Joe Satriani recently discussed accepting Sammy Hagar’s offer to join The Best Of All Worlds tour in 2024. He revealed his one key condition during an interview on The Weekly Show With David J. Maloney.
The guitarist explained how Hagar approached him with a unique touring concept. The concept would showcase multiple eras of rock music rather than simply tribute performances.
“When it seemed like what was going on in the [Van Halen] family and the bandmembers was getting really out of hand, Sam had called and he surprised me by saying, ‘Look, I know you’ve been going through this thing with those guys, and it’s insane and everything. How about if we did a retrospective tour — not an Eddie Van Halen tribute thing — but where we get to do Montrose, Hagar, Chickenfoot, my stuff and his era, and even some David Lee Roth era of Van Halen?'” Satriani said.
The proposal appealed to Satriani because of his existing relationship with Hagar. It also offered creative freedom.
“And I liked that idea, because I know Sam and Mike very well — they’re just super-great people and they’re always fun to hang out with and play with — and then I liked the idea that we would create our own sound as a band. And we kind of had it with Chickenfoot, so it felt like we weren’t trying to copy anybody else,” he continued. “But still, just technically, I had to remind Sam, I said, ‘Sam, I’m gonna tell you what I told Alex, which is I don’t really play like Eddie,’ but he kind of knew it and we played for so long together. He said, ‘That’s not what it’s about. We’re not gonna do that. Let the imitators do that. Leave that for social media.’ And so I thought, ‘Cool. Okay.'”
Satriani also addressed the technical challenges of adapting his equipment and sound for such a diverse setlist.
“However, it was difficult to make the equipment transition, and that that required not only a lot of money, but just a lot of changing of direction, of equipment to try to figure out, how do you play stuff within one show that is so old, like the Montrose stuff, and then slowly transition… Even from ‘Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love’ to ‘Poundcake’, the sound of the guitar is just so different. So we had long talks about that, like, literally the whole band’s gonna suddenly change their sound? And we thought, ‘No, we shouldn’t do that. We should just find a sound.'”
The guitarist’s condition was clear: he would not attempt to imitate Eddie Van Halen’s playing style. Instead, he would bring his own musical identity to the performances.
This conversation ultimately led to one of 2024’s most successful rock tours. The tour brought together legendary musicians for a celebration of multiple decades of rock history.
Xounts reported that The Best of All Worlds Tour 2024 featured Sammy Hagar, Joe Satriani, Michael Anthony, Jason Bonham, and Rai Thistlethwayte. The tour primarily showcased Van Halen’s catalog from the Hagar era. The tour lineup represented a reunion of sorts, with Michael Anthony returning on bass after being part of Van Halen during Hagar’s tenure. Jason Bonham provided drums, continuing his work with Hagar’s Circle project.
The tour proved to be a major success throughout the summer of 2024. Satriani’s official website documented that the tour ran from July through August 2024. Notable stops included West Palm Beach, Tampa, Charlotte, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Ohio, Toronto, Michigan, Illinois, Las Vegas, Colorado, Houston, Arkansas, and Cincinnati. The extensive tour schedule demonstrated the high demand for this unique collaboration.
Critics and audiences responded enthusiastically to the performances. Glide Magazine noted that Satriani proved more than capable of handling Van Halen’s complex fretwork with “crunching chords, flashy solos, and endless sustain and squeals.” The review noted that audiences responded enthusiastically to Van Halen hits like “Runaround,” “Why Can’t This Be Love,” and deeper cuts such as “The Seventh Seal” and “Judgement Day.”
At the Tampa show on July 14, Hagar expressed his satisfaction with the band’s performance. He told the audience, “We started this tour last night, and I think we’ve surpassed that show.” The setlist featured an extensive range of material spanning Hagar’s career. It included Van Halen classics like “Poundcake,” “Panama,” and “Jump,” Hagar solo hits such as “5150” and “There’s Only One Way to Rock,” and even Satriani’s instrumental showcase “Satch Boogie.”
