Watch Sammy Hagar Cover Toby Keith at CMT Awards

Sammy Hagar paid tribute to his “dear friend” Toby Keith at Sunday’s CMT awards.

Keith passed away in February after a battle with stomach cancer. He was 62 years old.

At the CMT awards, Hagar took the stage donning a shirt with his late friend’s name across it and performed a cover of Keith’s “I Love This Bar,” which you can view below.

READ MORE: All 48 Sammy Hagar-Era Van Halen Songs Ranked Worst to Best

“I was so worried that I wasn’t going to make it through the performance emotionally,” Hagar admitted on his Facebook page. “It was hard for me working up to it. When I hit the stage with Toby’s wonderful band that I played with many times over the years, the audience, energy, enthusiasm and love that filled that building every tear of sadness into joy [sic].

It was a beautiful experience to say the least, so proud and honored to have been invited. We all miss that bigger than life, wonderful man, Mr. Toby Keith.”

Sammy Hagar’s 2024 Touring Plans

In July, Hagar will launch a Van Halen-focused tour featuring guitarist and Chickenfoot bandmate Joe Satriani, bassist Michael Anthony, drummer Jason Bonham and Hagar’s own Circle crew.

“We’re gonna kind of just really go heavy on Van Halen,” Hagar explained to The Arizona Republic in January. “Play four or five of Sammy’s greatest hits. You know, ‘One Way to Rock,’ ‘Heavy Metal,’ ‘I Can’t Drive 55,’ ‘Mas Tequila,’ songs you’ve gotta play. One Montrose, a Chickenfoot and a whole lot of Van Halen, the whole catalog.

I mean, we’re gonna go back into the early years for three or four songs, sprinkle ’em in there, because I’m calling it not just the Best of All Worlds Tour, I’m calling it the Thank You Tour. For me it’s thank you. Thank you, Eddie [Van Halen]. Thank you to the fans. Thank you for this wonderful life, being able to do this, because I don’t know how much longer I can do it.”