Sammy Hagar still wants to do an Eddie Van Halen tribute show - with David Lee Roth

Sammy Hagar onstage earlier this month at the Ak-Chin Pavilion in Phoenix, Arizona (Image credit: Christian Petersen/Getty Images)

Sammy Hagar has reiterated his calls for a tribute concert for the late Eddie Van Halen to be held.

The singer made the remarks in an interview with Rolling Stone that took place in the lead-up to the second Taylor Hawkins Tribute Concert, which was held in Los Angeles earlier this week.

Earlier this year, Joe Satriani confirmed that talks with Alex Van Halen and David Lee Roth about a Van Halen tribute tour had taken place, and former Metallica bassist Jason Newsted revealed that he'd been involved in the discussions, but had elected not to take part.

Now Hagar, who has previously said he'd leap at the chance to play a tribute show, has talked about the idea in more detail, saying he'd happily share the stage with Roth.

"It can’t just be, 'Hey, we’re going to grab some money.' I got plenty of money," says Hagar. "There’s nothing that I would do for money that I just wasn’t in love with the idea of doing. And I’m not in love with the idea of being Van Halen without Eddie Van Halen. Matter of fact, I’m dead against it. But I would love to play music with Alex and Mike again. I would love to play those song agains."

"I would love it if Dave wanted to do a tribute where he’d sing ten of his songs, and then I’d come out and do ten of mine. Look at what Dave [Grohl] just did for Taylor. That’s one of the greatest events in rock history. That’s right up there with the early Farm Aids, and right up there with Live Aid. That was a great event, and that could be done for Ed with everybody playing.”

Elsewhere in the interview, Hagar talks of his admiration for Wolfgang Van Halen, and about his current and past relationships with the members of Van Halen.

Artists

Online Editor at Louder/Classic Rock magazine since 2014. 40 years in music industry, online for 27. Also bylines for: Metal Hammer, Prog Magazine, The Word Magazine, The Guardian, The New Statesman, Saga, Music365. Former Head of Music at Xfm Radio, A&R at Fiction Records, early blogger, ex-roadie, published author. Once appeared in a Cure video dressed as a cowboy, and thinks any situation can be improved by the introduction of cats. Favourite Serbian trumpeter: Dejan Petrović.