Friday, my wife, Sheli, and our friends, Scott, and his wife Trish, started our road trip to Peoria, Illinois for the Sammy concert (3 hours). We went to the Rock 106 pre party at the Millenium. They did a great job pumping up the crowd. Lots of big giveaways, they must have given 6 pairs of front row tickets away!

At about 7:15 we went to the civic center. Being from St. louis, I was a little surprised at how small the place was, but there couldn’t be a bad seat in the house. We were fortunate enough to have front row seats! First time ever! Sammy and the band came out at about 8:10. This “little” arena sounded as loud as any show I’ve seen at home. He opened with Marching to Mars. I have been a huge Sammy fan since long before Van Halen, but this is the first time I have seen him perform solo. He did songs from every part of his career. During Bad Motorscooter we handed him a red jacket that he wore for a few songs, we were having the time of our life!!!! To make things even better, he threw it back to us! Giving Sammy a high five then topped it! We saw his wife and daugter on the side of the stage, looked like they were enjoying the show also. The band sounded excellent, Victor was in front of us most of the show. That man can play! (he also has a pretty good aim with guitar picks, Thanks Victor!)

The intensity level never goes down. For a crowd of about five thousand, Sammy played his heart out. No breaks, except to mix up a few Waboritas during Cabo Wabo. I heard someone say Eddies a dick, and Sammy replied ” he didn’t use to be”. He really seems to have put the past behind. Nothing bad to say about Van Halen at all. My friend Scott saw Sammy the last time he was in Peoria on the VOA tour in 1985 and was impressed to hear Sammy mention it. He said he missed not hitting the smaller towns with Van Halen and swore to be back again. It was great to see Sammy doing what he wants, and you can tell he’s having a great time. I wish i could tell you the play list, but the night was just one great time with the Red Rocker!

Sammy Told us he didnt need to take a break before the encore, and continued to rock right up to the second performance of Marching To mars, this time accompanied by the contest winners who helped with the backup vocals. All the new songs were awesome, The old stuff sounded better than the originals, and the Van Halen songs were stronger than ever!! Two and a half hours went by way too fast. We all agree it was the best concert experience ever!!! We are going to St. Louis’s show August 1, and can’t wait. Now if I could only find some front row tickets here! Yeah, I know ” High Hopes” Thanks Sammy, from a few big fans,


Todd, Sheli,Scott, and Trish


Thanks to Todd Sutherland for this review!

Thanks to Jessica Draper for the set list!

Detroit would be the third and final Sammy show that I would see. I did not have tickets for Detroit, and hadn’t planned on going. But, I couldn’t pass up this opertunity.

So, VHGirl (Tab) , her sister, and I drove down to the State Theature in Detroit at 630pm to see Sammy. As we got our MnG passes, we met others from the list. We finally got to meet Sammy at about 715pm. He was the coolest guy. I had him sign everything I brought: And old LP from Montrose, my MTM cd, my MNG pass. After he signed two things, the head guy in there said to me “That’s enought, Sammy has others in line!” Sammy said “F$ck that, I will sign what I want!!” I was like, awesome! So, I talked with him a while. And I went back to the concert. We had UPSTAIRS tickets. But , when they let us out from Back stage, we were on the main floor. There were only like 10 people in at that time. So I said to myself ” F#ck this, I am staying here!!” I got up to the second row (general admission) and partyed there for the night. The concert was great. He made reference to Ted (Nugent) throughout the night. He also played “Both Sides Now” instead of “Kama” for a first time on the tour. It was a blast. Even though I was so hot, and so dehydrated, it didn’t stop me from leaving the second row. I was unable to get one of Sammy’s drinks, but oh well. I will have one when I go to Cabo in the next couple of years 🙂

All I have to say is this was the best of the three concerts (Grand Rapids, Cleveland, Detroit) that I saw. Sammy loves Detroit, and I could tell. He wore a Red Wings Stanley cup shirt, and jammed til like 1050pm.

Thanks to Jeff Ryan for this review.

I believe that much tension was created in the great split between Sammy Hagar and the mighty Van Halen. Tension…tension for the fans, and tension for the members of Van Halen. Sammy Hagar used much of that tension to create an album of intense, heartfelt music..full of high and low extremes. I felt this intensity carried through in his stage presence. He sang like the angry poet, yet at the same time a heartfelt nostalgia for his past was exhibited throughout his set.

He has said many times before that his music should make you feel better. Uplifting and powerful songs are the result. He opened his set with Marching to Mars, a song of his state of mind – in which we are all moving on to a new destination. This was the perfect piece to bring everyone into his world – a strong marching beat, with piercing vocals drawing you in. The sound mix was perfect, and all of a sudden, all of us in the crowd had forgotten about our real lives, our troubles..and we were far away on some desert island paradise. Once there he launched into the strong, straight up in your face song “There’s Only One Way to Rock”. We could hear, quite clearly that the Red Rocker had returned.

After this intro we were guided on a trip all the way through Mr. Hagar’s musical history. With experienced ease, Sammy covered the stage, puttting motions and dances to all his music, and stayed down to earth by talking to the crowd as if they were all long-time buddies. (See below for more details) He actually looked out into the audience and responded to them throughout the show. For a quiet breakdown, after the first half of the set, Sammy took everything down a bit to share some of the secrets of his songs with us. We were then treated to a little stage show by Sammy, instructing us in the ways of mixing drinks, a truly invaluable skill. After that, the show went on a straight build up of intensity all the way up to the end, when he played some of his strongest songs in a blast of power that would make your head spin.

All in all it was a great show, even though some favorites played at other shows were missing, such as Kama and Eagles Fly. One great moment of the night came when Sammy had the radio contest winners on stage, and he looked down into the crowd at a small kid staring right at him. He motioned to the guard to help the kid up on stage, and gave him a pick. Then, as the final song was playing, the kid grabbed Sammy’s leg, and motioned him down towards the audience where his twin brother was standing. Sammy smiled, reached down, and helped the other brother up on stage, and gave him a High 5. Just plain, simple, down to earth kindness..that’s the impression Sammy Hagar gives off to people, yet at the same time he gives great heart and soul to his music… The result made for a very memorable show. 10/10 (alex j.)

Highlights of Sammy’s Crowd Interaction in DC:

* There was a picture drawn by a child that was thrown on stage. Sammy read and described it to the crowd. It was a guy holding a guitar singing into a microphone. Sammy grinned enormously and remarked how it was cool that “even the kiddies” liked his music.

* Before the accoustic version of RIGHT NOW, Sammy told memories of writing that song. He described how everyone else had gone home, leaving he and Eddie alone in the 5150 studio. Eddie was playing piano in the other room, and Sammy heard the now familiar “hook” – Immediate inspiration! Sammy said he sat there writing as Eddie was pounding out the tune in another room. It was apparent that he was recalling the event with fondness – a magic memory from better days with Ed.

* Victor was suffering from a sore throat during the show. Sammy ragged on him constantly, warning Victor…….”You better not give ME that sh*t!”

* A banner was thrown on stage addressed to Sammy and David Lauser – but it only said, “TO SAMMY AND DAVE”. Sammy joked, “Hey you guys gotta be more specific with this stuff. I don’t want to be connected to THAT guy!! He’s got his own problems!”

* Someone tossed a joint on stage. It was soon followed by a lighter that missed the mark. Sammy said, “I heard it hit!” When he found it, he lit up and took a puff. The crowd went wild! He responded, “But I didn’t inhale!!!” which ellicited an even greater crowd response. Sammy kept on smiling, commenting on how he had better be careful around here (DC) because he’s never said anything good about this president. He also asked us if he got arrested, if we would come picket the place! Tremendous crowd support was displayed!

Thanks to Maria Hanavan and Alex Jamal for this review!

Well it was a beautiful night for a Rock concert! I drove the two and a half hours from NY with my roomate from college. We arrived at the venue at about 5:30 just in time to catch the end of Sammy’s sound check which included excerpts from Returning Home, Red, and Marching to Mars! The gates opend around 6:05 and we took out seats about 30 rows straight back from Sammy! As the stereo played Collective Soul’s new album I couldn’t help but think of the Balance tour where they we the opening band! Around 7:30 Sammy came out on stage “fashionably” late! Suprsiing fans as well as myself with the opening song Led Zepplin’s “Rock and Roll” as he began to jam the riff Sam yelled to the crowd “Caught you by surprise” the band then rocked out to “one way to rock”, “Salvation on Sand Hill”, “Why Can’t This Be Love and others!

After about every two songs Sam took a little time to share some stories with the crowd. Among them were one about a guy who drove his car of the bridge near Sammy’s hotel room and he also shared the story on how Mona made the band! After about 10 songs it was time for a “Waborita” and a trip to Cabo! While there Sammy took a request from 2 fans from the meet and greet, and played “Both Sides Now” for the first time on this tour. They did it with Vic playing a 12 string acoustic guitar and it sounded great! After a couple more songs it was time to return to America with a “Little White Lie”. he then played crowd pleasers like 55, Red, and Heavy Metal. All sounded great! Sam then came back for the Encore of Eagles, Dreams, and Marching!

Perhaps the nicist surprise of the night for me was the muscianship. All the songs were done very well. Victor Johnson amazed me with the ease in which he handled the solo to Dreams. It was great to finally se such Hagar classics like 55, Three Lock Box, and Red live. All the new songs were great. Yogi was some top notch and Sam’s voice hit every high scream! Bad Motor Scooter and Good Lovin Tonight were both “get off your feet songs” I really enjoyed the Piano/Vocal duet of Right Now. One song I really would have liked to hear was “Amnesty is Granted”, but you can’t always get what you want.

My last comment is back in June of 96 MTV made speculation that Sammy may have left VH because of his dis-like of tourning! This concert and tour certaily put a big foot in that crap that MTV Spreads! At 10:00 Sammy left the stage saying this was the happiest time of his life and thanking everybody for all the Banners and T-Shirts! Most of which were saying “Hagar Rules” or “Its VH’s Loss”! Sammy got one that had every song he ever wrote on it and he said “This one is going directly to Cabo!” Unfortunatly my idea for a banner was hampered by the rain in the days prior to the show! I was gonna make a huge sign saying “RIGHT NOW, GARY CHERONE IS SINGING A SAMMY HAGAR SONG”!!

Well Red Rockers if you can still see the show, get up and go! Well worth it!

Thanks to Matt Hemmer for this set list and review!

Thanks to Jessica Draper and Lisa Selmek for this set list!