In 1991, Van Halen performed for free in front of an estimated 80,000 at the West End Marketplace in Dallas, TX. However, Sammy Hagar recalled that although the event was successful, it almost became the reason for the band to break up.
In a video shared in 2023, Hagar said the concert he promised three years earlier almost broke the band up as it cost them hundreds of thousands of dollars to produce.
"It almost broke the band up... It cost us about $200,000 to come back and do a free show," he said.
Loudwire reported that the promise was made in 1988 when the band performed in the city as part of the Monsters of Rock Tour along with Metallica, Dokken, Kingdom Come, and Scorpions.
In Hagar's 2012 memoir, Red: My Uncensored Life in Rock, he recalled, "We had 56 trucks, three complete stages and production systems that had to be put up all at the same time so that we could go out and play three shows a week."
He noted that it cost the band $350,000 per show, which was an easy way to lose money at the time. Unfortunately, several factors hindered him from performing well due to his sinus infection, a broken tailbone, and an ear infection.
Even though he couldn't sing, he couldn't cancel their shows because "it was so expensive."
When they performed at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, Hagar faced another problem as he had no voice.
"I was about to cry onstage. Texas was my country. I owned Texas. I was a headliner there long before Van Halen. I stopped in the middle of the first song," he recalled.
That was when he promised his fans in Dallas that they would return to do a free concert. With that, he and his bandmates argued, and they "crucified" him for that.
The group almost broke up because Eddie and Alex Van Halen were mad about the free concert. They could expect a logistical nightmare for the free show, and they could potentially lose a lot of money.
Fortunately, the band delivered a successful performance as he spoke to Redbeard afterward, saying, "I think it was fantastic. It was so real and so honest... We didn't use a set list, we didn't plan anything. We didn't say how long it was gonna be, how short it was gonna be."
More recently, the band announced an expanded version of For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge, containing the full audio and pro-shot video of their free concert in 1991.
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