Key Insights

• David Lee Roth humorously claimed to have been visited by Eddie Van Halen’s ghost.
• Sammy Hagar stated that Van Halen inspired him to write a new song in a dream.
• The song “Encore, Thank You, Goodnight,” features prominent musicians including Joe Satriani.
• Roth’s solo tour is ongoing and showcases an impressive vocal group.

David Lee Roth had a little fun at Sammy Hagar’s expense earlier this week, humorously suggesting that he, too, had recently been visited by the ghost of Eddie Van Halen.

In August of 2022, Hagar told UCR that Van Halen, who died in October 2020, visited him in a dream and helped him write a new song: “I remembered it. I got up in the morning and I wrote the song. I used the fuckin’ lick that he showed me in the song.”

Nearly three years later the song, entitled “Encore, Thank You, Goodnight,” was finally released, with Hagar joined by Joe Satriani, Michael Anthony and Kenny Aronoff on the recording.

During his show Wednesday night in Hampton Beach and with tongue firmly in cheek, Roth said he too, had recently been visited by the guitar great.

Roth began with what might be the nicest description of Hagar he’s ever offered: “One of my esteemed colleagues, he’s a contemporary, he’s got a great voice, he’s got a great catalog. You all know Sammy Hagar, right? He’s got a great voice. And Sammy, aloud, he described to the media about six weeks ago that the ghost of Eddie Van Halen visited him and graced him with a song that he memorized and then went home and recorded. It’s on the Internet.”

From there things got a bit less serious. “I don’t know what the odds are, but last night the ghost of Eddie Van Halen visited me at the fucking hotel room. I was watching the weather report and he came in and he was laughing. His fucking ghost was laughing,” Roth recalled.

“I said, ‘What did you do now?’ He said, ‘Dave, Dave…Dave, you know that song I gave Hagar?’ I said, ‘What now?’ He said, ‘It’s actually [Iron Butterfly’s 1968 hit] ‘In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida’ backwards. Don’t fucking tell him.’

Roth finished off the story – which he was telling in the middle of a performance of “Dance the Night Away” – by saying he and Van Halen’s ghost then shared a ghost cigarette.

“And I hugged my brother Ed, and I said, ‘Man, do I fucking miss you.’ And he said, ‘I miss you too, Dave.’ He said, ‘But you know what? You should still go to hell.’ And I said, ‘Save me a seat.'”

Read More: Every Roth-Era Van Halen Song Sammy Hagar Sang Live

The recently un-retired Roth is in the midst of a solo tour that finds him joined by an impressive four-piece vocal group. The trip is currently scheduled to conclude in mid-September, you can get show and ticket information at his official website.

Watch David Lee Roth Describe His Eddie Van Halen Dream