Jason Bonham left Sammy Hagar’s Best of All Worlds tour in late August due to his mother’s medical emergency with Kenny Aronoff taking over for the remaining U.S. shows. Hagar recently shared if Bonham would be back to play their upcoming Japan shows during an interview with KSHE 95.
“[Aronoff]’ll be the drummer till Jason can [come back],” the singer said. “I mean, the tour is over now, but we’re going to Japan, and if Jason is still with his mom – he’s gotta be there till she either comes through or whatever. I shouldn’t be talking about his personal business, but, you know, he’s got a medical emergency with his mother. You don’t ignore that.”
He continued, “So, we got Kenny, thank God! And if we have to go to Japan with him, we’ll go to Japan [with him]. I just love playing with him because he’s so enthusiastic. He’s the most enthusiastic guy. ‘Oh, man! We’re going to kill it! Oh, don’t worry about me!’ You know, he’s like foaming at the mouth. He’s crazy.”
Aronoff joined Hagar, Michael Anthony, Joe Satriani, and Rai Thistlethwayte to complete The Best of All Worlds tour. The trek wrapped up on August 31 in St. Louis, Missouri, but the vocalist confirmed that the same lineup would take the stage again for additional dates in Japan.
He also noted that Aronoff might continue to sit behind the drum set and shared his satisfaction with the drummer as follows: “He had about 24-hour notice. And he came in the first night. He got there at six in the morning. We played that night in Cincinnati. And he did a 90-percent perfect show. I swear to you, I make more mistakes every night than he did. So that’s big hats off to this guy.”
Aronoff first played with the band at the Riverbend Music Center in Cincinnati on August 27, where Hagar dedicated the performance to Bonham and his family. The group played a set full of Van Halen songs during the night.
“Tonight, I’m going to dedicate this to the Bonham family in England,” he said on stage right before performing ‘Eagles Fly.’ “Hope everything works out okay over there and to our brother Jason.”
The band’s Japanese shows will take place on September 20, 22, and 23.
