Sammy Hagar says he’s all-in for Pacific Airshow and Afterburner Music Festival in Huntington Beach

When Sammy Hagar was approached to play the after-party at the Pacific Airshow at Huntington City Beach, he was all-in.

The U.S. Navy Blue Angels, Canadian Forces Snowbirds, U.S. Air Force, Army and Marine Corps teams will be the high-flying stars of the day as they perform breathtaking stunts and jumps in the sky just above the Pacific Ocean Oct. 1-3, but Sammy Hagar & The Circle are stoked to keep the party going during the two-day Afterburner Music Festival, Oct. 1-2.

“Those jets fly upside down and side-by-side at 400 miles an hour and there’s the noise and this rush watching them do all of these crazy things,” Hagar said during a recent phone interview. “Then we get to come on and play music after that? Come on, that’s the best warm-up in the world.”

The Afterburner Music Festival will take place immediately following the Pacific Airshow in a fenced-off area on the sand. Hagar & The Circle, featuring Jason Bonham, Michael Anthony and Vic Johnson, will headline Friday night on a bill with jam band Umphrey’s McGee and cover group 90’s Rockshow. On Saturday, country star Sam Hunt will perform alongside rock band X Ambassadors and country and pop singer Cassadee Pope. DJ Mark Moreno will also perform both evenings. There will also be special nighttime aerial jump routines by Red Bull Air Force in between acts during the music festival.

Hagar, a longtime Orange County resident, has a love and appreciation for the area, having hosted his own High Tide Beach Party at Huntington State Beach in 2018. He also has a strong connection with The Blue Angels, who appeared in Van Halen’s Hagar-era 1986 music video “Dreams.” Though he’s attended airshows across the U.S. and is in awe of what these pilots can do, Hagar said he has declined numerous offers to hop in for a ride or join a team in jumping from a plane.

“I’m the biggest chicken in the world,” he said with a laugh. “I’m afraid of the dark. I’m not jumping out of no plane. ‘Hey, Sammy, wanna go for a ride?’ No, I do not. They’ve got these new jets, too, that are even faster and can do more crazy stuff. Honest to God, I do not want to go upside down at a hundred miles an hour and 50 feet off the ground. I don’t see any reason for me to do that.”

Afterburner also kicks off Hagar’s birthday month. The singer, who turns 74 on Oct. 13, typically throws his multi-evening Sammy Hagar Birthday Bash with fans at his Cabo Wabo Cantina in Cabo San Lucas. However, due to the rise in COVID-19 cases in that area, he’s relocating the event to Avalon on Catalina Island, which he said has a similar good-time vibe.

Last year’s concert was filmed live from the island for a pay-per-view event, but diehard fans were able to pull up on boats and drop anchor just offshore to hear the band perform. He almost postponed the taping since it came just two days after his former bandmate and Van Halen guitarist Eddie Van Halen died of cancer on Oct. 6, 2020.

“There was this dark cloud over the first rehearsal night,” Hagar recalled. “But the next day, Mike [Anthony, former bassist for Van Halen] and I just looked at each other and said, ‘We have a job here to carry this music on.’ We said, ‘Let’s do it and let’s do this right.’ So when we finally did the show, it was awesome. There were maybe 500 people all together on all the boats and they were partying and blowing their horns. It was a lot of fun.”

This year’s in-person Birthday Bash will take over the Catalina Casino Ballroom Oct. 7-9. To attend the festivities, fans must show proof of full vaccination against COVID-19 and masks must be worn while indoors unless eating or drinking. (Afterburner Music Festival does not have these requirements.)

“I’m concerned about not spreading the virus,” Hagar said, adding that he has more confidence in the safety of these events because they are outdoors, with one being on a beach and the other being under a pavilion that has three walls that slide open to create an indoor/outdoor space with plenty of room for social distancing.

During the pandemic, Hagar spent a good chunk of time at home, tending to his garden and swapping drink and appetizer recipes with his buddy and fellow restaurateur Guy Fieri. After a year and a half off the road, he said it’s amazing to be back as the band has already played a few shows across the country, which he said have been some of the best shows of his life.

“I feel like I’m in the Beatles, man,” he said. “Every time I step on stage, people are so into it and I can’t believe it. It’s so inspiring and it almost feels like when we first started doing this …That feeling where you realized people were into it and you started to get fans and started to get famous. The people have been singing at these shows, like every fricking word, all night long. I almost feel like I’m just cheerleading. I could get one of those batons like an orchestra leader and just let the audience do their thing.”

Hagar & The Circle kept their musical chops sharp during the pandemic by virtually sharing a video series of cover songs dubbed “Lockdown 2020” that featured Bob Marley & The Wailers’ “Three Little Birds,” Buffalo Springfield’s “For What It’s Worth” and The Who’s “Won’t Get Fooled Again.” Since the COVID-19 lockdown lasted much longer than anyone expected, Hagar said the band soon realized they had an entire album of covers. They released that collection earlier this year.

“When I went back and listened to those songs it was like, ‘Wow, we really progressed into something,’” he said. “We really developed a new sound for this band. It’s just really unique, warm, raw and cool. It was a really creative time and made us all even more creative. We were thinking together, talking together and playing our instruments together and it was really special. It was a way to get around the pandemic and, hey, whatever makes the fans happy. It was actually wonderful and I’d do something like that again in a second.”

Afterburner Music Festival

With: Sammy Hagar & The Circle, Umphrey’ McGee, 90’s Rockshow, Sam Hunt, X Ambassadors, Cassadee Pope and DJ Mark Moreno

When: 4-10 p.m. Oct. 1-2 (following the Pacific Airshow)

Where: Huntington City Beach, 21529 Pacific Coast Highway, Huntington Beach

Tickets: $69-$299 at afterburnermusicfestival.com

Sammy Hagar’s Birthday Bash

When: 5 p.m. Oct. 7 VIP acoustic show; 8 p.m. Oct. 8-9

Where: Catalina Casino, Avalon on Catalina Island

Tickets: $502 for Oct. 7; $74 Oct. 8-9 at Ticketmaster.com