From Rockunited.com

One of the line-ups that raised questions was SAMMY HAGAR. Some were totally against seing him, while some were huge fans. Hagar has pulled two shows in Sweden with Cabo Wabo earlier, but the fans who came to see the show seemed to be happy to be seeing him again. And as expected, Sammy pulled quite a show on Festival Stage, going "Waitress, may I have another cocktail please" along with the act, as he ordered a drink from the stage bar, which was one of the sets among others on stage. He had brought some beautiful women there as waitresses, who were claimed to be swedes. He'd also brought a bunch of fans to cheer on stage in the background bridge. Those people were the luckiest fans in Sweden Rock this year for sure. Earlier during the day while Hammerfall was playing, some of the band members were seen in the crowd, maybe they were just relaxing before the show or picking the fans for the show at the time. The fans might've been members of a fan club also. while Hagar was doing "Mas Tequila", they brought the biggest ever pinjata on stage in the shape of a bottle and Hagar hit it with his eyes shut, spreading loads of confetti everywhere. One of the disappointments must've been when he played a lame version of "Right Now", but his voice was in shape so it was a pleasant show with the good band, consisting of a female bassist Mona, David Lauser on drums and the guitarist Victor Johnson. Sammy also played some guitar. They also had a percussionist on stage, so the show offered a wider range of experiences than an average show would.

Setlist: Bad Motor Scooter (Montrose), Shaka Doobie (The Limit), There's Only One Way To Rock, Serious Juju, When The Hammer Falls, Give To Live, I Can't Drive 55, Right Now (Van Halen), Top Of The World (VH), Why Can't This Be Love (VH), Red, drum and percussion solos combined, Whole Lotta Love (Led Zeppelin), Heavy Metal, Mas Tequila, Rainy Day Women 12 & 35 (Bob Dylan), Stand Up, High And Dry Again, Hands And Knees, Three Lock Box, Cabo Wabo (VH, accapella)

From Rockunited.com

Setlist: Bad Motor Scooter (Montrose), Shaka Doobie (The Limit), There's Only One Way To Rock, Serious Juju, When The Hammer Falls, Give To Live, I Can't Drive 55, Right Now (Van Halen), Top Of The World (VH), Why Can't This Be Love (VH), Red, drum and percussion solos combined, Whole Lotta Love (Led Zeppelin), Heavy Metal, Mas Tequila, Rainy Day Women 12 & 35 (Bob Dylan), Stand Up, High And Dry Again, Hands And Knees, Three Lock Box, Cabo Wabo (VH, accapella)

Just curious about the VH songs. Does anyone know or has anyone ever heard Sammy talk about which VH songs he chooses to do? Does he pick ones that he personally likes or was more involved in writing, does he just do bigger ones he thinks the fans will like? With four albums worth of good material, just wondering how he goes about paring it down to four songs. Any thoughts?

Sammy should play some other VH songs, but I'm sure they are restricted musical ability wise.

On Some of the Sam & Dave shows Sammy's set was over 50% VH material.

I expect they just play the ones that Sammy wants to play

They've done a whole bunch of VH tunes live, here are the ones I know of:

Best of Both Worlds
Why Can't This Be Love
Dreams
5150
Finish Waht You Started
Black & Blue
When it's Love
Cabo Wabo
Top Of The World
Right Now
Poundcake
Runaround
Amsterdam
Seventh Seal
Running With The Devil

I also seem to remember them doing Don't Tell Me a while ago, but I can't find anything to confim it - does anyone know for sure if they ever did that?

Have I missed anything off?

Dave

They played Up for Breakfast at the Tahoe shows earlier this year.

Sammy should play some other VH songs, but I'm sure they are restricted musical ability wise.

Doubtful.

DLR7884
Hagar plays the VH songs he likes the most....just like DLR.

They've done a whole bunch of VH tunes live
Yeah. It was neat to see Sam do stuff like "5150" and FWYS on the Sam & Dave tour, because we'll probably never see those songs again at a VH concert (if VH ever tours again). Same goes for Dave's setlist, which had stuff like "Atomic Punk" and "Everybody Wants Some!!"

Yeah. It was neat to see Sam do stuff like "5150" and FWYS on the Sam & Dave tour, because we'll probably never see those songs again at a VH concert (if VH ever tours again). Same goes for Dave's setlist, which had stuff like "Atomic Punk" and "Everybody Wants Some!!"

I can't believe Sam played 'Stand Up' It's very ambitious of him to cover a song from Skyscraper!!

You know, I can't believe that Sammy plays "Why Can't this Be Love" when he plays solo too. My God, if I never hear that song live again it'll be too soon. What is the attraction for Sammy and Van Halen to play that song in every concert they've had since 1986? Same goes for "Ain't Talkin' Bout Love." I could kind of understand that being a Dave-era song that Sammy was willing to sing, but they played it almost every show with Gary, too. I don't understand why they always play these standards, but even worse, Sammy is playing them again less than a year later. I guess he throws in Cabo Wabo (which you know VH will never do again), but that's just part of the tequila show. I loved Sammy in VH back in the day, but I'm really bored with him now. Not that VH is very entertaining at the moment, but Sammy seems to have a schtick now, and that's all you can expect to get out of him. Same problem with Dave, I guess. Oh well, I guess that's what happens after 30-ish years in the business by all parties involved....they just start phoning it in.

It's simple...both Sammy and VH play what the people want to hear. Why Can't This Be Love, Ain't Talkin' Bout Love, Jump, Right Now etc were all hits and that's what the concert going public want to hear.

The small minority of us die hards who would love to hear Judgement Day, Good Enough, Mine All Mine, etc, etc...are just that - the minority....we are few and far between these days I'm afriad...

Sad but true...

He played "When The Hammer Falls"?????

:brickwall

I wanna hear that one live, godfuckit!

You know, I can't believe that Sammy plays "Why Can't this Be Love" when he plays solo too. My God, if I never hear that song live again it'll be too soon. What is the attraction for Sammy and Van Halen to play that song in every concert they've had since 1986? Same goes for "Ain't Talkin' Bout Love." I could kind of understand that being a Dave-era song that Sammy was willing to sing, but they played it almost every show with Gary, too. I don't understand why they always play these standards, but even worse, Sammy is playing them again less than a year later. I guess he throws in Cabo Wabo (which you know VH will never do again), but that's just part of the tequila show. I loved Sammy in VH back in the day, but I'm really bored with him now. Not that VH is very entertaining at the moment, but Sammy seems to have a schtick now, and that's all you can expect to get out of him. Same problem with Dave, I guess. Oh well, I guess that's what happens after 30-ish years in the business by all parties involved....they just start phoning it in.

I understand what you are saying even though I think that Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love should ALWAYS be played. Sorry but I'm biased because it's my favorite song by them. I do agree that there are plenty of other songs in their catalog that we would all love to hear.

It's simple...both Sammy and VH play what the people want to hear. Why Can't This Be Love, Ain't Talkin' Bout Love, Jump, Right Now etc were all hits and that's what the concert going public want to hear.

The small minority of us die hards who would love to hear Judgement Day, Good Enough, Mine All Mine, etc, etc...are just that - the minority....we are few and far between these days I'm afriad...

Sad but true...

I know he's gonna play hits, but VH had a dozen or so "hits" while Sammy was in the band. Just wondering why he plays WCTBL,Right Now, and TOTW as opposed to say Dreams, BOBW, When It's Love, FWYS, Poundcake, Runaround, CSLY, etc. Just wondering if he's ever on record stating a preference for playing certain ones, or if he had more to do with writing them, or anything like that. Maybe he just constantly rotates them? Just seems pretty hard to me to whittle down the Hagar era to four songs.

What were they referring to in the review when they said it was a lame version of "Right Now"?

What were they referring to in the review when they said it was a lame version of "Right Now"?
It's "Right Now" like you've never heard it before. Kinda acoustic, but more just toned down.

maybe he plays them becuase HE LIKES THEM ?? WTF? some of you will never be happy until he is 6 feet under...I am sure everyone has some songs they like to sing along to.. what if people told you to rotate them, or complained about how YOU sang them, what would you say..if you'd change just beause someone else says you should???..... wow, this guy can never do what he wants without hearing it from the bleachers...bet most of you complainers wouldnt get on a kareoke( sp ) in your local bar let alone in public.....pathetic......

maybe he plays them becuase HE LIKES THEM ?? WTF? some of you will never be happy until he is 6 feet under...I am sure everyone has some songs they like to sing along to.. what if people told you to rotate them, or complained about how YOU sang them, what would you say..if you'd change just beause someone else says you should???..... wow, this guy can never do what he wants without hearing it from the bleachers...bet most of you complainers wouldnt get on a kareoke( sp ) in your local bar let alone in public.....pathetic......

Excuse me, but where exactly did I complain about the song choices or criticize them in any way. Nor did I say he should rotate them or change them. Try rereading what I wrote before you get your panties in a bunch. I just simply asked if anyone has heard Sam talk about his song choices and if those songs held any extra meaning for him. Jeeze. What's your problem?

Found this review of Sammy's show in last month's issue of the German "Rock Hard" magazine and thought I'd share.

http://img195.imageshack.us/img195/5690/sammy1eo.th.jpg (http://img195.imageshack.us/my.php?image=sammy1eo.jpg)
click on thumbnail to enlarge

Here's my translation of the article (I'm sorry if it's a little sketchy, but I tried my best! ;) )

The biggest surprise of the festival is a red jumping jack named Sammy Hagar wearing a miraculous red weapon in front of his belly (IN FRONT, not below, girls!). His band seems to be from a different planet: two drummers, a native american-looking bass player who knows how to wham, and a black mega-guitarist who, in addition, has a good voice, too. Above the drum kits there are 50 crazy fans picked by Sammy from the audience before the show started, who are now part of the most inventive stage set-up since the Motorhead-Bomber 24 hours ago. Additionally, Sammy sings and screams like a young god (‘Only One Way To Rock’), garnishes the inevitable Van Halen medley with fine ironic comments on his (former?) bandmates, and seems to be as likeable, relaxed, and cool as never before. With every song (e.g. ‘Bad Motor Scooter’, ‘When The Hammer Falls’, ‘Give To Live’, ‘Heavy Metal’, and, of course, “I Can’t Drive 55’) the sound gets better, his voice more powerful, and the show rocks more and more. So after all, the bikini-beauties who were especially flown-in from Stockholm and who are serving drinks on stage every now and then, and the gigantic tequilla bottle (including a worm!) which, at the end of the set, in an almost Spinal Tap-ish way comes down from the ceiling, are only the tip of the iceberg of a perfect show. Superb!

text in pic: Biggest surprise of the festival: Sammy Hagar