Jason Bonham left Sammy Hagar’s tour due to a family issue; Kenny Aronoff replaced him.
“Tonight I’m going to dedicate this to the Bonham family in England,” Hagar said before playing the song ‘Eagles Fly’ in the concert at Riverbend Music Center in Cincinnati, “Hope everything works out okay over there and to our brother Jason.”
Hagar worked with Aronoff before in his band Chickenfoot. The drummer filled in for Chad Smith on Chickenfoot’s tour from 2011 to 2012 since Smith had commitments with the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Chickenfoot released two albums between 2009 and 2011 and toured the U.S.
“The cool thing about this band is that the level of musicianship is so high. Everybody’s been in so many bands that we’re starting at such a high experienced level… There’s a lot of stuff that you don’t have to discuss,” Aronoff previously told Ultimate Classic Rock about playing in Chickenfoot.
The musician continued, “It’s like if you took a bunch of NFL players and put them together, they’re already starting with a lot of experience, so it’s just a matter of making it gel… it gels so well, personality-wise and musically. And I think maybe that’s what Chad was thinking when he picked me. He picked me personally — he kept telling them, ‘This is the guy you should get to replace me while I’m out with the Chili Peppers.’ And it’s worked — he’s right. It was just the right combination of people.”
For The Best of All Worlds tour, Hagar, Michael Anthony, Joe Satriani, and Rai Thistlethwayte are performing together. The setlist mostly features Van Halen songs like ‘Good Enough,’ ‘Poundcake,’ ‘Runaround,’ ‘Panama,’ and ‘Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love,’ along with a part of ‘Jump.’
They also play Satriani’s ‘Satch Boogie’ and some of Hagar’s solo hits like ‘There’s Only One Way To Rock,’ ‘Eagles Fly,’ ‘Heavy Metal,’ and ‘I Can’t Drive 55.’ The 28-date The Best of All Worlds tour will end on August 31 in St. Louis, Missouri.