Sammy Hagar No Longer Wants To Tour But Is Not Retiring

04-30-2025

Sammy Hagar is launching his Best of All Worlds Las Vegas Residency tonight (April 30th) at Dolby Live At Park MGM, and he hints in a new interview that his touring days may be behind him. But that doesn't mean he won't continue to rock the stage.

The UCR Podcast caught up with him last week as he prepared for the residency and released his new single "Encore, Thank You, Goodnight". Given the title, he was asked about a farewell tour and Sammy responded, "Well, there ain't going to be a tour. I'm doing a residency, and it's not a farewell residency. But I must tell you, I've been hinting at this.

"I would never say I'm retiring, because I don't know how to do that, number one, and I don't want to do that, number two. I'd probably be lying if I said I was and did -- and then I'd come back like everybody else. I don't want to do all that. But I took the residency, which I'd been hesitant about playing the same place, same building, that many nights in a row, early on in my career. But now I love it.

"I used to hate it when Van Halen played four nights at Madison Square Garden. I'm going, 'F***, I gotta worry about what I said last night.' You know, I don't want to play the same songs and we don't have time to rehearse. I'm one of those kind of guys. I'm very nervous about repeating myself. So a residency sounded like a nightmare for that. I said, 'Man, we've got to play different songs every night,' but now I'm going, well, if I don't have to travel, I'll be fresher, I'll be able to eat better, I'll be able to sleep better and I'll be fresher for the shows. I think maybe it's time for me to do that and see if that works. If that works, I can continue on."

Sammy said that he likes the idea of doing "two or three residencies a year," but he is unlikely to go back out on tour. "I don't want to do that to myself, my body and my voice. I'm too emotional. If I get sick and I have to cancel shows, f***, I lay in bed and cry like a baby. I hate it. I feel so sorry for my fans. I care so much about my fans that I just don't want to go on tour. Well, [people will say] if you care for your fans, you gotta go and play for me. Yeah, I know, but I care too much to go out there and maybe do a bad show or have to cancel.

"So the residency, fingers crossed, prayers that everything will be great and I'll be happy and fresh when it's over. I'll feel like, 'Man, I could do a couple more shows,' not like when I come off tour and go, 'I'm never going to do that again.' So I'm telling you the truth that it's not a farewell tour, and that's the last thing [I'd ever want to do]. I would also say a farewell tour, those sound like a money grab to me. I would just do [a tour[ and then I would say bye after I did it."