Memorial Hall
Cabo Wabo Birthday Bash Tour
On Friday, November 17th,
2000, Michael Healy, Bob Wayne, my wife Barbara Osborn and myself were
witness to one of the better lives shows I have seen in my 20+ years of
attending concerts. We sat Front Row almost center stage at the Sammy Hagar
Ten 13 Tour.
A little background here though.
Michael’s Dad has been standing in line to get us tickets (Rockfest Hagar
Headlined) now for a couple of years since he is retired he has the extra
time. We live over 2 hours from the ticket centers and calling for tickets
never seems to work well. Michael’s Dad is 74 years old and when we asked
him what the other people thought of him getting tickets, he just says
they call him one hip old dude. And that he is.
The evening was great, as the four
of us have been attending Hagar shows since I convinced them all to go
see him on the Mars tour after he left Van Halen. This was my 8th
time to see Sammy live. After we went out to eat we partook in our new
tradition of several shots of Sammy’s Cabo Wabo (Vitamin T) Tequila outside
Memorial Hall. We then went in to get our seats, we just could not believe
we were on the front row.
Sammy started as just about 8:05
with a performance of the “Real Deal” backstage for those who were lucky
enough to be on the stage of the cantina. The curtains then went up as
Sammy and the Waborita’s lit into “Ten 13.”
He played a mixture of hits old and
new as you can see from the set list I have enclosed. I think one of the
highlights of the evening was taking my 60 year old buddy Bob who during
the previous year had had his heart arteries ballooned twice. We told him
in the parking lot when he was doing shots that he could not drop dead
until after the show, as he had never sat on the front row before.
Bob made a poster that said, “2 heart
surgeries this year-but I survived to join the party.” When Sammy saw the
sign he picked it up and held it up for everyone to see. There was a little
problem though – Bob used the symbol of a heart for the sign and Sammy
read it as love surgeries, then it registered and he said “NO SHIT – 2
heart surgeries, well then let me take care of you.”
He then proceeded to call for one
of his waitresses, dressed ever so nicely in their thongs, He then brought
Bob one of his famous “waboritas” and told him, “here you go – but if you
keel over tonight, it’s not my fault.” He signed Bob’s poster and got the
security guard to hang onto Bob’s sign until after the show. After Bob
drank the Waborita, he and Sammy exchanged high fives and the show continued
to rock. Michael, Barbara and I thought that was really cool for Sammy
to do this. Bob got everyone but Vic to sign his poster, because he was
on the far side from us. “Oh well” Bob said, “There’s always next time.”
There was also a young kid about
12 – 13 who sat front row and Sammy signed his shirt, gave him a couple
of picks and a bottle of water. Another youngster sat 3 rows back and Sammy
also took good care of him. My only wish were that my son who loves Sammy’s
music could have been a little older to take to the show (He is only 5,
but does like to rock.)
At one point in the show he used
one of his older guitars that still plugs into an amp. While he was tearing
it down he tripped over the cord, rolled backwards and popped up never
missing a beat or lyric except to add, “you’ll never know when it will
sneak up on you and kick your ass.” Sorry I can’t remember the song, but
it was a very cool adlib.
Another highlight was the mixed medley
of songs by the Who and George Thourghgood. Also a highlight for me was
an acoustic version of “Both Sides Now.” After he performed “55” the band
tool a few minutes backstage and then closed the show with “Marching to
Mars” and an acoustical (almost acappello) version of Cabo Wabo (very cool
indeed).
Again, Sammy’s shows are truly an
experience and a party as he says. The evening was fantastic and was even
better because I could attend it with the “Red Heads” from Iola, Kansas.
The only way that this show could have been any better was to be up on
stage at the Cantina, but then we would not have been “Upfront Fanatics.”
And as Bob said above there is always next time. We plan on going to Tulsa
to the Brady Theater this summer. He has played there on the last two tours
and we are only hoping that he comes back.
Thanks to Tim Osborn for the review!