In a recent conversation with the Los Angeles Times, Sammy Hagar offered a deeply personal reflection on his final interactions with the late Eddie Van Halen, sharing how the two found reconciliation after years of tension. The connection, it turns out, was made possible through the unlikely intervention of comedian George Lopez, just months before the guitarist’s death in October 2020.
“I miss the guy so much,” Hagar said. “Thank God we connected towards the end, otherwise I’d be heartbroken. I am anyway. But it was so important to me that we did connect in that last year.”
For those who long hoped for a reunion between the former Van Halen bandmates, Hagar revealed that such a reunion was quietly in the works.
“Eddie said to me, ‘Don’t tell anyone about us talking because I don’t want to be answering questions about rumors of a reunion.’ But he said, ‘Next year, we’re gonna get together — we’re gonna make some noise. Let me beat this shit, and let’s do it.'” The guitarist, clearly hopeful about the future, added, “Please don’t talk to anyone — not even Al [Van Halen drummer and Eddie‘s brother Alex Van Halen].“
“I’ve never said that to anyone, and I bet you Al is gonna have a fucking fit. But Eddie said, ‘Don’t even talk to Al about this.’ I said, ‘Ed, I don’t talk to Al,” Hagar added.
Hagar’s revelations are likely a reference to the “Kitchen Sink tour”, a reunion effort he previously admitted in an interview with Sirius XM’s Eddie Trunk: “It was totally on my radar. No one had confirmed any of it, but it was obviously what was going to happen.”
Such a reunion was also previously mentioned by Wolfgang Van Halen, who said in a conversation with Howard Stern (via Ultimate Classic Rock): “I got him excited about it. It was like, ‘Fuck, let’s get Dave [Lee Roth] and Hagar and even Gary [Cherone], and let’s just do a giant fucking awesome thing.’”
Hagar’s comments carry a bittersweet tint. They not only highlight what might have been, but also underscore the depth of his emotional loss.
“Things aren’t the same without that hope,” Hagar said. “After the 2004 tour, with Eddie being in the condition he was in, I was very angry with him. But in my heart, I was hoping he would heal and would become the Eddie that I loved and knew from when I was in the band, from the good times.”
That hope carried with it not just the possibility of rekindling old friendships, but also of reigniting the creative spark that powered some of Van Halen’s most beloved tracks. Hagar recalls the artistic highs of their time together:
“I was hoping that would happen and that we’d get together and play someday. And not only for the fame and fortune, which of course I’ve never gotten back to that level since. That was the pinnacle of my career. But more than that was the creativity and the energy we had together writing songs like ‘Right Now’ and ‘When It’s Love’ and ‘Love Walks’ In and ‘Top Of The World’.”
In the end, Hagar shared a quiet, sobering truth: “He brought something out of me that just ain’t the same without him. At my age, you sit there and wonder: If Eddie was alive, could I reach that again? Now that dream is gone.”
