Sammy Hagar has another surprise in store for Van Halen fans. Shortly after revealing he will play the band’s 1988 album OU812 in its entirety in Las Vegas, he has added an “almost forgotten” deep cut from Van Halen’s 1995 album Balance.
In a recent post to his and Michael Anthony’s Van Halen/Other Half Facebook page, Hagar shared a live clip of Van Halen performing the song “Aftershock” from Balance. Hagar recalled the difficult times the band was in at the time it was performed while wondering what could have been if the members had taken a break rather than getting back to work. As a result of the difficult times, Hagar had almost forgotten this hidden gem from his last album recorded with the band. Rediscovering the clip prompted he and his bandmates in the Circle (bassist Anthony, guitarist Vic Johnson and drummer Jason Bonham) to add it to upcoming setlists.
Hagar wrote: “Well, I nearly totally forgot about this song. It was a rough time in the band. I had just gone through a three-year, brutal divorce, and obviously wasn’t concerned about my stage outfit hahaha!!! those are actually Red Rocker overalls, a prototype. Thank God I never made them hahaha. That’s a bad ass track we will be adding to the Circle setlist. As good as we played on the Balance Tour, there was a darkness that was coming into the band – we weren’t having the fun we used to have and you could feel the end of Van Hagar era was coming on this tour. Looking back now, Alex was in the neck brace and Ed was pre-hip surgery & in a lot of pain. Makes me wish we could go back and have taken that whole year off. Makes you wonder what could’ve been.”
Van Halen performed “Aftershock” close to 70 times during the Balance tour, according to a search on the concert website setlist.fm. After departing Van Halen, however, it appears as if Hagar never performed the song again according to the same website.
Sammy Hagar and the Circle will perform tonight at RiverEdge Park in Aurora, Illinois. For all of the band’s upcoming dates check out Hagar’s official website redrocker.com.
Listen to Van Halen’s “Aftershock”