Hagar New Orleans Concert Review

**Doucet** · 01.24.01, 01:20 PM

I'm a few days late on this, but here we go.

About 1,000 or so jammed into the "House of Blues" on Sunday night to hear about 25 tunes from the "Red Rocker". Hagar as usual was dressed a bit bizarre. Yellow "Cabo Wabo Tequila" pants, red-T shirt, black shirt unbuttoned over that. The best part of the ensemble - yellow canvas Converse high-tops. I had some of those back in the day.

Hagar took alot of heat on the "balance" tour when the set-list was short. Don't blame him. This guy will play until the cows come home.

Hi-lites? Let me just say that we forget how bad-ass Sam is on guitar. The solos for "Three Lock Box" and "High and Dry" absolutely smoked. The guy can rip shit up. I guess that all gets lost when you stand next to Eddie for 11 years.

My favorite tune of the night was a cover of Bo Diddley's "Mockingbird". Sam said his first big gig was playing as a back-ground guitarist for Didley back in 1967. He added that he had seen Diddley's name back-stage on the list of people that had played the H.O.B., and threw it in. He had a good vibe, nice rock tune.

The biggest response from the audience probably came from "Heavy Metal". Everyone knew the lyrics, and sang them especially loud when the line "Up Front Fanatics" kicked in. I was on the front row.

A group of guys off to the left began chanting, "V-O-A, V-O-A, V-O-A!". Sam said, "I knew this was going to fuckin' happen. These guys are teaming up on me over here. Who are you guys with, a union?"
Sam then played "Red Voddoo", which he said was the first performance in two years of the song. The Cajun twist on it was probably the reason they played it.

By the way, Sam said "Fuck" more than Eminem. "Fuckin' Bourbon Street. Fuckin 'Mardi Gras". Fuckin' beads. Fuck this. Fuck that." I don't care if the guy curses, but I now see what Ray Danniels meant when he told Sam to tone down the onstage antics.

There were a few visuals I could have done without. Sam began licking a lolly-pop in a suggestive manner during "Rock Candy". He also grabbed himself during "Shockadubie" when the line about "juicin' in up" hit. Some chick with a huge rack in the balcony kept raising her shirt, but wouldn't take off her bra. Sam said, "Hey you want to see my tits?" He raised his shirt. Then he said, "My dick is big, but my tits are small." Alrighty.

I was really taken by how tiny Sam is. And by the way, the guy a'int fat. TV adds weight. Sam is slight. Up close, you could also tell how much he's aged. He looks fanatastic for 53, but you can tell he's getting up there. At times he appeared to labor. I also noticed he's singing alot less, alot lower, and playing alot more guitar. Read between the lines.

One thing that annoyed me was the behavior of the fans in the front. They all had stuff to be signed. That's great. But when Sam is in the middle of a solo, don't wave the shit inches from his face. Second, if he doesn't acknowledge you, put the shit down! These people had no concept of this. Hagar's in the middle of a serious acoustic number and some jackass pretending to be John Wayne twirling shit on a horse. At the end of the show, some nim-rod made his way to the front and held up his Iowa driver's liscense for at least 10 minutes. Sam was a class act during the show, but he sat down to sign a few more T-Shirts (he signed basically everything B.T.W.) he started kinda shouting at the dude in a playful manner. Sammy finally grabbed the liscense and said "Happy Fucking' Birthday, Ok?" It was funny.

All in all, the show had alot of energy, and plenty of effort. Sam said New Orleans was one of his favorite cities in the world, and that he wasn't patronizing. He said he looked at the schedule, and said "We're playing New Orleans Sunday? We're taking Monday off!"

VH tunes included "Top of the World", "Why Can't This Be Love", "Finish What Ya Started" and a bee-box version of "Cabo Wabo".

Anybody want any other details I'll be glad to post.

**Glenn** · 01.24.01, 01:46 PM

Doucet, for starters you should re-select your user icon. To the left of your posts is a red X. Unless you hate the icons, then forget I said anything.

Anyway, cool post, nice and in depth. I still find it odd that Sammy spends so much time signing autographs during his shows.

You said that Heavy Metal got the biggest response. Even bigger than the VH material?

------------------
The Michael Jordan of Van Halen websites!!!
www.vhlinks.com

**Raldo** · 01.25.01, 04:04 AM

Thanks for the update on Sammy. I enjoyed his last tour when he came thru Connecticut.
He was pretty smart to play in New Orleans. Great city and the House of Blues is a nice place to see a show.

------------------
May the Phoenix that is Van Halen rise again!

**Doucet** · 01.25.01, 10:24 AM

Yeah Glenn, I've been wanting to do that for months. I had one to start, but for some reason it disappeared. I'm tired of that red box too!

Actually, I do think "Heavy Metal" was the most appreciated song of the night. It's got a good slow and steady flow to it that comes across much better live. People were going ape-shit. But "Top of the World" was pretty well received also.

A couple of other notes, not to be too negative. Sam opened up with "The Real Deal" played behind the curtain. I knew what was happening because I've kept up with the tour. Other people were confused and didn't know what the hell was going on. Some people thought the crew was screwing up, and couldn't open the thing.

Sam did take one shot at Roth.
Some feather scarf like things (very femine)were passed to the front. Vic Johnson put one on a started jamming. Sam said, "No way. No fucking way I'm putting that thing on. I don't care where we are. You know, that's how Roth got in trouble, wearing shit like that."

The comment was met with a few boos.

------------------

**Rat Salad** · 01.25.01, 08:59 PM

Cool deal Doucet....I saw Sammy earlier this month and it was a decent time...I thought it was strange when Sammy was signing autographs during the chorus of VH tunes.

I was happy as hell he played Cabo Wabo....and I was hoping he played Bad Motor Scooter but it didn't happen....But cool, glad to hear ya had a good one

------------------

Here's to your thin red line....MMMMMM I'm stepping over!

**Doucet** · 01.26.01, 10:36 AM

Yeah Rat Salad, you kinda walk away with a half-empty feeling, because you wish it was the whole gang up there, ya know? But I would have never got a chance to see Sammy that close 5 years ago, so it's cool.

I think Sam just can't pop off chords like he used to, so he spends extra time on solos, and signing shit. He didn't even sing the second line of "WKTBL". He was busy looking at a guitar pick someone passed him.

But all in all it was cool. Pretty impressive that he could pack the place at $30 a pop.

**Rat Salad** · 01.26.01, 11:10 AM

Ya man I was happy with the show...did he let people in the crowd sing Top of the World at your show too?....that kinda bothered me...he finally played some VH and he was letting drunk people butcher the tune...I kinda got the feeling he didn't want to sing those tunes....he also was signing autographs during the chorus to WCTBL

Cool for the people in the front row, not so cool for me and my buds in the balcony

But ya the place was sold out here too and the energy was good.

------------------

Here's to your thin red line....MMMMMM I'm stepping over!

[This message has been edited by Rat Salad (edited January 26, 2001 at 11:11 AM).]

[This message has been edited by Rat Salad (edited January 26, 2001 at 11:12 AM).]

**Doucet** · 01.26.01, 11:20 AM

Rat Salad, yeah during "Top of the World" I don't think he sung the chorus once. He just let the crowd take it. It's like, hey, I came to listen to you, not them. During "W.K.T.B.L", he passed the mic around to people during the chorus. Too much signing shit for real! The more he signed, the more people started pushing their way to the front.