Sammy Hagar recently posted a video on his official YouTube channel, recalling how he bruised his ego while trying to show off his David Lee Roth jump on stage.
A brief mention of Roth might flood any Van Halen fan’s mind with a still image where the singer’s spreading his legs and jumping three feet in the air on stage, leaving the crowd in awe with his showmanship. So, when Hagar, possibly influenced by his predecessor, set his mind to doing a few tricks himself while on stage in Montrose, he decided to go for the jump.
The rocker also had just met Edgar Winter and was really pumped about that, so after a guttural scream into his mic, he started running towards the stage ramp leading to the audience, split his legs, and jumped into the air as much as he could. However, things didn’t go how he wished, as the crowd was rather confused than thrilled and didn’t catch him when he landed on the ground.
They also didn’t help him get up and make his way to the stage as well, and Sammy didn’t really know what to do at that point. Still, he carried on with the show while trying to hide his embarrassment, not only because he couldn’t impress the audience but also because he wasn’t wearing any underwear when he spread his legs and jumped.
The singer’s words, recalling the incident:
“Have I had any embarrassing moments on stage… me? Someone that’s been in the business for almost 50 years? Yes, sir, ma’am, I have. In Montrose, I was so green, and Edgar Winter, big superstar, dressed all in satin, got diamond and jewelry all over him, he was really into the glitter rock thing.
He comes to the show. I meet him before the show, and I’m going, ‘Whoo,’ I’m taking a picture with Edgar Winter, I’m starstruck. In the opening song, I come out running, [imitates the melody], I go the big scream, and there was an eagle ramp that went into the audience. We were opening for somebody; it was a big show.
I come flying on my knees into the audience, and it wasn’t like in the days when I was a superstar, and fans started grabbing me; people moved back. People weren’t even helping me to get back on stage; they were like, ‘What an idiot.’ I jumped and split my legs in the air, splits jump, my cr*tch came out of my pants, as I was not wearing underwear…”
While Hagar couldn’t help himself and do a stage trick, perhaps, his timing wasn’t right since he wasn’t a well-known figure in the rock scene just yet. However, that incident scored its place in his mind as that one embarrassing moment of his life and made a fun storytime.
