Hagar chronicles ups, downs of his Van Halen years
Being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame earlier this year wasn’t the experience that Sammy Hagar had hoped for Van Halen.
Hagar and bass player Michael Anthony accepted the award on behalf of the band, with guitarist Eddie Van Halen (who was in alcohol rehab at the time), drummer Alex Van Halen and former lead singer David Lee Roth all no-shows.
“I was hoping so bad everyone from the band — all the brothers and even Dave — would show up together and we’d go up there finally and go, ‘This is all worth this,’ ” Hagar told radio station WXLP-FM (96.9) morning show hosts Greg Dwyer and Bill Michaels last month.
“Of course, if Van Halen ever did it right, something would be wrong,” he added.
Hagar brings his tour to the i wireless Center in Moline on Tuesday night, playing a combination of his solo hits, Van Halen songs and material from his first band, Montrose.
“It’s gonna be so much music and so many great songs in our lives,” he told Dwyer & Michaels.
The concert is three hours long, Hagar said, with only a 10-minute break.
“As old as I am and as hard as I think, to go out and do that isn’t fair to me,” said Hagar, who turned 60 this month. “But I’m a givin’ kind of guy.”
Hagar told the morning show hosts he saw Eddie Van Halen’s downfall because of alcohol abuse during his years with the band.
“Everything was so good for nine, 10 years when I was in Van Halen,” Hagar said. “We were the tightest, funnest people together and all of a sudden ... Ed went nuts.”
Hagar told about finding bottles of alcohol hidden throughout the Van Halen studio, next to the house Eddie shared with his then-wife, actress Valerie Bertinelli.
“When he was sober, we did some of the greatest things in the world together,” Hagar said. “We made some of the best music I’ll ever make in my life together.”
The band crumbled during its 2004 tour, he said.
“Some nights were magic and some nights were the worst I’ve ever heard a band play,” he said.
Hagar’s concert tour is a party, complete with palm trees, dancing girls and margaritas, he said.
“It becomes a situation where it’s not really work. You’re out there pleasing yourself,” he said. “I’m out there having the time of my life.”