Sammy Hagar and Michael Anthony pay tribute to Eddie Van Halen with emotional Right Now performance
“This music will live forever,” says Hagar during The Circle's take on the For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge cut
Last week former Van Halen members Sammy Hagar and Michael Anthony posted a video titled “We Love You Eddie,” paying tribute to their bandmate and friend following his death on October 6 at the age of 65.
The clip, as we reported, was recorded after rehearsals for Hagar’s annual birthday celebration on Catalina Island.
Now, footage of Hagar and Anthony’s performance with their band The Circle at that celebration has been posted online by YouTube user trojanvitty.
During the set, the band played Van Halen’s 1991 smash Right Now in tribute to the late electric guitar player, with Hagar requesting a moment of silence from his band mates and the audience prior to kicking into the song.
“We're about to do a very special song that means a lot to Michael Anthony and myself," Hagar said. "So I would like to ask for just a quick moment of silence, please. And you know why.”
“This music will live forever,” Hagar said later on during the song.
Recently, Hagar revealed that in the months preceding Van Halen’s death the two had resolved their longstanding differences. But, he said, they chose to keep the reconciliation private for fear of stoking reunion rumors.
Get The Pick Newsletter
All the latest guitar news, interviews, lessons, reviews, deals and more, direct to your inbox!
“Eddie and I had been texting, and it’s been a love fest since we started communicating earlier this year,” Hagar stated. “We both agreed not to tell anyone, because of all the rumors it would stir up about a reunion, et cetera, and we both knew that wasn’t gonna happen.”
Rich is the co-author of the best-selling Nöthin' But a Good Time: The Uncensored History of the '80s Hard Rock Explosion. He is also a recording and performing musician, and a former editor of Guitar World magazine and executive editor of Guitar Aficionado magazine. He has authored several additional books, among them Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck, the companion to the documentary of the same name.
“Stevie came to my 5th birthday and gave me a pawnshop Harmony. It didn’t have a gig bag, it had two paper grocery bags on either end”: Tyrone Vaughan descends from blues greatness – and SRV helped him start his guitar journey early
“Live right up to the last breath and stay positive about the world, your family and the environment you live in”: Mike Peters, frontman of the Welsh band, The Alarm, has died aged 66