The Red Rocker has been spending a lot of time in Las Vegas lately. Sammy Hagar has always bounced onto the Strip for a quick rock concert and to check up on his Cabo Wabo Cantina location at Miracle Mile Shops at Planet Hollywood Resort, but he’s committing to a bigger party in the desert with his new Sammy Hagar and Friends residency show at The STRAT. The former Van Halen frontman is bringing his all-star band known as The Circle to create a nonstop musical party (with plenty of surprise special guests in the works), and the first of three weekend runs begins Oct. 29-30. Hagar says he’d like to be back in Vegas on a regular basis in 2022, too.

You recently launched the Sammy’s Beach Bar Sparkling Rum Cocktails right here in Las Vegas. Why did you decide to do that?

I really got into this business because I think I can do a better job, the same reason I got into tequila and the same reason I got into rum. It’s the first sparkling rum cocktail, so I’m in front right now. In 1988, I started making Cabo Wabo Tequila, one of the first pure agave tequilas, and I’m proud of that, but it cracks me up when I read something that says George Clooney or somebody started (celebrity tequila brands). It’s like, oh really? But to spring into this (canned cocktail) category, I knew I’d have to make a lot of noise, and Vegas is the place for that.

Have you ever considered moving to Vegas?

I’ve considered it, but everywhere I live, I’ve got an ocean. I just can’t stand not having a big piece of water I can walk on every day. It’s kind of like my therapy. There’s something about the ocean that allows me to grow old gracefully, to stay healthy and in shape, and to be rejuvenated.

Was the downtime a creative period for you?

COVID was such a negative, disturbing and confusing time, I could not write a song. I practiced a lot, played a lot of music around the house and came up with ideas, like this new cocktail idea, and I had a lot of time to work on it. But I said yes to a lot of things and came up with a lot of things I wanted to do when the world did open back up. I didn’t want to go back to the same old grind. And as soon as I went out and started doing shows again, I’ve been writing songs like crazy.

Your residency at The STRAT is one of those projects. What are these shows going to be like?

Nobody is going to hear the same thing twice. One night we’re going to come out and play Van Halen for an hour, then start cherry picking. Another night, we might just play Montrose, which will be fun because that’s only about 35 minutes of music. I want to do it with a different theme every night and really mix it up.

You’ve already said how you’re really going to transform The STRAT Theater into a Cabo-style beach party, which is something different for a Vegas show.

The team at The STRAT has been awesome and they’ve really allowed us to come in and do what we want to do. That room is great and I looked at every room that was available in Las Vegas. My fans, the Redheads, they come from all over the world, and you want them to be in a place like Vegas where they can have a good time before and after the show. The experience in Vegas is like no other town. If you can’t find something to do here, you’re either broke or in a really bad mood.

The STRAT, 702.380.7777

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