Sammy Hagar recently downplayed David Lee Roth’s recent comments about Hagar’s claim that the fellow former Van Halen singer drew inspiration for a song from a dream he had where he reunited with his late bandmate Eddie Van Halen.
In 2022, Hagar recounted being greeted by Van Halen in a dream where they got together and made a new track. The resulting song, “Encore, Thank You, Goodnight”, was released this past April via Big Machine Rock.
On August 13, while performing the Van Halen classic “Dance The Night Away” at Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom in Hampton Beach, New Hampshire during his recently launched summer 2025 U.S. solo tour, Roth addressed Hagar’s claim.
Sammy Hagar responds
Although Roth’s comments were widely perceived as poking fun at Hagar, the Red Rocker had a different take. During a September 16th appearance on SiriusXM’s “Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk”, Hagar noted that Roth didn’t say anything derogatory about him and that David actually praised Sammy’s “great voice” and “great catalog”.
Hagar said: “Dave never does stuff like that. To me, it was, like, ‘Wow, Dave actually became cool for a minute about me,’ and I think him and I can be friends. Honestly, I would love to be friends with Dave. He is the wackiest guy. He would be a blast — in my opinion, he would be a blast to hang. Get on a boat and go cruising around in the islands or something with that guy and some of our friends and stuff.”
Sammy Hagar talks about history with David Lee Roth
Sammy Hagar reflected on his shared history with David Lee Roth, noting that they both spent a decade in Van Halen with Eddie and Alex Van Halen. He said that while they’re very different people, that contrast makes things fun. He continued,
“We’ve got so much in common and so much history together, if you think about it. We both spent 10 years of our lives with Van Halen, Eddie and Alex Van Halen. Eddie Van Halen, right? I mean, we wrote songs with [Eddie]. There’s so much that we have in common. And we’re totally two different kinds of people, but that’s what makes it fun. The people around us would be having more fun.
Hagar praised Roth as a great storyteller who tends to embellish. However, he appreciated Roth publicly complimenting his voice and music catalog. He said:
“But anyway, I just think he really did have that dream. And he’s a great storyteller. So the guy gets up there and tells his story a little bit more elaborate — ‘we smoked a Marlboro,’ a ghost cigarette together. He’s a good storyteller. And I just thought it was wonderful that he actually said, ‘You know Sammy Hagar. The guy’s got a great voice’ or something like that, he said, ‘and he’s got a good catalog.’ Whoa. Dave. Right on, brother.”
Sammy Hagar then said that he has no problem with David Lee Roth performing and respects him for still going out and doing shows for the fans, not money. He praised Roth’s band, especially the use of background singers to capture Van Halen’s signature choruses, calling it a smart move. Hagar added that he personally told Roth this and emphasized he holds no negativity toward him.
He added, “I’ve got no problem with Dave and what he’s doing. I’ve said it to my publicist, to everyone, people always asking, ‘What do you think about this? Give me a comment about these people that are posting all this crazy stuff from his shows out there. What do you comment?’ I said, ‘I would never negative comment, man.’ The guy’s got the balls to go out there and do it and do it for the fans. He’s not doing it for money. Dave’s got plenty of money, for God’s sakes. Nobody in Van Halen’s broke. And he’s doing it ’cause he loves it. And he looks like he’s having a good time. He’s got a pretty damn good band, there ain’t no question about that. And the smartest thing — I even told him this; I sent him a note about it when we had that little Instagram comment thing — I sent him a personal note and said, ‘Hey, smartest thing you ever do is get them background singers.’ Those choruses in Van Halen are the most important part besides of Eddie’s guitar playing, some of the most important parts of that music to those fans. They love singing along to those songs. And you got those guys singing it, and they sound good singing it. And I think it was a good move. If he can’t do it, get somebody that can do it and just go out there and do your thing, whatever.
Sammy then concluded, “Anyway, I’m all cool with Dave. I just wanna make that straight and clear.”
