LAS VEGAS — He’d just played a sound check before a set at a new Las Vegas rock club and is mentally mapping a nine-show spree this spring on the Strip. He also wrapped a 33-date world tour in August.

There is no denying that Sammy Hagar is a rock ‘n’ roll marvel. But you wonder how long the 77-year-old Red Rocker can keep such an accelerated pace.

He wonders that, too, and is making allowances to keep rocking in ‘25 and beyond.

“I don’t think I want to go on tour anymore. I hate to say that, because I don’t want to piss my fans off,” Hagar said after sound-check at Caspian’s Cocktails & Caviar at Caesars Palace, where he was the surprise (well, unbilled) guest at Friday’s grand-opening party. “I’ll go out and do a one-off show and do things like that, but the residency is going to give me a good extension of my career. That’s what I’m hoping for.”

Don’t be misled by the title. This is a residency, not a tour. As Hagar says, this run is an ideal format to continue his live-performance career.

“With this, I don’t have to travel, I don’t have to unpack and pack and get on an airplane every day,” Hagar said. “You know, at my age, it hurts my shoulders to do all this. And I have to perform. I’m a performer, at the end of the day.”

Hagar says the Dolby Live dates won’t be his final such extended engagement in Las Vegas.

“I keep telling my manager, ‘Don’t take any tours, let me do this residency,’” Hagar said. “If I like it enough, I’ll do another one. And if that’s successful I’ll do another one, and I can squeeze a few more years out of my career.”

The “Best of All Worlds” set list will draw from the tour’s song roster, heavy with Van Halen classics during the Hagar era (“Best of Both Worlds,” “Right Now”) with solo favorites (“There’s Only One Way to Rock,” and the one about violating the speed limit). Hagar is joined by his all-star, touring band of Van Halen original bassist, Michael Anthony; guitar great Joe Satriani; and thunder-clap drummer Kenny Aronoff.

A new song, written by Hagar and guitar great Joe Satriani, “Thank You,” is planned for the shows. The song is on target to be released just before the run. As is his custom, Hagar wants to bring the buoyancy.

“If I bring home what I’m going to try to do, it’s for people to leave my shows now with the warmest, happiest feeling,” Hagar said. “This is about the right lyrics, the right performance, to feel the love. I want them to feel it, feel it, feel it.”

___________

©2025 Las Vegas Review-Journal. Visit reviewjournal.com.. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.