MOHEGAN SUN ARENA 07/05/06

[sickman]

The show last night was pretty good. Early start 7:15, The arena was about half to 3/4 full and the band was full of energy. They pumped through their first 4 songs before taking a small break to say hello to all the fans. Sammy had 3 waitresses bringing him Waboritas non stop, most of which ended up in the crowd. There were alot of VH shirts in the audience especially up in the front row. Sam's set was cool, kept the show interesting. He did sign stuff for people both on the stage and off. Mike was on the side of the stage for the whole first part of the show goofing off with Doug and Mona. Sams wife was also there on the opposite side of the stage with the crew.
Mikeys bass solo was pretty much the same as usual but when he started into Runnin With The Devil the energy in the room picked up quit a bit. The VH tunes definetly got more of a response from the crowd than the first half. No mention of the Bros. at all except from some guys at the front center of the stage who started chanting Eddie Sucks. To which you could tell Mike and Sam were a little uncomfortable with and told the guys in a joking manner to calm down a little and asked if they wanted to come up and do the show. Another bone head in the crowd held up a sign that read Eddie Who?
All and all the VH tunes were awesome to hear live again even if it was only 1/2 the band. Vic did a good job adding his own style to the songs without taking anything away from them or trying to sound like Eddie. From what I can remember they played:
Runnin' with the Devil
Runaround
Top of the World
Poundcake
Good Enough
Finish What You Started
Best Of Both Worlds

Like I said from what I can remember, I think there were a few more but my brain isn't fully functional Right Now.
At the end of the show alot of the people in the section I was in started in with the EDDIE EDDIE EDDIE chant which I'm sure they heard on the stage.
For whats it's worth My wife and I brought along some of her co-workers that ranged from the ages of 20 to 62 and they all had a blast. Even the 20 year old who only heard of VH or Sammy through me loved the show.

[jimmy812]

I saw that bonehead with the "Eddie Who" sign. I also saw some other idiots holding up a sign that said "The ONLY Other Half." I thought that was ridiculous. If it wasn't for that missing other half, most of these fans (and Mike as well) wouldn't be here.
But, with that said, the show was probably the best Hagar show I've seen. His voice was great. The setlist was great (although I felt a little cheated with the VH songs -- no 5150 or Summer Nights).
Vic Johnson has greatly improved since he first joined Sammy. Lauser is always solid. And it was nice to see Mikey doing the same solo he did in '86.
Expensive Waboritas however. ($9.50)
Oh, and great opening video he showed the crowd.

[Raldo]

Great show as always from Sammy. The couple of posts pretty much summed it all up.

The VH songs definitely got more of a pop. Vic plays them very well and adds some touches of his own. I thought FWYS was arranged in a different but neat way. I liked how the on-stage folks got to walk around the stage during BOBW. It was great to hear 'Good Enough'. I had never seen it performed live since my first VH concert was the OU812 tour.

As for the guys yelling Eddie sucks, I was wondering what they were saying to get Sammy's attention. No need for that. It is their opinion and maybe deserved but give it a rest.

Sammy's solo set list was a little of the same but with a few goodies.
There was the song from the 'Footloose' soundtrack ('Girl Gets Around' I think) that sound good live. 'Sam I Am' was another that I liked and can't wait to get the new album.

Overall, Sammy looked great and for a guy near 60, he has more energy than guys 1/2 his age. His voice is still very strong so we should expect more from him for years to come.

Thank you Sammy for coming back to Connecticut and Livin' It Up!!!

[sasquatch]

All I have to say is that casinos suck. They want you to spend your time gambling, and not at a rock concert. Therefore, Sammy was on a strict time limit to be off the stage by 9:30. It's hard to feel shortchanged when the tickets are only $20, but I think the Other Half set list was cut short a bit. Would I be incorrect to say that When It's Love and 5150 were left out? I was very disappointed that they didn't play 5150. I remember reading similar "short-changed" reviews of the abbreviated show Sammy played at Foxwoods Casino last tour. Very disappointing.

The other disappointment for me was the tease that Vic gave when he pulled out the slide guitar. I was certain that he started to play the intro for Bad Motor Scooter, and I was pumped for them to rip into it. Instead, it was the intro for Little White Lie.

Other than that, I thought the band was tight, and the sound was surprisingly excellent. I was glad I made the drive from Boston, even though my wife will probably serve me with divorce papers.

I have the set list as follows:
Start time: 7:25 PM
Mas Tequilla
Three Lock Box
One Way to Rock
Rainy Day Women
Shaka Doobie
Girl Gets Around
Rock Candy
I'll Fall In Love Again
Livin It Up
Sam I Am
Little White Lie
I Can't Drive 55
Heavy Metal
First set ends at 8:30

Other Half Begins 8:40
Bass Solo
Runnin With the Devil
Poundcake
Top of the World
Why Can't This Be Love
Good Enough
Runaround
Finish What Ya Started
Fight For Your Right To Party
Ends at 9:30, no encore

[sasquatch]

Oh, and one more thing...I miss Jesse Harms. Thought the show could have used the tickled ivories.

[sickman]

I doubt the casino had anything to do with the show ending at 9:30. After all it did start around 7:15 so they were on stage for atleast 2 hours. I have been to many shows there and none have ever ended that early but than again they also started later around 8:30. Givin the fact that there was not an opening act, 2 hours from one artist is the norm.

[EddiePie]

I thought that early on the show had sold out. I could of sworn that there were no tickets left, but someone said the place was only 1/2 to 3/4 full. Is that true? Otherwise, I would have gone, man.

[sasquatch]

I doubt the casino had anything to do with the show ending at 9:30. After all it did start around 7:15 so they were on stage for atleast 2 hours. I have been to many shows there and none have ever ended that early but than again they also started later around 8:30. Givin the fact that there was not an opening act, 2 hours from one artist is the norm.

There's a big difference between 2 hours and 1 1/2 hours, and they only played 90 minutes. The pre-show film may have started around 7:15, but the curtain was pulled and the opening chords of Mas Tequilla happened at 7:25. That set ended at 8:30, which is 65 minutes. After a ten minute break, The Other Half hit the stage at 8:40, and played a 50 minute set, until 9:30.

So, in summary, we have:
Wabo Set -- 65 minutes
+Other Half Set -- 50 minutes
------------------------------
Total show time -- 95 minutes != 120 minutes. (!= means "not equal")

[sickman]

Well to be honest with you I wasn't watching the time all night. The show started at 7:15 and ended at 9:30. It was entertaining and I had a great time. On top of that it cost $20 and I still had time to party after the show and still get up at 5am the next day for work.

[sasquatch]

Well to be honest with you I wasn't watching the time all night. The show started at 7:15 and ended at 9:30. It was entertaining and I had a great time. On top of that it cost $20 and I still had time to party after the show and still get up at 5am the next day for work.

I totally agree with you that it was great to get out of there early. But just look at this set list for The Other Half that someone posted from the Nashville, TN show.

14. Mikey's Bass Solo
15. Runnin' With The Devil
16. Top of The World
17. Humans Being
18. Why Can't This Be Love
19. Good Enough
20. 5150
21. Right Now
22. Finish What You Started
23. Best of Both Worlds
24. Summer Time Blues/Fight For the Right to Party

The Wabo set list was identical, so I didn't repost.

So, we heard Poundcake, but we didn't get Humans Being, 5150, or Right Now. To me, that's downsizing the set list. I've heard Right Now enough in my life to not miss it, but I would have really loved to have heard 5150 and Humans Being.

[sickman]

Yeah 5150 and Humans Being would have been cool to hear. Maybe next time.

[oldfan77]

We're regulars at Mohegan Sun and were offered free tickets to the show--they actually gave away a bunch from what I understand. I was pumped to go but we had a family emergency to deal with at last minute (Elderly mom took a digger,wrecked her ankle and got scun-up, off to the hospital 4 hours before show time and we're 2.5hrs away) so I called and released the tickets---hope someone was able to enjoy them...

Sounded like a good show. Can't believe idiots would be shouting "Eddie sucks" to those guys, after all, they ARE part of Van Halen, whether Eddie is currently "having a moment" or not, and both Mike and Sammy know that Eddie and Van Halen are the #1 reason both of them are famous. So I can certainly see them "being uncomfortable" and telling those fools to chill.

Looking forward to a re-collaboration of VAN HALEN, because the bottom line is that everyone knows that is what we are all really looking for, anyway. (Sammy shows with VH T-shirts everywhere, place lites up at the beginning of the VH song list,"Eddie, Eddie, Eddie", etc)

[sasquatch]

Yeah, I have a feeling the gave a lot of comp tickets, because Sammy said he wasn't supposed to be cussing on stage. He did anyway.