Sammy Hagar is featured in a new in-depth interview with Rolling Stone discussing his Best Of All Worlds tour, and his recently announced Las Vegas residency at Dolby Live at Park MGM, scheduled for April / May 2025. Following is an excerpt from the chat.
Rolling Stone: There are plenty of people on YouTube who can play “Eruption” flawlessly, but you wouldn’t want any of them onstage with you. Joe brings something very distinct.
Hagar: "Eddie and Joe don’t have the same style at all. A lot of people think, 'Oh, yeah, he was a perfect match.' No, he wasn’t a perfect match. There’s a lot of guys that play much more like Eddie than Joe, but I just knew Joe could do it and adapt.
Since we finished that tour, Joe and I have written a song … which I won’t go into too much about it, but we’re going to record a new song for this residency. I said, 'Let’s take 5150, let’s take this, let’s take that, the essence of all these things,' and he crushed it with me. I mean, it was like this could be a song that Eddie and I would’ve written. It’s not copying nobody, but it’s like I said, because he knows where Eddie was coming from and now he knows his style. When you hear the intro on this song, you’re going to shit, man. It’s just as iconic as anything I’ve ever been involved with."
Rolling Stone: It goes without saying, but having Mike (Anthony / bass, vocals) in the band adds such a critical element to the show.
Hagar: "I feel like having Mikey there allows me to go deeper into Van Halen, like to go back and do a song like 'Panama' standing there with Mike. I mean, there’s bands out there right now…Practically every iconic band in the world’s only two of the original members, some of them not even two really, if you look at it that way. Having Mikey with his voice and everything, to me just validates what we’re doing. This is legal. We’re not trying to be Van Halen, but we’re gonna bring those Van Halen fans a lot of love."
Read the complete interview here.
Hagar recently announced that The Best Of All Worlds, his critical and commercial hit summer 2024 tour, will launch in 2025 as The Best Of All Worlds Tour - The Residency at Dolby Live at Park MGM. The tour will reunite the rock powerhouse band of Sammy, Michael Anthony, Joe Satriani and Kenny Aronoff with a new “only in Las Vegas” setlist running April 30 through May 17, 2025. The tour represents a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see this band of brothers deliver one of the most legendary hits-packed live shows of their careers. A new trailer promoting the residency is available below:
This highly anticipated residency will showcase Sammy’s career-spanning hits, from seminal breakouts with Montrose, his iconic solo hits, and a deep dive into his tenure with Van Halen, Chickenfoot, and everything in between. Presented in partnership by Live Nation and MGM Resorts International, the residency will be custom-designed for Dolby Live, giving fans an intimate, high-energy concert experience in the 5,200-seat entertainment venue.
“I'm so looking forward to this residency and being able to stay in one place so we can get the sound and production completely dialed in,” said Sammy Hagar. “It also allows the band to experiment with the setlist every night – that’s why it’s going to be exclusive to Las Vegas. Instead of traveling all day on tour when there's no time to rehearse and make changes. I plan on digging deeper into the Van Halen catalog, and my solo career, Montrose and Chickenfoot, as well. The fans are in for a lot of surprises.”
The Las Vegas residency follows on the heels of the chart-topping success of The Best of All Worlds tour, which sold out amphitheaters and arenas across North America and Japan. Together with the release of The Collection II, the 2023 box set featuring newly remastered versions of the four consecutive #1 albums released during the Hagar era of Van Halen: 5150 (1986), OU812 (1988), For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge (1991), and Balance (1995), fans were reinvigorated by their arsenal of hits, many which hadn't been played live since the band’s 2004 reunion tour. Musician Rai Thistlethwayte will also return on keyboard and backing vocals to round out the band of brothers and deliver an exclusive new hits-packed live show.
Tickets for the nine shows are available at ticketmaster.com/SammyHagarVegas or RedRocker.com.
To celebrate the exciting evolution of his top-grossing The Best of All Worlds summer tour into an exclusive Las Vegas residency, Hagar, joined by Anthony, will set Allegiant Stadium ablaze with a show-stopping halftime performance during the Raiders vs. Broncos game on Sunday, November 24. This electrifying event promises to rock the stadium with unmatched energy while delivering a heartfelt tribute to the courageous men and women of the military, featuring a special surprise to honor their bravery and service.
The Best of All Worlds tour received universal raves from fans who’d been waiting 20 years to experience it live again, and critics who universally praised it.
“The crowd remained on their feet for most of the show, singing along or holding up their phones to capture the moment. The musicians seemed to be having just as much fun. Hagar, alongside Anthony, made it clear that the tour was not just a performance but a ‘celebration’ of Van Halen’s enduring legacy. 'It’s a celebration of the music and the people who supported that band,’ Hagar said. And the fans couldn’t agree more.” – USA Today
“Now this is going to be an amazing tour! If you’re ever going to play the Van Halen music, this tour you put together is going to be a massive celebration of all the music. I get emotional just listening to it.” – Howard Stern, The Howard Stern Show
“Sammy Hagar sounded ageless as he celebrated Van Halen and more in Phoenix. Joe Satriani did a great job of channeling Eddie Van Halen (and more). The phrase ‘guitar hero’ is obviously overused, but Satriani more than lives up to the title. He’s a total badass on guitar, as he reminded us repeatedly without necessarily making it all about him.” - Arizona Republic
“Sammy Hagar’s Best of Both Worlds Tour — which also features former Van Halen bandmate Michael Anthony, guitar virtuoso Joe Satriani, and drummer Kenny Aronoff — brought an infectious energy to PNC Music Pavilion. Hagar and Anthony’s bond was palpable on stage... The crowd turned out in full force to hear Van Halen-era songs like ‘Right Now,’ ‘Best of Both Worlds,’ and ‘Why Can’t This Be Love,’ alongside Hagar’s solo classics. Their performance proved that age is just a number when the music is this good.” - Charlotte Observer
2025 Vegas Residency Dates:
April
30 Las Vegas, NV - Dolby Live @ Park MGM
May
2 - Las Vegas, NV - Dolby Live @ Park MGM
3 - Las Vegas, NV - Dolby Live @ Park MGM
7 - Las Vegas, NV - Dolby Live @ Park MGM
9 - Las Vegas, NV - Dolby Live @ Park MGM
10 - Las Vegas, NV - Dolby Live @ Park MGM
14 - Las Vegas, NV - Dolby Live @ Park MGM
16 - Las Vegas, NV - Dolby Live @ Park MGM
17 - Las Vegas, NV - Dolby Live @ Park MGM
