This was Sammy Hagar's first live appearance in New York City in over 16 years. Sammy and his band played to a sold-out crowd of 1,200 fans at the Beacon Theater in N.Y.C.
Unlike his Van Halen days, Sammy does a lot more on this tour than just jump around and sing. Sammy proved himself on this night to be very competent on lead guitar, rhythm guitar, and slide guitar.
His touring band consists of -- Vic Johnson (lead guitar), Mona (bass guitar), David Loudon (drums), and Jesse Harms (keyboards).
Special guests this evening included Mick Jones of the band Foreigner, and also a cameo appearance by Dr. Judy Kuriansky, radio-sex-therapist from the Love Phones show.
Hagar commented that "This is just part-one of the party... Part-two of this party is one week from today, right here." Sammy's comment has started a rumor that there will be an additional show on next Friday, Oct-3, to be held in a NYC venue.
During the performance of the old 1973 Montrose hit "BadMotorScooter", the crowd got to see Hagar playing the same original lap steel guitar which he used to record the song, almost 25 years ago.
Sammy led the crowd thru an impromtpu lesson in mixology, when he put together a batch of his signature drink, the "Waborita", containing tequila, cointreau, fresh lime, and the fresh juice of the agave cactus. He then poured cups from the shaker, and handed them to the fans in the front row. Hagar did not ask to see any ID before serving the fans.
Hagar introduced his lead guitar player, Vic Johnson, formerly of the Busboys, and who has also worked with Dr.Dre. To give you an impression of Vic Johnson's appearance, simply imagine how Jimi Hendrix might look if he was alive today and playing basketball with the NBA. Johnson worked confidently through a series of Van Halen covers. He also offered a glimpse of his influences by teasing on such classics as Hendrix "3rd Stone From The Sun" and Led Zep's "Whole Lotta Love".
A few minutes later, Sammy told the story of how he found his bass player, Mona, a decidedly powerful biker-chick with an exotic hispanic/pacific allure. Hagar explains: "I formed this band in the Summer of '96, with Vic and Jesse and Dave, but I couldn't seem to find a bass player. I called Mick Jones (of Foreigner), I called Mickey Hart (of The Grateful Dead), I called everybody I know, and finally someone referred me to Mona. I said to myself, if i'm gonna have a girl in my band, man, i'm really gonna get shit about it from my ol' lady. So, she better be a bad motherfuckin' bass player or she's not gonna be in the band. I finally got her on the phone, and we made plans to audition her the next day. So the next day, me and my drummer Dave are just sittin out on the from lawn of my house, drinking some beers, when I see this chopper comin' up my yard headed straight towards my house. And I said, "No, it couldn't be". But sure enough this is a BAD chopper, all lowered to the ground, big high handlebars, sissy bar. And here's Mona, riding up across my lawn with a bass guitar strapped onto the bitch seat. And I said to her, man, I don't even care if you can play all the songs, you've got the job."
For the encore, Hagar introduced his old friend Mick Jones of the band Foreigner. Jones played lead guitar on a cover of Led Zeppelin's "Rock 'n Roll". Mick Jones also sat in on "Dreams", a song which Jones produced for Van Halen back in 1987.
Finally, for the last encore, Hagar was joined by a menagerie of backstage fans who included Dr. Judy, of the radio talk show LovePhones. While Sammy wailed, Dr. Judy bounced.
Sammy Hagar will perform on Saturday, Sept. 27th, 1997 at The Strand in Providence, Rhode Island. For more concert dates, see our Concert Calendar.
Review by Peter Heilig
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