After a privileged life seeing the best bands, it takes something out of the ordinary to get me freshly excited. However, an exception was a rare trip to these shores by Sammy Hagar- as a band member and solo artist with one of the biggest catalogues in rock and indeed my own collection, and someone whose exuberant, high energy displays I’d been lucky to catch several times during my years travelling to festivals in the USA.

He used to come to England a lot in the early eighties but less so since, other than fronting Van Halen and in more recent years a pair of visits from Chickenfoot: in fact, that supergroup’s line up on their last tour here in 2012 featured exactly the same stellar trio of seasoned musicians in Kenny Aronoff, Joe Satriani and Michael Anthony.

This time though they could cover the whole of Hagar’s career under the ‘Best Of All Worlds’ banner, instead of promoting their own supergroup, though on the first evening the latter’s ‘Big Foot’ did get a supposedly spontaneous airing.

This tour had a troubled background, with a misguided original decision to book huge venues including the 02 Arena for someone who does not have a high profile in the UK. In a major u-turn the tour was totally rescheduled, Joan Jett dropping off the bill to play her own shows and smaller venues used, including three nights at the newly opened British Airways Arc in the redeveloped Olympia, though sadly at even more expensive prices initially. Some were cynical the shows would even ever take place, but luckily they did and I attended two: the first and this, the final night.

Surviving all the changes of plan were hotly tipped young support band Jayler, who appear to have the right connections, supporting Deep Purple later in the year. They are not so much influenced by early Led Zeppelin as a pastiche of them, notably singer James Bartholemew who has not only has the high-pitched howl, but the open chest and tousled hair of the young Robert Plant. The stage carpets, kaftan sporting barefooted band members and even the massive gong behind powerful drummer Ed Evans all add to the sense of being transported back in a late sixties time capsule.

They opened with ‘Down Below’ with James also playing harmonica and wailing his ‘ooh yeah’s but other songs such as ‘No Woman’, ‘Riverboat Queen’ which had a hard blues feel with more harmonica playing, and ‘Lovemaker’ were very derivative of Zeppelin and had me playing spot the riff.

They are extremely talented musicians with a powerful and tight sound, and some impressive guitar solos from Tyler Arrowsmith and James respectively on ‘Over the Mountain’ and the six minute plus closing epic ‘The Rinsk’. They are not the first band to worship at the Zeppelin altar but need to establish their own identity as I think this talent is being sold short by this Stars In Their Eyes-type ‘tonight Matthew….’ approach.

 

After an intro tape of ‘London Calling’, Sammy Hagar and band got the seated crowd off their feet from the off, opening with a straight off the bat classic in ‘Why Can’t This Be Love?’- not many bands would dare use up a US No 1 first, but indeed with barely a pause for breath it led into some more joyful old VH numbers in the underrated ‘Top of the World’, a rare trip to the Dave Lee Roth years in ‘Panama’ and ‘Best of Both Worlds’.  (Other nights got an even more generous selection including ‘Runaround’ and ‘Summer Nights’.)

As you would expect from a guitarist of his technique Joe Satriani was playing the Eddie Van Halen role perfectly while Sammy’s voice was remarkably vibrant for a 78 year old despite the expected signs of wear and tear, and he got good vocal support periodically from Michael Anthony and young British-born keyboardist Nathan Mercado (aka Spider Cherry).   

There had been some grumbles that the first night setlist did not pay enough homage to the seminal Montrose debut album, but this time the quota was doubled to a pair of songs- ‘Rock Candy’ was promoted from intro tape to a proper version and it was fascinating to see Joe tackling the more traditional bluesy guitar riffs, even playing with his teeth at one point. It was followed by ‘Bad Motor Scooter’, with video footage of Evil Knievel adding to the seventies nostalgia, and midway through Sammy finally picked up a guitar to play a tasty solo.

It was then back to Van Halen with (in my opinion) some rather corny remarks about aliens – and a humorous reference to the shaven headed Joe looking like one!-  leading to ‘Love Walks In’, Van Halen’s most AOR moment with the decision to employ a keyboard player in Nathan coming into its own. Joe then rose spectacularly to Sammy’s challenge to play guitar on the title track of ‘5150’ with a breathtaking solo, while the singer nonchalantly signed albums handed to him from the crowd.

 

Sammy and Michael’s on stage chemistry is based on their party animal reputation, and Sammy joked that it must have been some hangover from the previous night as they were sharing beers, not tequila. This was short-lived as ‘Cabo Wabo’ was accompanied by a video from Sammy’s eponymous tequila complex. Sure enough he broke out a bottle as it segued into ‘Mas Tequila’ (the ‘Rock and Roll Part 2’ riff the second questionable airing of Gary Glitter music here following Joan Jett earlier in the week) and was leaning forward into the crowd to hand out samples. Complete with his t-shirt, that was quite the product placement! 

If I had a criticism, it would be that Sammy did not showcase his own lengthy solo career enough so it was a relief when he strapped on a guitar for ‘There’s Only One Way To Rock’, given added spice when he and Joe traded solos and some twin leads at the end in frantic fashion. In contrast ‘Right Now’ was another VH anthem to benefit from live keyboards, as the video backdrop spewed out those motivational quotes our transatlantic friends love so much with the odd humorous one in there.

He left the stage to his bandmates for a couple of songs, one of the biggest cheers of the night greeting ‘Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love’ as Michael handled the lead vocals with gusto and charged from one side of the stage to the other, then ‘Satch Boogie’ was proof if any were needed of Joe’s talent.

 

Sammy returned with a wicked glint in his eye, curling his lips round the ‘hello baby’ intro to ‘Good Enough’, the band jamming out including a diversion into Yes’ ‘Owner of a Lonely Heart’. While the Hagar back catalogue may be of uneven quality there is no doubt he has written some great anthems and one followed another.

First ‘Heavy Metal’ (a meta song about the rock scene of the time to rank with Slade’s ‘We’ll Bring the House Down’ and Saxon’s ‘Denim and Leather’) ending with a tasty solo after Michael and Nathan had helped out on verses; then a segue straight into ‘I Can’t Drive 55’ (in London traffic, would that it were!) ending in a guitar jam with Joe taking the lead.

 

In normal circumstances that would be the break for the encore, but they played on for two more songs. First Sammy spoke of his pride in writing his mother’s favourite song, about the moment of being born, in ‘Eagles Fly’. There was some superb military style drumming from Kenny Aronoff, who had played with great vigour and power all show, and indeed the whole song showed off the band’s outstanding musicianship.

On a night when his legacy loomed large the last song ‘Encore, Thank You, Goodnight’ was a tribute to Eddie Van Halen based on his coming to Sammy in a dream, a little disjointed in execution but well intentioned.

As they left the stage, Sammy lauded his UK audiences for being civilised people and knowing how to rock. All that negativity around the circumstances leading up to this tour had been crushed by a remarkable show. Put together the combination of the 78 year old’s undimmed trademark exuberance, great musicianship, a strong back catalogue and the old fashioned American values of putting on a show, and you have a gig that will almost certainly weigh in as my favourite of the year.

Review and Photos by Andy Nathan 

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David Randall presents a weekly show on Get Ready to ROCK! Radio, Sundays at 22:00 GMT, repeated on Mondays and Fridays), when he invites listeners to ‘Assume The Position’. The show signposts forthcoming gigs and tours and latest additions at getreadytorock.com. First broadcast 21 June 2026.

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Power Plays w/c 6 July 2026

VELVET RUSH Nature Of The Beast (Frontiers)
BEN POOLE No Second Chances (indie)
THE DEAD REDS Empire (Regni Records)
THE WLDLFE No Sleep (Riser House Records)
JANE AND THE KILLER QUEENS Body Horror (indie)
ESCAPE THE HIVE Around The Sun (Deko Entertainment)
ELYSION Guardian Angel (Massacre Records)

Featured Albums w/c 6 July 2026

09:00-12:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Singer Songwriter)

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