Former Van Halen rockers Sammy Hagar and Mike Anthony have paid tribute to their late bandmate Eddie Van Halen in a new video.
Hagar and Anthony — who still perform together under Sammy Hagar and the Circle — shared a video tribute recorded during a rehearsal session on Catalina Island, California Wednesday on Thursday, October 8th.
“I just wanna say I’m kinda devastated,” Hagar mused. “I’ll tell you, a Van Halen song never felt so hard to sing and play in my life.”
Anthony echoed, “It’s very surreal right now, and it hasn’t sunk in yet.”
Hagar and Anthony revealed that news of the death of Eddie came as a shock. “It hit like a Mack truck. Took the wind out of the sails,” Hagar said.
“We have the music,” Anthony continued. “The music will live forever,” Hagar added. The pair ended their tribute by saying, “We love you, Eddie.” Watch the video below.
Watch Sammy Hagar and Mike Anthony’s tribute to Eddie Van Halen:
Yesterday, Sammy Hagar revealed that he and Eddie Van Halen were able to make amends earlier this year, before the guitar legends passing.
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Hagar wrote to The Howard Stern Show, where he shared that the pair — who had a stormy history of feuding — had rekindled their relationship earlier this year.
“Eddie and I had been texting, and it’s been a love fest since we started communicating earlier this year,” Hagar wrote. “We both agreed not to tell anyone, because of all the rumors it would stir up about a reunion, etc., and we both knew that wasn’t gonna happen. But he also didn’t want anyone to know about his health.”
He continued, “He stopped responding to me a month ago, and I figured it wasn’t good. I reached out one more time last week, and when he didn’t respond, I figured it was a matter of time. But it came way too soon.”
