Sammy Hagar says his decade with Van Halen is heading towards its end: “In a way, I’m done with being the Van Halen guy,” he told Eddie Trunk on SiriusXM. He will always keep something in his schedule, but the five shows in Las Vegas running these days are, in all likelihood, the last for that particular project.
“Best Of All Worlds” was never designed to last. It began as a tour on 13 July 2024 in West Palm Beach and reached 28 shows in North America, with most of the set drawn from the four albums he made with Van Halen. “It was so successful that we got the permanent residency in Las Vegas — which was what I really wanted,” he said. This year there were 11 shows at the Dolby Live at Park MGM: six in March and five in September, on the 18th, 19th, 23rd, 25th and 26th. Playing with him are Michael Anthony on bass, Joe Satriani on guitar, Kenny Aronoff on drums and Rai Thistlethwayte on keys.
His argument is practical: in a fixed venue he can play material from 50 years of records, whereas on tour he has one night in each city and has to lean on the hits. “I have so much from Montrose, I have people who have followed me since then, the red album, the years before Van Halen,” he said. “Mike and I are kind of obliged to play Van Halen. I love it, but I feel I owe something more to my old fans.”
One plan he has carried for 50 years. “I want to do my science-fiction show,” he says, a space opera he has been writing since 1975, with songs like “Silver Lights”, “Someone Out There”, “Space Station #5”, “Space Age Sacrifice”, “Crack in the World” and Van Halen’s “Love Walks In” — from the first song, “Hot Rock”, to the last. It will not happen soon: Hagar says he is taking a long break, has no tour plans for next year, and turns 80 in 2027. “I don’t want to blow a tyre on the highway,” he put it. The first Las Vegas residency was released as a live album, “Sammy Hagar & The Best Of All Worlds Band – The Residency”, with 19 songs on 10 October 2025.
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Source: https://metal-stop.com/sammy-hagar-says-hes-done-with-being-the-van-halen-guy/
