Sammy Hagar says Alex Van Halen won’t tour because he “just doesn’t like playing without his brother”

Sammy Hagar has addressed Alex Van Halen’s reluctance to tour, saying that he understands the reasons for his absence.

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Hagar is set to head out on the road on the upcoming Best Of All Worlds tour this summer with Joe Satriani, Michael Anthony and Jason Bonham. The outfit will be performing tracks from Van Halen along with material from supergroup Chickenfoot (originally formed of Hagar, Anthony, Satriani, and drummer Chad Smith) and The Circle (Hagar, Anthony, drummer Jason Bonham and guitarist Vic Johnson.)

In a new interview with AZ Central about the tour, Hagar comments on his desire to eventually reunite with the Van Halen drummer, but got why it wasn’t going to happen for the foreseeable.

“Mike and I, 20 years ago, did a reunion. And it’s been 20 years this year,” he says [via Ultimate Guitar]. “I’m going, I don’t have another 20 years to be waiting on Alex Van Halen, who’s the only guy left. So he didn’t want to do it? You know, he, I guess, just doesn’t like playing without his brother. Don’t blame him. God bless him.”

Eddie Van Halen passed away in October 2020 at the age of 65 after battling throat cancer for several years.

Hagar does say that he found an ideal alternative to play drums in Jason Bonham, whose father is Led Zeppelin’s John Bonham, “Alex’s hero”.

“Jason plays just like his dad,” says Hagar. “So it’s pretty much the music is gonna be served as good as it can be served today.”

Hagar previously extended an invitation to David Lee Roth to join the tour during an appearance on The Howard Stern Show in November. “We’re gonna invite every musician in every town,” he says. “First of all, whenever you play, if there’s a guitar player in town, no matter what city it is, they come out to see Joe, just like they used to for Eddie [Van Halen].

“So if we’ve got other guitar players, we’ll get them involved, other singers, get them involved. If Alex Van Halen wants to jump up, if David Lee Roth wants to come out and join us, come on, motherfucker. You are welcome. This is about Van Halen.”

In response, Roth said he was “ready” to join the tour, but there doesn’t seem to be any further word on it.