Sammy Hagar Rocks Beatles Classic In Tribute To Aerosmith

08-04-2024

Former Van Halen frontman Sammy Hagar paid tribute to Aerosmith during the encore of the Best Of Both Worlds Tour stop in Clarkston, Michigan on Friday night (August 2nd), a few hours after the legendary Boston rockers announced that they were retiring from touring due to frontman Steven Tyler's vocal injury.

As Hagar prepared to launch into the Beatles classic "Helter Skelter" at the Pine Knob Music Theatre performance he took a few moments to address the big news of the day. He told the audience, "We had some crazy news today. We got here this afternoon sometime and we're all sitting around backstage and a friend of ours that works for Aerosmith came and said, 'Yeah, Aerosmith called retirement today. They quit. They stopped.' God bless 'em. It's a horrible thing. It's a horrible thing. What a great f***ing loss.

"I gotta tell ya, one of the times in 1974, Montrose was playing Cobo, and we were opening for Aerosmith, and we didn't know who they were, and they sold out Cobo, and I'm going, 'Who the f*** are these guys?'

"So, we did our show, we did an encore, and we played 'Helter Skelter' for our encore. And Aerosmith comes on and they opened with 'Helter Skelter'. Steven and I have been friends ever since.

"Long story short, we love those guys. We all grew up with those guys. You grew up with them, we grew up with them, Mike and I. They've been our competitors to Van Halen for f***ing 10 years. You know what I'm saying? 'F*** those guys.' No, no, no, but we really do like them. It's just that we're mad at them.

"But anyway, what a shame. It's a sad thing, but honest to God, my hat goes off to one of the greatest rock and roll singers of all time, Mister Steven Tyler, for saying, 'I can't sing anymore. I quit.'

"F*** yes. Listen, that's honorable. That's f***ing honorable. The day I can't sing anymore, I will f***ing do the same thing. And that's what a lot of other motherf***ers should have did a long time ago.

"So let's do one. Let's do one for them. Let's do one for Aerosmith." The Video Vault shared video of the "Helter Skelter" performance, check it out below: