Sammy Hagar says the way Joe Satriani played Van Halen’s Ain’t Talkin Bout Love is “the best that song has sounded in many, many years”
Sammy Hagar believes his Best Of All Worlds tour – featuring Joe Satriani on guitar – has been breathing new life into some iconic Van Halen songs.
READ MORE: “I can’t do this. This is too hard”: Why Joe Satriani backed out of a planned Van Halen tribute with David Lee Roth and Alex Van Halen before later joining Sammy Hagar’s Best Of All Worlds tour
Hagar even went as far as to claim that the tribute lineup, which also features Michael Anthony on bass, has been making a pre-Hagar Van Halen classic sound better than it has in a long time.
“I like when Mikey sings Ain’t Talkin’ ’bout Love,” Hagar tells Rolling Stone. “He’s singing it so good now, and the way Joe’s playing it…it’s the best that song has sounded in many, many years, and I’m not criticizing anybody. I’m just saying we’re bringing that mother home, and I get to go sit down and ice my knees and my back.”
Another David Lee Roth era cut that made it into the set was Panama, and Hagar has been having plenty of fun taking on the track himself.
“Panama, I’ll sing that song every day of my life. It’s a great song,” he explains. “I love doing covers. In Cabo I do Led Zeppelin all the time. I do Cream, I do the Stones. I like to play my favorite songs, and Panama would have to be one of them.”
Hagar is asked whether he’s ever talked about doing more Roth-era songs but the Red Rocker seems to know his limits.
“Oh, that’s enough, three, and that’s because we played so long. If we only played an hour and a half, I would just do one, and it would always be Panama,” he says.
Elaborating on what Satriani brought to the table to elevate songs like Ain’t Talkin’ Bout Love, he added: “He’s so good and he’s so focused. Joe’s a very serious musician, and so he took it serious, and he really brought it. Every night, I’m sitting there watching him do his long solos and stuff in a song like 5150. And I’m watching the fans and they’re checking him out, man. Their jaws are dropping, like, ‘Holy shit, he’s doing it’.”
Of course, Satriani’s had a Herculean task on his hands, playing music that Eddie Van Halen himself had made famous. Hagar is keen to press home that he knew better than to imitate the late guitarist, but acknowledged his iconic style while still interpreting the music in his own way.
“He brought his own thing to the music, but he honored the most important parts, the essence of the songs, and the essence of the solos,” Hagar continues. He didn’t play note for note. Some things were almost note for note, because a solo like Jump is so iconic, Ain’t Talkin’ ’bout Love is iconic. You can’t stray from that. Other than that, when Eddie jammed, Joe knew he was jamming and Joe jammed.
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