In 2004, Van Halen reunited with Sammy Hagar after years of silence from the band, following unsuccessful attempts to bring back David Lee Roth. Although Hagar was in a different frame of mind, what was intended to celebrate the original Van Hagar era ultimately ended prematurely. The tour was marked by tension and chaos instead of the great chemistry and warm feelings that were expected.
Hagar, who left Van Halen for good afterward, never minced words about his experience on that tour. In an interview from the AXS TV archive, he could be heard saying:
“It was the worst experience in my life. Eddie was completely whacked out, off the charts on alcohol and drugs. Poor guy. He was really in bad shape, I thought he was going to die.”
He went on:
“There’d be nights where he’d start the song, and I’d look at Mike [Michael Anthony], look at Al [Alex Van Halen], and we’d all be, ‘Hmm.’ I’d look at the set list, it ain’t the song… and then he’d noodle around, and then finally he’d fall into the thing, and it’d kind of be like the song, and it was rough.”
“I tried to quit… I said, ‘I can’t do this anymore.’ You know, the guy’s going to die. First of all, every night, I’d sit in my dressing room and wait till I heard his guitar [make noise], I’d look at Mike and go, ‘He’s up there.’ It was that kind of a deal. And so, I went up and played, and it was horrible. He did horrible things to people. He treated people so bad… I’ve never met a person like this in my life, trying to bust windows out of a G5 airplane at 40,000 feet with a wine bottle…”
Hagar said that he ended up staying due to the contract he had signed beforehand, and that the experience stayed with him for a long while:
“When I tried to quit, there was a an attorney who drew up a contract that I signed. It said I’d have to pay these guys off for all the money they would have lost, and that so I stuck it out, and I haven’t knocked I haven’t talked to the guy since. I still really, really have a bad taste about what happened on that thing, and thank God he got himself together.”
He added:
“But Eddie’s a sweet human being. He’s talented, and he’s a sweet, wonderful guy. He’s got some demons, you know, and he’s not the only person. I don’t like that, but when I saw those demons take over… He was one of the best friends I’ve ever had.”
