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[Vince G.]

Considering the cost of each ticket, and
what Van Halen is asking for their ticket prices, I'm
still of the opinion that anyone who attended last
night's show got their money's worth. If you still
feel robbed, well...wah-fucking- wah. My only other
complaint would be that since this was the final night
of the tour, yes, it could've, and should've, gone on
a little longer, or pulled out a few lesser-played
tunes or covers.

Now, as for the show...

Mike opened with his part of the show with some good
ol' Chicago blues, courtesy of John Lee Hooker's "Boom
Boom Boom" from the mixing desk. The Mad Anthony
Express kicked off with "Runnin' With The Devil", and
tore it up from that point on. Hearing rarities such
as "Hear About It Later" and "Bottoms Up!" was the
pinnacle for me, as well as their cover of ZZ Top's
"Beer Drinkers and Hell Raisers". Vic sounds great on
vocals, and, I'm glad to see he's finally pretty much
nailed down Ed's sound when it comes to playing
classic VH tunes. I say that because, and I know I'll
get crucified for this, so I don't really care, but
I've always felt that as good a guitar player Vic is,
I've never really been satisfied when it came to him
playing VH tunes. I even hesitate to say he's somewhat
"butchered" them. But, as a longtime, hardcore fan of
VH, people like me will pay close attention when it
comes to someone other than EVH playing VH tunes. It's
one thing to hear it live and in person. But, it's
another when you listen to a bootleg and you can
actually hear the difference. But, playing on this
tour with Mike, he's really outdone himself. It's
pretty sad when he can play the guitar parts on VH
songs better than Eddie himself, and Ed's (supposedly)
sober.

As a supporter of Mike, I really hate seeing him doing
this. I'd rather see him playing with VH, but, we all
know that's not going to happen anytime soon. It's
almost bittersweet, seeing him play classic VH songs
and the odd cover just because some gifted alcoholic
asshole has had a serious lapse in judgement. Do I
feel sorry for Mike. Yes, a little. But, at least with
Sam, I know he's actually having real fun, in a
positive environment, and with someone who's not only
a real friend, but truly wants him around.

Sam opened his show with "Shaka Doobie", and
immediately launched into signing stuff before he
could start singing, so it took a few extra minutes to
get the song going. Everyone pretty much got an
extended intro to the song. "Piece of My Heart" was
featured", along with "Open". I looked around during
"Open", and it was evident not too many, if any,
people knew this song. I saw maybe 3 people up onstage
in the Cantina crowd who knew the words. Everyone else
around me just kinda bopped around to the music. The
song is sounding much better live than it initially
did. Sam's voice was in great form, too. It sounded a
hell of a lot better than it did when he toured with
VH in '04. He didn't sound strained, or hoarse, and he
wasn't trying to hit notes he knows he can't hit
anymore.

My favorite part of the show? Loni & I took a plastic
water bottle of sand we collected on our trip to Cabo
in '02 to the show last night. Even with her foot in a
walking cast, she managed to get from our seats (8th
row floor) to the foot of the stage, and toss the
bottle to Sam. While she was trying to pass it to him,
from she told me after the show, a security goon was
doing his best to prevent her from completing her
goal. Sam saw this, and told the security weenie, "No,
she's alright...she' s alright!" The guy had no choice
but to leave Loni alone, and Sam ended up getting the
bottle from her after all. After getting the bottle,
he said, "We're in Cabo now! This is from Cabo....it's
legal!" I later told Loni it was ironic that he was
playing that song when she got the sand to him.

Mike came out later for The Other Half. They played
"Good Enough" (which I was very happy to hear!),
"Poundcake", and "Best of Both Worlds". Sam prefaced
the set by talking about his "Miller-gate" incident,
and didn't seem too broken up about it. He did state
"Don't get me wrong, I do love my St. Louis fans, but
those guys up in corporate... well, I'll just say it
again...IT'S MILLER TIME!!!" Sounds like theres no
love lost between him and AB, if you ask me. Again,
Vic really kicked ass on the VH tunes, and even threw
in a little of his own style here and there, which
complemented the songs greatly. The worst part of the
set was the skank-ass crack whore he hired on as one
of his waitresses for the show. She made it as point
to be on stage as much as possible. More on her later.

Two funny incidents happened during this set, though.
While the band was running through "Good Enough", Mona
kept running onto the stage to swipe bottles of Miller
that the stagehands had placed in a makeshift ice
bucket on Bro's drum riser. As quickly as they
replaced them, she was running out to get them, and as
Sam would turn around to get one, he'd see they were
gone. He had this puzzled look on his face as to why
Mona kept running past him so many times. The other
one was, at the beginning of "Best of Both Worlds",
when Sam and Mike lined themselves up to do the "5150
walk", Mona, Kevin Dugan, and any available stagehand
fell in behind them and they all did the 5150 walk
across the stage with them. I really don't think that
was planned on Sam's part, because when he looked in
back of him and saw everyone he did look a little
shocked. The audience totally got off on that. Someone
from Fontana in the third or fourth row managed to get
Sam's attention for a few minutes, and Sam kidded him
with a "Do you have a warrant for my arrest?"

Mona came back out for the second half, and they
launched into "Serious JuJu". The set closer was a
beautifully done acoustic version of "Dreams", with
Mike on bass and Mona accompanying Vic on acoustic
guitar. I've always been against artists re-recording
their old songs and re-issuing them, but I really
think this would be a great song for him to re-record
and include on his next release just as he's played it
live, "unplugged" style.

One of the waitresses he hired for this show is damn
near guaranteed to never be invited back. She got
totally hammered, and by the end of the set was just a
plain nuisance and inebriated mess. She waltzed out
during "Mas Tequila", and pretty much made the stage
her home until she was physically escorted off by one
of Sammy's staff. This chick was all over Sam and
Mike, and they both were doing their best to dodge
her. Loni was at the foot of the stage by this pint,
and even caught Mike getting frustrated with her and
telling her "Knock it off", "Okay, enough", waving her
off, and she returned the favor by staring him down
and flipping him off right to his face. She did the
same thing to Sam several times. None of this was
imagined or the result of an alcoholic stupor. I don't
drink and I know what I saw. I've never seen ANY of
the waitresses hired for the shows behave in this
manner. Ever. Sam tried to make light of her by saying
"My waitress had a little too much to drink", but he
didn't look too enthused about her.

Sam ended the show by thanking everyone for allowing
him to continue on with his career for as long as he's
been doing it. It was a great show, one of the better
ones I've seen. It was a nice venue, but their
security left something to be desired. I could've
walked in their with my own mixing desk, recording
gear, and camera equipment, and it would've gone
completely unnoticed. No pat-downs. No metal
detectors. No wands. We were allowed to go in and out
of the venue without any problems. The audio mix was
decent. I didn't hear anything then, or now, out of
the ordinary indicating that the audio was set too low
or high. Sam's first half of the set clocked in at
37:26 ans the second half was 56:26, roughly a little
more than 90 minutes. Like I said previously, it being
the end of the tour, I felt it could've gone on a
little longer as a special "end-of-the- tour" surprise
or something. But, we still had a great time and the
round-trip drive was worth it.

Setlist

Mad Anthony Express
1 Boom, Boom, Boom (John Lee Hooker audio)
2 Runnin' with The Devil
3 Light Up the Sky
4 D.O.A(Dead or Alive)
5 Hear About it Later
6 Little Dreamer
7 Beer Drinkers and Hell Raisers (ZZ Top Cover)
8 Somebody Get Me A Doctor
9 Bottoms Up!
10 Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love

Sammy Hagar

1 Mexico (mixing desk audio)
2 Shaka Doobie
3 One Way To Rock
3 Piece of My Heart
4 I'll Fall In Love Agian
5 Open
6 Three Lock Box
7 The Girl Gets Around

The Other Half
8 Good Enough
9 Poundcake
10 Best of Both Worlds

11 Serious JuJu
12 I Can't Drive 55
13 Heavy Metal
14 Mas Tequila
Encore
15 Dreams ( Acoustic)

Oh, and yes, the show was "preserved", if you know what I mean. :D It sounds great!

[Mink]

Glad to hear it was preserved, I can't wait to hear it.

[liquid_steel_az]

Thanks for the review Vince!

I can't wait to hear it as well. :thumb:

[VHLIVE]

Vince G. wrote: Oh, and yes, the show was "preserved", if you know what I mean. :D It sounds great!

wow and a video might even turn up..... ;)

[Vince G.]

VHLIVE wrote: Vince G. wrote: Oh, and yes, the show was "preserved", if you know what I mean. :D It sounds great!

wow and a video might even turn up..... ;)

I hope to God so.

I'd love to get footage of my wife handing Sam the bottle of Cabo sand! :)

[ks34vh]

Thanks for the review!

[VHLIVE]

Vince G. wrote: VHLIVE wrote: Vince G. wrote: Oh, and yes, the show was "preserved", if you know what I mean. :D It sounds great!

wow and a video might even turn up..... ;)

I hope to God so.

I'd love to get footage of my wife handing Sam the bottle of Cabo sand! :)

ill see what i can do...

[Hawkstar97]

Great review..!
This sounds like the show in St Louis except for the skank!
It would be great to re-live again....me and my buddy Kevin (he has gone to all of the Sammy shows with me) decided that our show in St Louis was the best show that we have seen Sammy perform....he was a little subdued it seemed...but from what he said and people that we talked to...Sammy had gotten very tore up at the first show on Tuesday.

[vcr5150]

Vince's account is very good, even to the point about the skank who overextended her welcome.

Got to meet Mr & Mrs Vince, she even gave me a Sammy guitar pick necklace.... very cool!! I found the local newspaper account here:

http://www.siouxcityjournal.com/articles/2007/11/18/entertainment/local/349f1836352d91e386257397001a95d8.txt

Quote: The stage had a riser filled with fans who probably knew the songs as well as Hagar did. They seemed thrilled to see Sammy in a red boa, Sammy sprinkling the stage with sand, Sammy pouring a drink down a waitress' skirt. The message: Every night ain't the same. :thumb:

[Vince G.]

Nice to meet you, Vaughan. It's always great to put a face with a screen name!

[cabosanlucas139]

VHLIVE wrote: Vince G. wrote: VHLIVE wrote: Vince G. wrote: Oh, and yes, the show was "preserved", if you know what I mean. :D It sounds great!

wow and a video might even turn up..... ;)

I hope to God so.

I'd love to get footage of my wife handing Sam the bottle of Cabo sand! :)

ill see what i can do...

I would love to see a copy of that show as we are unlikely to see Sammy in Scotland and he cancelled last time i travelled to Tahoe :(

[Scott55]

Vince, nice review.

Looking forward to hearing the preservation when you are ready to release.

Everyone have a great Thanksgiving.

Scott

[Vince G.]

Scott55 wrote: Vince, nice review.

Looking forward to hearing the preservation when you are ready to release.

Everyone have a great Thanksgiving.

Scott

It might be a while. I got an email yesterday from my tech about converting the show, and though he said he'd gladly do it, he also mentioned it may be a while because he's working on several other projects at the moment. His word is bond with me, so I know he'll get it done.

I'd try it myself, but I no longer have the software to do it. I did try it once, a long time ago, and I pretty much screwed up the entire recording I was trying to convert. So, I'd rather just leave it to someone who knows what they're doing.

[kaloway]

thats ok... for a great Sammy show, we're all patient