With Aerosmith recently announcing their retirement from performing, tributes and memories have been coming out of the woodwork from fans and friends of the band alike. Sammy Hagar honored the legendary classic rock band at a recent stop on his The Best of All Worlds Tour, covering a Beatles song.
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During his encore in Detroit, Hagar first addressed the crowd. “We had some crazy news today,” he said. “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. What a great f—in’ loss.”
Additionally, Hagar shared a story of his band Montrose opening for Aerosmith in 1974. “We didn’t know who they were and they sold out Cobo Hall [in Detroit] and I’m going, ‘Who the f–k are these guys?’” he said.
Hagar continued, “So we did our show. We did an encore and we played [the Beatles’] ‘Helter Skelter’ for our encore and Aerosmith comes on and they open with ‘Helter Skelter.’ Steven [Tyler] and I have been friends ever since.”
Sammy Hagar Pays Tribute to “Friends” Aerosmith After They Announce Retirement
Sammy Hagar concluded his story by saying, “Long story short, we love those guys. We all grew up with those guys—you grew up with them, we grew up with them.” He shared an anecdote of being in competition with Aerosmith while he was in Van Halen, joking that “they’ve been our competitors to Van Halen for f—in’ 10 years, us saying ‘F–k those guys!’”
He then clarified, “No, no, we really like ’em. It’s just that we were mad at them.” Still, even though the two bands were allegedly in competition, Hagar said of the retirement, “What a shame. It’s a sad thing.”
Hagar then shared that he agreed with Steven Tyler and the band’s decision to retire from performing. “Honest to God, my hat goes off to one of the greatest rock ‘n’ roll singers of all time, Steven Tyler, for saying, ‘I can’t sing anymore. I quit.’ F–k yes!” he said. “Listen, that’s honorable. That’s f—in’ honorable. The day I can’t sing anymore I will f—in’ do the same thing, and that’s what a lot of other motherf—ers should have done a long time ago. So let’s do one for them. Let’s do one for Aerosmith.”
Hagar and his band replaced their usual encore song, Montrose’s “Space Station #5,” with the Beatles’ “Helter Skelter,” recalling the time they opened for Aerosmith in 1974.
Featured Image by Brandon Nagy/Shutterstock
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