By Tom Prather
I started my career photographing Van Halen back in ’94. It was a dream come true then, and I never could have guessed I’d still be in the photo pit chasing those same songs three decades later. So when I walked into The Theater at MGM National Harbor on June 26 to shoot Sammy Hagar on The Best of All Worlds Tour, it felt like the whole thing had come full circle.
Here’s the headline: the band was tight, Sammy sounded great, and there was so much energy on that stage you forget the guy is 78 years old. He came out swinging with “Why Can’t This Be Love” and never let off the gas. Mikey was right where he always is, anchoring the bottom end and stacking those harmonies that made Van Halen what it was. And watching Satriani play this catalog is a treat in its own right. The man can play anything, but he plays these songs with respect, not ego.
I won’t pretend there isn’t a hole in all of this. I miss Eddie. Anyone who loves this music does. But I’ll tell you what hit me square in the chest all night: it’s awesome to hear these songs alive and well. Loud, in a room full of people who know every word. That’s not nostalgia. That’s the music doing exactly what it was built to do.
Two moments stood out, and I’ll be thinking about them for a while.
The first came on “Love Walks In.” Before they played it, Sammy told the story of writing it with Eddie. Just the two of them, alone late one night at 5150. They loved what they had so much that they recorded it live, right there, no click track. Alex and Michael came in the next day and overdubbed the bass and drums on top of that single take, and that’s the version we’ve all had in our ears ever since. Hearing the story, then hearing the song, with all of that history in the room. That’s a kind of access you don’t get every night.
The second got me even more. During the encore, “Encore, Thank You, Goodnight,” Sammy started an “Eddie” chant and the crowd took it from there. Eddie, Eddie, Eddie, over and over and over. If you ever stood in an arena during a Van Halen show, you know that chant. It was as much a part of the night as the music itself. It’s the one gaping hole in concerts today, and not hearing it for so long leaves a void. Sammy filling that room with it again, on purpose, with the whole crowd carrying it, was the most powerful thing I saw all night.
The setlist leaned hard into the catalog the fans came for, with the band intros during “Eagles Fly” giving everyone their moment. Sammy poured tequila into the front row during “Cabo Wabo / Mas Tequila” because, of course, he did. Mikey took lead vocals on “Ain’t Talkin’ ’bout Love.” Two hours that flew by.
One thing you can’t put on a setlist: the love these guys have for their fans, and it showed. Between the music, Sammy and Mikey signed autographs all night. I’d bet they autographed more items than they sang words. That’s not a band going through the motions on a residency. That’s two guys who know exactly who put them on that stage and treat them like it.
Thirty years after I first pointed a camera at this music, it still delivers. Long live the Red Rocker.
The Best of All Worlds Tour, The Theater at MGM National Harbor, National Harbor, MD, June 26, 2026
Setlist:
- Why Can’t This Be Love
- Top of the World
- Runaround
- Best of Both Worlds
- Summer Nights
- Bad Motor Scooter
- 5150
- Love Walks In
- Cabo Wabo / Mas Tequila
- There’s Only One Way to Rock
- Right Now
- Ain’t Talkin’ ’bout Love (Michael Anthony, lead vocals)
- Satch Boogie
- Good Enough
- Heavy Metal
- I Can’t Drive 55
- Eagles Fly (band intros)
Encore:
- Encore, Thank You, Goodnight.
- Photos by Tom Prather
Special thanks to Hannah at Team Hagar for making this shoot happen, and to manager Tom Consolo for the door he opened a long time ago. Twenty years back Tom drafted our deal on a napkin and faxed it to me when Sammy gave me a song for my first independent film. Two decades later I’m shooting his artist from the house. Always a pleasure working with a class-act organization. Full circle, again.
Article and photos by Tom Panther. IG: @iamtomprather Web: www.thebluewave.net
