Van Halen member Sammy Hagar recently reflected on the proposed all-star Van Halen tribute concert. He stated that he doesn’t think he would take part unless both Alex Van Halen and Michael Anthony were involved.
Sammy Hagar opens up on the tribute concert
It has been noted in a new interview with News-Herald that Sammy said that Anthony spoke about the proposed tribute concert in an interview with SiriusXM radio personality Eddie Trunk “just because there was all this talk about Jason. What’s that about, Jason Newsted playing bass for Van Halen?” Sammy asked. “Great guy. Great musician. But in Van Halen? No, not when Mikey’s still here and alive to do it.”
Hagar added that he had been also approached by Van Halen’s management with a similar idea but he is not interested, and doesn’t think Van Halen can have a new guitarist. “I’m so happy with everything I’m doing now, I don’t think I’d go back there,” he said. “Maybe if Alex was interested, it might be something to talk about, with him and Mikey and a superstar guitar player. But it’s really not Van Halen without Eddie [Van Halen], so…I just don’t know.”
There is a possible Van Halen tribute show that has been in the plans since April when former Metallica bassist Jason Newsted revealed to The Palm Beach Post that he was approached by the Van Halen drummer about six months earlier about playing bass for the project.
Newsted spoke to the Florida newspaper and said that he agreed to go to California to jam with Alex and legendary guitarist Joe Satriani and see if it felt right, but he eventually realized that it would be impossible to do justice to Van Halen’s legacy. “How could you?” Jason said. “There’s nobody that can top it, so how do you show it honor? I didn’t want it to be viewed as a money grab. And then it kind of just all fizzled.”
