Legendary singer Sammy Hagar said in an interview with Rolling Stone that a Van Halen reunion with him could happen. Last year vocalist David Lee Roth said that the band was over. However, now Hagar says that although he hasn’t spoken directly with Eddie Van Halen since their 2004 reunion tour, he thinks the band will continue and could reunite in 2021.
About Van Halen reunion, Sammy Hagar said:
“Until Ed or Alex Van Halen die, they’re not finished. Those are two great musicians that can friggin’ do as good as most people at half-mast. As a drummer and as a guitarist and creative person, Eddie, I can’t see them ever being finished. I wish they were more active, but I think Van Halen will never be finished.”
“If they want to get it together, they just have to call Dave or have to call Sammy. They can go out with [Van Halen’s son] Wolfie as a trio, but that’s not the legacy of Van Halen. I think they know that. I’m not predicting what’s going to happen. But I would tell you if there’s concerts next year, Van Halen will probably be on tour next year.”
About Eddie Van Halen health issues, Sammy Hagar said:
“I was asked through other people in my management to see if that would happen. The camps talked about it and Live Nation asked about it. It came and went because Ed got sick. I don’t know exactly what happened to him, but I think he had back surgery. Eddie had a lot of health issues, but I heard he got it together. I pray for the guy and I love the guy.”
About his “dream tour”, Sammy said:
“My dream tour is the Sam and Dave tour with Ed, Al, and Mike. Let Wolfie put his band together and open. I have a son, Andrew Hagar, who makes great music. Let Andrew open, let Wolfie play with his band in the middle, and then have the Sam and Dave tour where we do an hour each. An hour with Dave songs and an hour with me.
“If Dave wants to come out together, we can do that. But of course, he wouldn’t want to do that, so I couldn’t care less if I even saw the guy. The truth of the matter is, for the fans, and just for me to be a part of that, I want to walk out there every night and do the best of Van Hagar and have him do the best of that era.”
“That’s a good a tour as anyone would ever do on the planet and it’s for the Van Halen fans. I love making people happy. And it would make me happy.”
He continued:
“I foresee it happening. I’m not trying to plant a seed like I know something is happening. I know nothing. I just know what I know in my heart and my head, which is that it has to happen.
“Whether it’s Sam and Dave or not, I don’t know that either. But I know that Eddie and I are not done. If enough water goes under the bridge before we die, it’ll happen. It has to. God is going to slap us both around if he has to.”
Last year, former bassist Michael Anthony, that is on Sammy’s band said about the possible reunion:
“They were gonna try to plan a thing for this summer. And for whatever reason… I was never… My people were never… They never got in touch with us about any kind of a contract or any kind of a meeting to discuss or whatever. And the next thing I knew, the plug got pulled on it.”
“I spoke with [Van Halen’s manager] Irving Azoff last October — that’s when I first heard from him — and he asked if I would be interested in any kind of a reunion, and I told him, I said, ‘Yeah.’ I was finishing up a couple of shows with Sammy and I said, ‘Yeah, I’d be interested to hear what you guys have going on.’”
“I never heard a call back. And then, right after the first of the year, I got… [singer] David Lee Roth’s, Dave’s business manager or lawyer, or something, got ahold of me about a meeting or something. And so at that point, I gave it over to our manager, because I didn’t wanna start getting in this whole thing — I wanted to do it the correct way, especially after the way things went for me in 2004.”
Eddie Van Halen health problems
An Eddie Van Halen photo raised many speculations about his health status last year. In the picture, Eddie appeared almost unrecognizable. At age 64, the musician seemed quite swollen and apparently bald in the image. With a look similar to that of a person undergoing chemotherapy treatment. TMZ later stated that the guitarist was suffering from throat cancer but nothing was confirmed by him.