After months of build-up, Sammy Hagar and co. kickstarted their Best Of All Worlds tour in style over the weekend, with a Van Halen-heavy setlist.
Just over 70% of the 21-song set performed at West Palm Beach, FL on July 13 saw Joe Satriani stepping into his idol, Eddie Van Halen’s shoes – with Sammy Hagar, Montrose, and Chickenfoot material also getting an airing.
The tour features Hagar joining forces with Joe Satriani, Michael Anthony, and Jason Bonham to perform David Lee Roth-era tracks and Hagar hits alike – making for a comprehensive tribute to all things Van Halen.
Launching into Good Enough, the set's foot-stomping opener, Satch looked in his element pounding out the song’s sizeable riffs on his chrome Ibanez signature. He revealed last week that the light-catching axe would be his main guitar for the tour.
The guitarist hasn’t taken his role lightly. Footage captured from opening night shows a wall of 3rd Power Dragon amps decorating the stage behind him. Satriani has worked with the firm on a custom tube amp that can replicate Eddie Van Halen’s 1986 guitar tone.
Speaking to Guitar World back in November, Satriani believed a fairly dramatic shake-up of his live rig was needed ahead of the tour, saying:
“My rig doesn't work because my live rig is designed so that I can play above the 12th fret on the first strings and still have everything sound fat. I realized there's no way to play the Van Halen stuff on my rig – it's a different animal.”
The move has seen him also make some mods to several guitars, including loading a Sustainiac neck pickup and a kill switch into an EVH Frankenstein. But it's still his Satriani’s own signature guitars that are taking most of the limelight.
While the Chrome model was employed for the likes of Poundcake and Ain't Talkin' 'bout Love, his Red model, which he said was “a bit sweeter” for its basswood body during a guitar rundown last week, was picked up for a Michael Anthony-led Why Can't This Be Love, Judgement Day, and Summer Nights, which was played live for the first time since 2006.
As he previously stated, his Black Ibanez was entrusted for the chorus-lathered licks of 5150, and Satch has captured Eddie’s guitar tone here with aplomb.
A rendition of Satriani's own Satch Boogie let the guitarist return to more familiar territory, while Heavy Metal and I Can't Drive 55, two of Hagar's biggest solo songs, featured late on.
A medley taking in Space Station #5, Chickenfoot’s Oh Yeah, and Jump chartered three very different eras of Hagar’s career, but it was Van Halen’s When It’s Love that got the honor of closing the show.
Notably, as much as Satriani adores Eddie’s guitar playing, there is a pleasing degree of his personality seeping into these legendary displays of guitar acrobatics. Satch has painstakingly assembled a fit-for-purpose live rig, but this isn’t pure mimicry.
Beneath all that, though, is a Van Halen superfan simply having a blast.
“It’s one thing to listen,” he said during November’s chat with GW, “but when you play these songs, you go, ‘It’s no wonder Eddie had so much fun playing this’.”
The tour continues with three more shows this week. Head to Sammy Hagar for the full schedule and tickets.
Best of All Worlds first show setlist
- Good Enough
- Poundcake
- Runaround
- There's Only One Way to Rock
- Judgement Day
- Panama
- 5150
- Summer Nights
- Ain't Talkin' 'bout Love (Michael Anthony on lead vocals)
- Top of the World
- Best of Both Worlds
- Satch Boogie
- The Seventh Seal
- Right Now
- Why Can't This Be Love
- Eagles Fly
- Mas Tequila
- Heavy Metal
- I Can't Drive 55
- Space Station #5 / Oh Yeah / Jump
- When It's Love
