?'"

We've just been waiting. Not like sitting around doing nothing. I've played more shows than anybody. But we just said, "It's time to do it. We're not gonna wait any longer. It's 20 years. We ain't getting no younger. Let's go do it while we still can." My main motive was, man, I don't know how much longer I can sing these songs. These songs are difficult to sing. I painted myself into a corner years ago singing these songs (laughs).

It's been 20 years now since that last Van Halen tour you did. That chapter obviously ended badly. Was there a turning point where you could kind of move beyond the sour taste of how it ended and appreciate the good times you guys shared before it all went south?

I'll admit, from the bottom of my heart, I was so disappointed and, honestly, hurt by the way that thing went down in 2004. I was hoping that was gonna be the greatest thing ever, the beginning of a whole new chapter of getting together, writing songs, making great records again and being in the biggest, greatest band in the world. It didn't turn out that way. And it was very disappointing.

But I didn't lick my wounds. I just immediately went back to the Wabos, went out and continued the party. The Wabos was my most fun band. Other than Van Halen in the beginning, the first five or six years. We had more fun than was legal. (laughs).

But the Wabos had more fun than was legal, too, let me tell you. Going out without a setlist every night, having 160-some songs to choose from, and just playing it by ear, bringing 50, 60 people onstage, four or five waitresses bringing us drinks during the show. I mean, that was the craziest party ever. So I went back to doing that. Because it made me so happy to be free and have fun playing music with friends, you know? So I got over it.

But there was always that hope in the back of my mind that Eddie would get better and there was still a shot at having Van Halen together again. Then, Eddie passed and it never happened. So, Mike and I moved on, put the Circle together, started playing more Van Halen songs in the Circle, because Eddie wasn't around anymore. No one ever expected a Van Halen reunion. Unless maybe Alex wanted to come together and do something.

Anyway, I think I healed myself by just going out, playing the music, staying happy, staying busy and staying creative. That's what it's all about. To be honest with you, I don't care who I play with or how many people we play for. I don't care if we're playing in clubs or stadiums. If the music's being served well and everyone's having a wonderful time, just having a love fest playing it, that's all that matters to me anymore.

I'm not out there for fame and fortune. I've had enough of that for five lifetimes. I'm just happy to be able to sing these songs and to play with people that I enjoy playing with. That's always where I end up. And that's where I'm at right now, again.

'Such a disaster': Sammy Hagar on his last Van Halen show

Your final show with Van Halen was in Arizona. Tucson.

That's right. We did two nights.

Did you know it was over for you that night onstage?

Oh, yeah, when Eddie kind of lost it out there. I mean, he was in bad shape the whole tour. Not trying to bring up a sore subject, but he was not healthy and was very abusive to himself. That second night was such a disaster, the way he broke down. I just remember walking off the stage and Irving Azoff grabbing me, saying, "Get in the car." He threw me in a car with my wife, we went straight to the airport in wet clothes, jumped on our plane and went home.

On the plane, I just sat there, shaking my head, going, "God, that was a terrible experience." It could've been so wonderful and so beautiful, but it wasn't. I wasn't interested in going back and doing more shows. I was like, "If anybody wants to continue this tour, don't talk to me about it," you know? And of course, they went out and did something different.

You've called that tour the worst experience of your life.

Well, I wouldn't call it the worst experience of my life (laughs).

You told Dan Rather that (laughs).

Yeah, well, that was a little closer to the bone. It was more current then. Looking back now? I don't know. I'm a lucky guy. I had some wonderful experiences. But it was so disappointing. Like I said, it could've been such a beautiful thing. We could've continued on and gone back in the studio, made a record. But look what happened to Ed.

No one knew quite what was going on with the guy. Now we know. And it's a little bit easier to understand his frustrations and probably why he was turning to alcohol and drugs more than ever. He knew things that we didn't know, I guess, or was feeling things we didn't know. God bless him.

I almost wish I would've known a little more about what was going on with him. I would've probably tried even harder. I tried as hard as I could to connect us and get him on the good foot and get him healthy. But I would've maybe tried a little harder, maybe been a little more compassionate, instead of saying "(Expletive) it."

But it's hard going back there in my head, especially with what we're doing now, seeing how great it feels to play this music with people that love this music. Joe Satriani is the most elegant, sophisticated, high-level musician that could do what he's doing. He's walking this tightrope of respecting and honoring Eddie Van Halen's guitar playing and music while still being himself and not destroying who he is. He's giving you the essence of what he really is.

And he's one of the only guitar players on the planet that could do that. There's guys that could play Eddie note-for-note. There's no question about it. But Joe's not doing that. He's playing the essence and the cream of what the song is. Playing those notes where you're going "Oh yeah, that's the solo." Then he'll go off into his own feel and his own thing. It's just so honorable the way he's doing it.

I couldn't be happier. To be able to play these songs one more time on that level and not feel like we're being a cover band, because Mike and I played and wrote these songs together with Eddie, it just feels so good. I wish the '04 tour would've been this. We'd still be together. If Ed was still alive. But this is ... I'll call it the second best thing, how about that?

Sammy Hagar on making peace with Eddie Van Halen

You made your peace with Eddie in the end. What was it like to resolve things while you still had time?

Well, I can't speak for Ed, but we had some really emotional moments on the phone, being very happy to be friends again. For me, I can only speak for myself, it was so important that we had closure before he passed, because otherwise, I don't know how I'd feel about it. I'd be waking up in the middle of the night once in a while going "Man, I wish we could've fixed that."

Now, I don't have to do that. Now, I just go, "Hey, I miss Ed." I miss the music.

It's a wonderful thing to not take anything to your grave. That's always been my philosophy. I like to make friends, not enemies, No. 1. No. 2, I'm not interested in taking any anger or anything to my grave. And I don't want any enemy to take it to their grave. I will reach out and do whatever I can to prevent that from happening.

That's what I did with Ed. When I heard he was really sick, I got on it. I was kind of waiting for him to call me. I thought, "He owes me the phone call." But when I heard he was really in bad shape, I reached out immediately. That's the way you've got to do it.

You reached out to Alex for this tour, right?

Yeah, I reached out to Alex a lot of times. But I think everyone knows, when he sold his equipment recently, that Alex doesn't want to play with anyone except his brother. And I don't blame him. They had a very special connection. If you ever played with those guys, if you stood there and sang between those guys, the energy and just the synchronicity between them was so special. I think it'd be very hard for Al to play with anyone.

Ed played with a lot of people. He'd go out and jam. But Alex was very serious about "No, I don't want to play with other people." And it makes sense to me now.

'It's just been one big beautiful ride for me. And it ain't over.'

What’s been the best part of doing this tour for you?

Oh, the fans.

The response. It's a love fest. I see people crying in the front row when we're playing "Eagles Fly" or "When It's Love." I see couples hugging and crying and kissing. I see people just going bananas to "5150," like, "Oh my god, I'm hearing this song again." I hear people singing every chorus at the top of their lungs. When I say "Sing it!" and I hold my microphone up in the air for "Summer Nights," it sounds like a million people.

They drown out maybe the loudest band in the world right now. When we take our bow at the end, after 24 songs and those people are still screaming, it's like, "Man, if I had the energy, I'd go ahead and play another hour." These people deserve it. It's the Thank-You Tour for me. That's what it is. Thank you for allowing me to be who I am today. It's all because of them. And this music.

It's just been one big beautiful ride for me. And it ain't over.

I don't know when it's gonna be over, but someday I know I'm gonna wake up and open my mouth and go, "Nuh-uh, I can't sing like that anymore" (laughs). I'm not looking forward to it. I'm just waiting for the day. I will never announce that I'm retiring. I will never say this is the last tour, but you never know which one is gonna be. I think that's part of the attendance out there. A lot of people probably say, "Man, that Sammy's no spring chicken. This might be the last time we get to see him." I hope not, but who knows? I'd like to continue on with this band for as long as I can.

Sammy Hagar

When: 7 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 20.

Where: Talking Stick Resort Amphitheatre, 2121 N. 83rd Ave., Phoenix.

Admission: $48.65 and up.

Details: 602-254-7200, livenation.com.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Sammy Hagar on life in Van Halen, his 2024 tour and missing Eddie