Van Halen on “the worst show we’d ever done in our lives”
Of all of the bitter disagreements Van Halen weathered, two stood out for their sheer ridiculousness. Of the two contenders, a fight about soundtracking tornado action film Twister was up there, but an ill-fated 2004 reunion took the cake. A total relationship breakdown was triggered by tequila and tattoos, and following the disastrous show, Eddie Van Halen and Sammy Hagar never performed together again.
Van Halen has always been a band that cycled through various fractured periods, as is reflected in the separate eras of Hagar, David Lee Roth, and Gary Cherone. By 2004, the band was riding solely on their legacy, and although they had decided to reunite, things were more divided than ever. Bassist Michael Anthony had pleaded with Hagar to return, which he eventually warmed to after spending time with Alex Van Halen. Things were off-kilter from the get-go, however, with the Val Halen brothers forming their own faction and Hagar and Anthony the other.
Eddie was there reluctantly and, by this point, was struggling with alcohol addiction. Not relative to his increased drinking, Eddie almost ironically took significant issue with Hagar’s tequila brand, Cabo Wabo. Hagar tried to advertise the drink on their 2004 tour, which Eddie didn’t appreciate, particularly given that he’d gone to the length of tattooing his own brand on his arm. In his memoir, Red Rocker, Hagar reflected on the bubbling tensions: “He came up to me before the show and rolled my sleeve down over my Cabo Wabo tattoo,” he said.
Just before they were set to go on stage in Tucson, Arizona, things erupted into a tattoo-oriented Cold War. Hagar rolled his sleeve back up, revealing the priceless advertising real estate on his upper arm. “Don’t be fucking with my shirt, dude,” he warned. Eddie simply stepped back and showed off his own Van Halen tattoo, pointing at it at Hager’s and ominously declaring: “That thing ain’t gonna last,” gesturing to his own and saying: “See that? That’s better. That’s going to last longer.”
Eddie was wrong on both fronts. In 2007, Hagar sold shares of Cabo Wabo for an eye-watering sum of $80m, explaining to Ultimate Classic Rock that shareholders told him: “We love what you’ve done with this company, that’s why we want to get involved. If anything, get another tattoo.”
As for Valen Halen lasting longer, the shambolic efforts of Eddie on the Arizona show put paid to that. “It was the worst show we’d ever done in our lives,” Hagar later admitted. “Eddie played so bad […] They tell me he pulled some crazy shit on the plane home. My man was completely gone and out of it”.
While they made peace years after, that show was the final nail in the coffin, and they never played on the same stage again.
