Sammy Hagar: Van Halen reunion tour would have been a "dream come true"

(Image credit: Gabe Ginsberg/Getty Images)

Following Eddie Van Halen's death in October, Van Halen's long-time manager Irving Azoff confirmed that the band's ‘classic’ line-up – vocalist David Lee Roth, bassist Michael Anthony, drummer Alex Van Halen and his younger brother Eddie – planned to reunite for a farewell stadium tour in 2019, before it became obvious that the physical demands involved would be too much for the ailing guitarist.

But earlier this month, Eddie's son Wolfgang told Howard Stern that the late guitarist had been considering a "kitchen sink tour" that would have included both Hagar and Roth, as well as short-lived singer Gary Cherone.

In a new interview with SiriusXM's Eddie Trunk, Sammy Hagar was asked if the "kitchen sink" tour had been on his radar. "It was totally on my radar," he replied. "No one had confirmed any of it, but it was obviously what was gonna happen."

He went on to say that while there were elements he wasn't looking forward to, he was totally onboard with the idea of a tour. "I wouldn't look forward to having to share the stage with Dave, only because he's not user friendly," Hagar said. "I love the guy, I love the music, all that, but he's just not user friendly.

"He's always gonna pull something to try to make you look bad and make him look good and all that kind of stuff. But it would have been a blast. Are you kidding me? It [would have been] a dream come true."

"I've been an advocate of doing a Sam-and-Dave tour from day one. You go all the way back to the first reunion, when Dave went out with me that time for that tour, that was the idea of it – to try to get the [Van Halen] brothers' attention to do the reunion way back then, and do it again and again and again – I mean, give the fans what they want."

Hagar and Anthony shared their thoughts on Eddie's death in a video message titled ‘We Love You Eddie’, published on October 7.

Speaking in the video, Hagar admitted to being “devastated” by the 65-year-old guitarist’s death.

“The music will live forever,” he noted. ‘I’ll sing it as long as I live.”

Briony is the Editor in Chief of Louder and is in charge of sorting out who and what you see covered on the site. She started working with Metal Hammer, Classic Rock and Prog magazines back in 2015 and has been writing about music and entertainment in many guises since 2009. Her favourite-ever interviewee is either Billy Corgan or Kim Deal. She is a big fan of cats, Husker Du and pizza.