Watch Kenny Aronoff Save the Day at Sammy Hagar’s Cincinnati Show
Kenny Aronoff performed the hero at Sammy Hagar’s Best of All Worlds present in Cincinnati Tuesday evening by taking up on drums for Jason Bonham, who needed to depart the tour for an unspecified household situation.
“Tonight I’m going to dedicate this to the Bonham family in England, hope everything works out okay over there, and to our brother Jason,” Hagar mentioned throughout the intro to “Eagles Fly.” The band performed a full 21-song set with Aronoff, starting with 5150‘s “Good Enough.”
At the conclusion of the show-closing cowl of Van Halen’s “When It’s Love,” Hagar gave a particular shout-out to “the man who saved the day, Kenny fucking Aronoff.” The lineup of Hagar, bassist Michael Anthony, guitarist Joe Satriani and Aronoff amounted to a Chickenfoot reunion of types, as Aronoff changed Chad Smith in the group’s touring lineup from 2011 to 2012. (Hagar’s present band additionally options keyboardist Ray Thistlethwayte.)
Videos from the present could be seen beneath.
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Aronoff changed Smith in Chickenfoot as a result of the unique drummer’s commitments with the Red Hot Chili Peppers made him unavailable. Smith returned later and took half of their remaining tour so far in 2016.
“[T]he cool thing about this band is that the level of musicianship is so high,” Aronoff informed UCR throughout the first Chickenfoot tour, which got here simply after he’d labored with John Fogerty then Brandi Carlile, and was rehearsing to play on the soundtrack for the 2013 Jimi Hendrix film All Is By My Side.
“[E]verybody’s been in so many bands that we’re starting at such a high experienced level… there’s a lot of stuff that you don’t have to discuss. It’s like if you took a bunch of NFL players and put them together, they’re already starting with a lot of experience, so it’s just a matter of making it gel… it gels so well, personality wise and musically.
“And I think maybe that’s what Chad was thinking when he picked me. He picked me personally – he kept telling them, ‘This is the guy you should get to replace me while I’m out with the Chili Peppers.’ And it’s worked – he’s right. It was just the right combination of people.”
The U.S. leg of Hagar’s Best of All Worlds tour continues tonight in Nashville, and is scheduled to conclude in St. Louis on Saturday. There has been no official announcement about Bonham’s absence from the tour.
Watch Sammy Hagar Dedicate “Eagles Fly” To Jason Bonham and His Family
Watch Sammy Hagar Thank Kenny Aronoff, “The Man Who Saved the Day”
Watch Kenny Aronoff Perform with Sammy Hagar
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Gallery Credit: by Chris Wheatley