Rock icon Sammy Hagar has spoken about the reshaped U.K. leg of his “The Best Of All Worlds” tour, explaining that the updated routing reflects both lessons learned from his recent Las Vegas residency and a desire to create a more intimate live experience for fans.
Speaking in a new interview with The Neil Jones Rock Show on U.K.’s TotalRock, Hagar reflected on how his return to Britain after three decades helped spark the decision to rework the plans. His only recent U.K. appearance prior to the tour announcement was at the “Back To The Beginning” concert in Birmingham last July.
He said (as transcribed by Blabbermouth). “Well, the Ozzy [Osbourne] concert [at Villa Park] was what really provoked me to say, ‘I have to get back over there.’ When I walked out on stage, I was so nervous because I hadn’t been there in so long. I was saying, ‘Do these people remember me? Do they even know who I am?’ Sharon [Osbourne] and Ozzy personally asked me to be on that show, and I wouldn’t have turned it down for anything. But honestly, I was a little nervous about it. And when I went out there, I really felt a little bit under… It wasn’t like, ‘Sammy Hagar, yeah!’ It was, like, ‘Okay, let’s see what this guy’s still got.’ So, I told my manager the next day, I said, ‘I wanna go play the U.K. I have to,’ because there’s so many fans over there that probably grew up on my music, that are probably kind of too old to be going to concerts, and the younger people that really don’t know who I am. I can’t live with that. The music that I made with VAN HALEN, with MONTROSE, with CHICKENFOOT, my solo stuff, I think it’s too valuable to those that grew up on it to not go support it. So here I come.”
Originally announced earlier this year, the tour was set to bring Hagar and his band—guitarist Joe Satriani, former VAN HALEN bassist Michael Anthony, and drummer Kenny Aronoff—to some of the U.K.’s largest indoor venues, including Manchester’s AO Arena, Birmingham’s BP Pulse Live, Leeds’ First Direct Arena, and London’s O2 Arena.
However, the itinerary has since been significantly revised. The new routing shifts the focus to smaller, more intimate venues, including Wolverhampton’s Civic Hall, Manchester’s O2 Apollo, and a three-night London residency at the soon-to-open British Airways ARC.
Addressing the setlist and the reasoning behind the change, Hagar emphasized the appeal of a residency-style format and the freedom it gives the band on stage.
“Well, [it’s going to be] the best of all worlds. That’s what the whole thing is about. I love the fact that we get to do three shows in London. I love the fact that we’ve moved it to a smaller venue so it’ll be full instead of playing some big giant place that holds 12 [thousand] but there’s only 6,000 people there,” he explained. “The ambiance of that is so much different, and that’s why we changed it. Guilty as charged — we didn’t sell it out. I thought, ‘Oh, we’ll sell that out, no problem.’ I’m an honest guy, so I’m telling you that the idea of doing more of a residency like what we’ve been doing in Las Vegas where I have 400-plus songs I’ve written in my life, and I’m not gonna go out and play 14 songs, have an opening act. No, you only get to play an hour and a half, and the show’s over, I’m going, ‘Uh, this is not sitting right with me.’ So, the idea of playing three nights, especially in London, where we can do five or six different songs each night, and I just think that that’s… For someone that can afford to buy three tickets, which I know it’s tough, but they’re gonna get a lot. They’re gonna go, ‘Wow, I can’t believe they played that,’ ’cause we play deep tracks. We play a little MONTROSE, a little ‘Rock Candy’ or ‘Space Station #5‘ on a different night and whatever, play some of my solo stuff, ‘Heavy Metal’, ‘[There’s Only] One Way to Rock’, ‘Mas Tequila’, of course, that has to be played.”
The updated tour was influenced heavily by the success of Hagar’s Las Vegas residency at Dolby Live, which helped shape the more immersive, flexible approach to setlists and venue selection.
Promoters AEG previously explained that the shift was made to replicate that experience in the U.K., stating: “Inspired by the breakthrough success of his recent Las Vegas residency at Dolby Live, where advanced sound and immersive technology redefined the live experience, the July 2026 dates have been reconfigured to prioritise similar venues across the UK.”
Hagar also previously commented on the change in direction, adding: “After waiting 30 years to come back, we really wanted to get this right. Several factors pushed us toward revising this tour but after wrapping our Las Vegas residency last month at Dolby Live where the sound, the technology, and the more intimate size really lets us connect with the audiences, it was clear that we wanted to deliver an experience like that for our fans in England.
“When I heard our promoter was opening a similar tech-forward venue in London that really sealed the deal for me,” he continued. “Three nights, a fresh set every night, and I get to stay in London, one of my favourite cities in the world, for a week. That’s the Best of All Worlds!”
As part of the revised plans, JOAN JETT AND THE BLACKHEARTS—originally announced as support on the arena dates—will no longer appear on the U.K. run and will instead proceed with their own separate headline tour.
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