Rock legend Sammy Hagar is back on UK soil, guitar in hand, for a short burst of gigs; kicking off his “Best Of All Worlds” tour last night at the intimate (for him) 3,400 capacity Wolverhampton venue The Halls, with his star-studded band and his first tour here since 1996.
His first trip across the pond since he was part of the history-making last ever Sabbath and Ozzy concert at Villa Park stadium down the road in Brum last year. In fact the date of that amazing day is printed on Sammy’s shirt: 05/7/25, along with images of the four Sabbath legends.
Former Van Halen member Sammy Hagar has been pals with Ozzy, Tony, Geezer and Bill for many years. Of course, Van Halen supported Sabbath on a tour here way back in 1978 – Sabbath’s “Never Say Die” 10th anniversary tour – but before Hagar joined that band. I saw them on that tour at the Leicester gig.
Sammy’s tee shirt last night showing how much those boys meant to him. There was another West Midlands link last night too; at the end of the blistering set and after the planned final song, “Encore, thankyou, good night”, Sammy announces he has a special guest to play on the extra song. It’s Led Zeppelin’s “Rock and Roll” and on comes Jon Bonham’s son Jason to pound the drums.
Not content with one guest, he calls on James Bartholomew to sing a duet on the number with him. James fronts Jayler, the young rockers who open for Sammy on this tour and who will be the support band for Deep Purple on their winter 2026 tour. It was a mighty way to end a mighty show which was rammed to the rafters.
Jason and James joining Sammy, guitar star Joe Satriani, ex-Van Halen bassist Michael Anthony and keyboard man Nathan Mercado. In the band for this tour is powerhouse drummer Kenny Aronoff. Sammy’s voice still full of power and his axe skills on point too.
The setlist offers up no less than 10 Van Halen songs, the first time he has performed Van Halen classics in the UK since the band’s iconic Wembley Stadium shows opening for Bon Jovi, three decades ago.
Also in the set, Montrose song, “Bad Motor Scooter”[Sammy and bassist Michael both former members of Montrose], which is accompanied by footage of daredevil Evil Knievel. Chickenfoot’s “Bigfoot” (also a band Hagar was in), and Satriani’s, “Surfing With the Alien”in the set.
Half way through the 20 song set, “Mas Tequila”, a song by Sammy Hagar and the Wabos, prompts Sammy to hand out tequila shots to the front row at the barrier; presumably the brand he owns. At this time, footage is screened from the Cabo Wabo Cantina in Mexico which Sammy owns, and of some of the stars who have jammed there.
After the opening song, “There’s Only One Way To Rock”, the band rip into three Van Halen songs in a row, “Top Of The World”, “Runaround” and “Best Of Both Worlds”, before the Chickenfoot and Montrose numbers, and then back to a triple Van Halen offering of, “5150, “Love Walks In”, and “Cabo Wabo”, before which Sammy mentions the world cup football. England beating Mexico in a nail biting Word Cup match in the wee small hours of Monday to reach the quarter finals this coming weekend. Mexico being Sammy’s home these days.
After “Mas Tequila” it’s time for three more Van Halen tunes: “Why Can’t This Be love”, “Right Now” and “Somebody Get Me A Doctor”, the latter sung by Michael Anthony.The VH song “Good Enough” follows the Satriani cover.
Then a quartet of Hagar songs, “I Can’t Drive 55” (during which Joe plays guitar with his teeth), “Heavy Metal”, “Eagles Fly”, and before “Encore, Thank You, Goodnight”, we see a short film about about Eddie Van Halen in a dream Sammy had. Then time for the Led Zepp number and Mr Bonham’s guest spot.
Joe Satriani playing Eddie Van Halen’s guitar parts on such huge songs in rock history is a big ask; but he does it in his own inimitable style and doesn’t try note for note copycat, thank goodness. Instead he sprinkles some genius Satriani gold dust on top of faultless classic songs.
This was one of those unforgettable gigs about which most of the 3,000+ fans here will one day be saying, “I was there”. Me too. Bloody awesome.
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