LAS VEGAS — In early 2024, Sammy Hagar and Michael Anthony surveyed how to keep Van Halen current. Hagar felt “an epiphany” and said to Anthony, “It’s up to us.”

That moment seeded the “Best of All Worlds Stays in Vegas” residency at Dolby Live, which opened this week and runs nine dates through May 17. Hagar and Anthony are uncorking the “Van Hagar” era, joined by guitar great Joe Satriani, powerhouse drummer Kenny Aronoff and multi-instrumentalist/vocalist Rai Thistlethwayte.

The robust Hagar-Van Halen catalog, the all-star musicians and some seasoning from Hagar’s solo career are the show’s selling points.

Hagar, Anthony, Aronoff and Satriani recently chatted in a group Zoom interview, the video grid looking like the intro for “The Sammy Bunch.”

‘Serious about this’

That Van Halen classic brings to mind Hagar’s motivation for assembling and fronting the residency. He’s still a force at age 77 but has had it with the grind of touring, especially the logistical wear and tear. This rock star would be happy not to lug a personal item on another flight.

“It’s hard work. So I just said, ‘I want to do a residency. I want to see if I can squeeze a couple more years out of this body and this voice, now,’ ” Hagar says. “That’s really what it all came down to.”

Hagar and Anthony have been performing partners, and kindred spirits, since Hagar’s run in Van Halen from 1986 to ’96. The two have performed with Satriani in Chickenfoot and, more recently, in The Circle with drummer Jason Bonham and guitarist Vic Johnson.

Hagar is asked how he decided on Aronoff and Satriani for “Best of All Worlds.” The drummer cuts in with, “Yeah, Sam, that’s what the rest of us want to know, too.”

“Mike and I wanted to get serious about this — ‘It’ll be like The Circle but a little heavier on the Van Halen material’ — and get someone who can especially play the Van Hagar stuff that hasn’t been heard in a long time,” Hagar says. “We needed a guitarist that can play the Eddie stuff, that understands what Eddie was playing and can learn it and play it right. … Of course Joe is the first guy you call.”

Aronoff backed John Mellencamp for two decades, and he has performed with John Fogerty in his Strip residency.

He had also filled in for Bonham in November, when Bonham left the “Best of All Worlds” world tour to tend to his ailing mother in the U.K.

“I mean, what an honor,” Aronoff says. “My God, to be playing Van Halen material. I never thought I was gonna end up being in a band that was playing Van Halen material, let alone with these guys.”

“Kenny came in with 24-hour notice on the 24th show and played 24 songs,” Hagar says, “and he made less mistakes the first night than I did. That’s all you got to say about Kenny Aronoff.”

Original members, out

Hagar says David Lee Roth’s “retirement” played into the decision to lean into a Van Halen-dominated show. (Quotes around retirement, because Diamond Dave, who announced in the fall of 2021, “I’m throwing in the shoes,” is back and booked as a headliner at the M3 Rock Festival from May 2 to 4 in Columbia, Maryland. These are his first live performances since the House of Blues in January 2020, the dates running at the same time as Hagar’s Park MGM residency — the timing has to be coincidental.)

“You take Dave’s words from his own mouth,” Hagar says with a laugh. “What did he say? ‘How many times did Rocky retire?’ You know, there’s ‘Rocky V.’ Well, here we go: We’re seeing ‘Diamond Five.’

“I just hope that in black-and-white print, this comes out with a sense of humor, that we’re laughing.”

One who has been formally asked to take part in the latest Van Halen effort is founding drummer Alex Van Halen.

But the older brother of Eddie Van Halen has not returned messages from Hagar about this Van Halen revival.

Hagar even made a public overture on “The Howard Stern Show” to invite the drumming icon back to the stage. “Yep, and this was right in front of Jason Bonham,” he points out, “and Jason honestly says, ‘If Alex Van Halen says, ‘I want to play in this,’ I’ll hand my sticks to him.”

The drummer also didn’t include the Hagar era in his recent memoir, “Brothers,” writing, “We had a lot of other singers over the years.” Alex Van Halen had also essentially stopped playing live after suffering spinal injuries while on a shooting range, limiting his mobility.

Anthony, of course an authority on Van Halen’s complete history, says, “We’re not looking for anyone’s blessing.” The songs from the Van Hagar era were written by Hagar and Eddie Van Halen.

But diplomacy rules the band’s feeling on the subject.

“We don’t hold any grudge or any ill will, to Alex or Dave, or anybody,” Anthony says. “We’re just out there trying to serve up what the fans want to hear.” The great bassist and vocalist recalls a recent conversation with Eddie Van Halen’s son, Wolfgang, of Mammoth WVH: “I’ve talked with Wolfie a couple years ago, when he was out there at the House of Blues, and he’s all good with everything. But you know, nobody’s out there playing it from the band. Let’s go out there and play it.”

Hagar’s dream

In November, Hagar mentioned a new song for this residency under the unofficial title “Thank You.” It’s now called “Encore, Thank You, Goodnight.” This is a seemingly impossible collaboration of Hagar, Satriani, Anthony, Aronoff and — from beyond — Eddie Van Halen.

Hagar had a dream about writing with Van Halen, about a year after the guitar legend’s death, with the song unfinished. It’s finished now, being released Friday.

This is a one-off, not part of any upcoming album, developed for this band and this residency.

“It came from a dream, which is really unusual, and I said to Joe, ‘What would Eddie have done if we’d have finished this song in my dream?’ ” Hagar says. “And he came up with stuff that just blows my mind. Everybody I played it for, and everybody that hears it just goes, ‘Holy (expletive).’ You get all goose-bumpy. Get a box of Kleenex. If you don’t cry, then you’ve never loved Van Halen.”

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