Launch/Yahoo News

Hagar And Roth: Tour Partners, But Not Necessarily Friends

Thu May 30, 2:57 PM ET
(5/30/02, 3 p.m. ET) -- Even without a catchy name like Sans Halen or Sam &
Dave, former Van Halen frontmen Sammy Hagar and David Lee Roth launched
their summer tour together on Wednesday (May 29) near Cleveland. The
unexpected tour has united two men who engaged in intense verbal sparring in
the mid-'80s, when Roth left Van Halen and Hagar took his place.

However, Hagar tells LAUNCH that just because they're touring together
doesn't mean they're friends. "Well, I don't necessarily like this guy now.
He's just entertaining to me. If it weren't for the fact we're doing this
tour, we'd never, like, be friends, hanging out," he says. "He'd wouldn't be
a guy I'd call up and, 'Hey man, what are you doing tonight? Let's get
together and go out and hang.' He's just a whole different kind of cookie,
man. He's not anything like I am. The only common bond we have was, 'Hey,
we're both two extremely successful versions of Van Halen. We both were kind
of stabbed in the back by the brothers.'"

Edward and Alex Van Halen have not publicly commented on the Roth/Hagar
tour, which continues Friday (May 31) at the DTE Energy Music Theatre in
suburban Detroit.

-- Gary Graff, Detroit

________________________________________

YAHOO NEWS/LAUNCH