David Lee Roth has pulled almost his entire remaining 2026 tour, and the reaction that followed came from an unlikely direction: Sammy Hagar, the man who replaced him in Van Halen and spent decades feuding with him.
The former Van Halen frontman opened the run in April and had at one point stretched it into early September. On the morning of Thursday, July 23, all but one of the dates still to come vanished from his website. Shows in Dillon, Colorado; Clear Lake, Iowa; Louisville, Kentucky; and East Moline, Illinois were among those removed. According to Roth‘s official site, the only survivor is a previously booked August 7 appearance in Sturgis, South Dakota. By one account he had six dates on the books between July 23 and September 4; five are now gone.
Neither Roth nor his management has offered an explanation. There have been fan reports of empty seats at several of his June and July shows, and that has fuelled press speculation that soft ticket sales were behind the decision — but that remains speculation. No financial or health reason has been confirmed by anyone in his camp.
Later on Thursday, Hagar posted an unedited video to Facebook aimed squarely at his old rival. He said he had heard the news from Michael Anthony, the bassist who played alongside both men in Van Halen and now anchors Hagar‘s solo band.
“Hey, Dave. Sammy here. I just got a call from [ex-Van Halen and current bassist for Hagar‘s solo band] Michael Anthony … about your tour getting canceled. And I wanna say from the bottom of my heart, I’m sorry. I hope you’re well. I hope there’s not a physical problem,” he said.
He then turned to what Roth had been doing on the road, and why he respected it:
“Honestly, Mike and I love the fact that you’ve been out there doing it, supporting the greatest band in the world that we were both part of. And, yeah, I’m really sorry. That’s f**ked up. Supporting what we did in this band to keep this music alive. You and I, Mikey, Al [Alex Van Halen], Ed [Van Halen] cannot be replaced. So, when you’re ready to carry on, you go, brother. Mike and I support you.”
The warmth is notable. Hagar and Roth have traded barbs for the better part of forty years, and a public show of support between them is not something Van Halen fans are used to seeing.
Hagar went a step further, inviting Roth to join him and Anthony at their September residency in Las Vegas, a five-date run with Hagar‘s Best of All Worlds band.
“Come on, join us,” he said. “Sing a couple of songs, M.C. the damn show. Come out and just do what the f**k you do, which is pretty damn entertaining. Anyway, hope you’re well. I really do. God bless, brother.”
In the caption accompanying the clip, Hagar said he hoped the cancellation news itself was not AI-generated, adding that even if it turned out to be, his message still came from the heart — a nod to his broader unease about artificial intelligence creeping into music.
Roth, 71, launched the 2026 outing on April 16 at Spokane Live! at Spokane Tribe Casino in Airway Heights, Washington. It ran under the banner “Don’t Love Me, Rent Me” and paired his solo catalogue with a thick helping of the Van Halen songs that made his name.
His backing band for the run featured Al Estrada on guitar, Sean McNabb on bass, Francis Valentino on drums and Danny Wagner on keyboards, plus several backing vocalists. McNabb had come in on bass in place of Ryan Wheeler.
The 2026 tour was part of a comeback that reversed Roth‘s earlier decision to hang up touring for good. He returned to the stage in 2025 for a summer US run that wrapped on September 14 in Napa, California, and had played his first full solo concert in more than five years on May 3, 2025 at the M3 Rock Festival at Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Maryland.
Roth first left Van Halen for a solo career on the back of the band’s 1984, returned briefly in 1996, then fronted the group again from 2007 until 2020, though Van Halen had not toured since 2015. Guitarist Eddie Van Halen died in October 2020.
