Sammy Hagar gave fans a bit of a scare earlier this year when he released his new single, “Encore, Thank You, Goodnight.” Naturally, people wondered if maybe he was musically signaling his plans to retire.
But he quickly made it clear that it was in tribute to his old bandmate, Eddie Van Halen and simply, “a goodbye to that part of my life.” According to Hagar, there will be many more encores. This year, he debuted his new residency in Las Vegas, an experience which has been commemorated with an upcoming live album, due Oct. 10.
Sammy Hagar & The Best of All Worlds Band – The Residency collects 18 songs recorded during the run and finds the Red Rocker and his current bandmates, bassist and vocalist Michael Anthony, guitarist Joe Satriani, drummer Kenny Aronoff and keyboardist/vocalist Rai Thistlethwayte, in excellent form. As a band, they scream through a set that focuses heavily on Hagar’s years with Van Halen, while also making room for other parts of his career, both solo and with Montrose.
Listen to Sammy Hagar Perform ‘Summer Nights’ in Las Vegas
The Vegas residency continues in 2026 with dates starting in March. Hagar confirms he also has his eye on more new music, even though he’s conflicted on how and when fans might hear it.
“I do have some new songs I’ve written. I don’t know why. I’m not motivated to, [for example], block out the time and go do a new record,” he admits. “I’m just not motivated to do that, and I would never do it for business reasons, so I’ve got to wait until I’m totally motivated. But I finished about three songs just out of the ether. They came and I’m in love with one of them so much that it’s starting to motivate me to write more songs so I can make a new record, so people can hear this one song called ‘Addicted.'”
“I don’t know why I’m even telling you that title, because you may not hear it for a year, but I love making music,” he continues. “It’s just that, every time I make music, then all this stuff I have to do around it — taking the photos, making the video [and all of those kinds of things] — it takes so much of my time. You know, I want to spend more time on the beach and more time on stage.”
Sammy Also Has a New Collaboration With Chad Kroeger and Tommy Lee
While he’s tight-lipped beyond a few specifics, the Red Rocker turned some heads when a photo popped up on social media of him with Nickelback’s Chad Kroeger and Motley Crue drummer Tommy Lee. “That’s so crazy. It’s like, Chad wrote a great song. I mean a great song,” he enthuses. “He called me and said, ‘Dude, you know what a fan I am. I’ve been listening to you my whole life and and you’ve been such an inspiration. You always write these really upbeat songs. You know, about making people feel good and giving them encouragement [with songs] like ‘Dreams.'”
READ MORE: Sammy Hagar Recalls ‘Spiritual’ Inspiration for ‘Dreams’
Kroeger told him he’d written a song, thinking of him and channeling him vocally. According to Hagar, the Nickelback frontman used AI to take his own voice and make it sound like the former Van Halen frontman, so it would match up with how he himself would sing it. But the songwriter knew he had to get the real deal on board for the final recording. “He’s going, ‘Dude, I want you to sing on on the song.’ And I go, ‘Of course, I’ll sing on your song.’ So I go in and Tommy Lee, you know, was going to play a little drum part on there too, because they decided they wanted to get some other people and do this event. But I don’t want to give too much away, because this is Chad’s thing, this is Nickelback.”
The current world where you can make news on social media with no details is a source of amusement for both Hagar and the Nickelback songwriter. “Chad and I’ve been laughing about it ever since, because whenever you you put up an Instagram post that has no premeditated thought to it and it’s interesting enough, it blows up,” Hagar concludes. “It blew up, you know, it’s getting like, three million views and stuff. [But]it was just meant to be a quick little silly thing. And honestly, I was being honest — we don’t know what we’re doing, right? Who knows if it’ll even come out. We just went in the studio and just recorded a song.”
Sammy Hagar’s The Best of All Worlds residency in Las Vegas resumes Mar. 11 and will run through Mar. 21. A second round of dates will follow later in the year from Sept. 18 through Sept. 26. Ticket details are available at his official website.
Watch a Promo for Sammy Hagar’s 2026 Las Vegas Residency
The Best Song From Every Sammy Hagar Album
Solo or in a group, he proves there’s more than one way to rock.
Gallery Credit: Matthew Wilkening
