Sammy Hagar reveals plans to quit touring
Former Van Halen frontman Sammy Hagar has revealed he plans to take a step back from touring, but will continue to still play live.
Hagar toured extensively throughout 2024 and is set to resume his live schedule on January 17th with a performance in Scottsdale, Arizona. He’ll also play a handful of dates over the next few months, including a set at Stagecoach Festival, before embarking upon a residency in Las Vegas which starts on April 27th at Dolby Live.
The rock vocalist has deliberately slowed down the number of dates in his calendar due to his reluctance to tour heavily, revealing to the Miami Herald, “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, 77, believes residencies are the way forward for his career during his latter years. He explains, “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.”
The main incentive for Hagar is that residencies allow him to stay in the same place and take away the need for him to travel. The former Van Halen singer stated, “With this, I don’t have to travel, I don’t have to unpack and pack and get on an airplane every day. 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.”
Although Hagar’s run of shows at the Dolby Live in Las Vegas is set to conclude in May, however, the vocalist has promised to return to Sin City for more shows. “I keep telling my manager, ‘Don’t take any tours, let me do this residency,'” Hagar said.
Looking ahead to the future, he added, “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.”
In recent years, Hagar has remained active as a recording artist despite his touring commitments, releasing his last album, Crazy Times, in 2022.
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