Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Now a Vegas headliner, Sammy Hagar is ready to rock the Strat

Sammy Hagar

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Sammy Hagar performs at Beer Park at Paris Las Vegas to launch his new cocktail brand.

Sun on the Strip

Sammy Hagar

Brock talks with Strat resident headliner Sammy Hagar.

He’s fronted various rock bands including the legendary Van Halen and launched several successful businesses including the Cabo Wabo bar and restaurant chain and his own brands of tequila, rum and ready-to-drink canned cocktails. Now Sammy Hagar is beyond ready to tackle his next project, a Las Vegas headlining residency opening at the Strat Theater on October 29.

“I wrote a song [recently] called ‘Father Time,’ and there’s this line on there that goes, ‘When was the last time you did something for the first time?’,” Hagar says on this week’s Sun on the Strip. “I was inspired by all the downtime during COVID and I want to do some new things. This is one of ‘em, so here we go.”

“Sammy Hagar & Friends” has already sold out its first six dates in October and November, but the “Red Rocker” is already making plans to continue his residency in the new year.

“The team at the Strat has been awesome and they’ve really allowed us to come in and do what we want to do,” he says. “That room is great and I looked at every room that was available in Las Vegas. My fans, the Redheads, they come from all over the world and you want them to be in a place like Vegas where they can have a good time before and after the show. The experience in Vegas is like no other town. If you can’t find something to do here, you’re either broke or in a really bad mood.”

Hagar intends to bring in loads of special musical guests and play a different set every night at the Strat. “One night we’re going to come out and play Van Halen for an hour, then start cherry picking. Another night we might just play Montrose, which will be fun because that’s only about 35 minutes of music. I want to do it with a different theme every night and really mix it up.”

He last stirred things up on the Strip in September when he played a rooftop concert at Beer Park at Paris Las Vegas and spent plenty of time at his Cabo Wabo spot at the Miracle Mile Shops at Planet Hollywood while launching Sammy’s Beach Bar Cocktail Co., his latest beverage brand, which is a canned sparkling rum drink.

“Everybody is trying to make these at 99 calories and I worked on it for over a year, making the alcohol lower so there’d be more flavor and less calories, but then it was so low that you don’t get a buzz,” Hagar says. “Then I said … I’m going to go until it tastes good, just upping the flavor and using pure agave sweeteners. I landed on this one and it’s really good, and it’s 130 calories. It’s the best 30 calories you ever put in your mouth.”

Find this week’s Vegas entertainment news, interviews and more every Wednesday with the Sun on the Strip.