Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Sammy Hagar returns to Dolby Live at Park MGM in March with The Best of All Worlds, his hits-packed residency featuring Michael Anthony, Joe Satriani, Kenny Aronoff and Rai Thistlethwayte. Las Vegas Magazine caught up with the Red Rocker to talk about setlists, Van Halen’s legacy and his future in Las Vegas.

You’re building setlists night by night. How does that work?

I do it right before the show. We have about 50 songs on these little magnetic strips, and we just start flipping them around. The triple-A hits have to be in the set because someone paid to see that song, but the deep tracks, we alternate them every night. I love it. It keeps the band fresh and happy.

What makes Dolby Live the perfect room for this residency?

It feels big enough to be exciting, like you’re playing a real concert, and it feels intimate enough to make you feel comfortable, like everybody’s got a good seat and you're there with your friends. MGM carries all my booze—they know my fans want the full experience. You can’t do that on the road. You can go do the best show you can do, but you can’t have all those little elements in a row.

This is billed as your “deepest dive yet” into the Van Halen catalog. Why now?

No. 1 was Eddie's death. I started thinking, geez, we're never going to play together again. Then Alex Van Halen made an announcement that he can’t play drums anymore due to his health. It's so necessary to carry the legacy of that music on. The Van Hagar catalog, I wrote every song with Eddie. Eddie wrote the music, I wrote the lyrics and the melodies. Those people who grew up with that music, they’ve got to hear it again.

Do those songs mean something different to you now?

A song like “Right Now”—every time I sing it, I think how it’s about right now, because something else is happening right now than what was happening in ’91 when we wrote it. And “Love Walks In,” I wrote about aliens and automatic writing. Now all this UFO stuff is coming out, and when I sing that song, I have a feeling it’s touching people differently.

You’ve built quite an empire in Las Vegas—Cabo Wabo Cantina, Sammy’s Island at the Palms. How does the residency fit into the complete Sammy Hagar experience?

It does become a mecca when I play here. You can stop by the Cabo Wabo, you can hang out at my joint, drink my booze, listen to my music and eat my food. And guess what? If you’re sick of my joint, you're not going to be sitting around going, “What are we going to do?”

After these 11 shows in 2026, what’s next? You've said this is your idea of retirement, but knowing you, that doesn’t mean slowing down completely.

I want to be the oldest living performing rock star someday. I love it because I want to do it. I want people to go, “Holy sh*t, he's 90 and he hit that note.” I think I’ll always be able to squeeze a dozen shows out of Las Vegas till I’m 100.

Park MGM, 8 p.m. March 18, 20-21, starting at $126 plus tax and fee. parkmgm.mgmresorts.com

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