Sunrise Music Theatre

Sammy’s 2.5 hour show at Sunrise Musical Theatre in Fort Lauderdale was
awesome! The place was a near sellout and Sammy didn’t disappoint his fans.
The crowd stood for the entire show with the exception of when he played
Kama. I’m not sure where some of the knocks on his supporting band members
have come from; this band was tight, the acoustics were fantastic, and light
show was definitely something to see.

The last time Sammy was in South Florida, he was with Van Halen and had to
cut their normal show short by about 30 minutes, as his voice had completely
given out. In fact, the following show in Orlando was canceled as a result.
This time, Sammy gave a great performance and seems to be showing no
effects from his recent cold.

Sammy came out wearing black “crushed velvet” pants, a red tank top, and a
yellow shirt. As one of the banners in Sunrise showed, we marched with
Sammy from Montrose to Mars as the set list shows.

We got to hear the story of how Mona joined the band during Bad Motor
Scooter. Apparently, Sammy had called a bunch of his buddies looking for a
decent bass player. When he found out about Mona, he told her that within
12 hours, she needed to be able to play Bad Motor Scooter, Heavy Metal, I
Can’t Drive 55, Red, and One Way To Rock by the next day. But when Sammy
saw her pull up with her Harley chopper, sissy bar and all, that was it…
Mona was hired.

Sammy also got the crowd laughing as he told us about Pete, the pilot who
flies them around. South Florida is Pete’s home, so he kept bugging Sammy
to play something bluesy. So, we got a blues-up shortened version of Hand
Jive.

As usual, Sammy got loads of bras and panties flung up onto the stage. I
was a little disappointed at first, because Donna Grant, the other MnG
person with me at the show, had 2nd row tickets, while I was in the 8th row;
as it turned out, I may have ended up with the better view. In front of me,
two women kept being hoisted upwards to give Sammy a better show…at least
3 times, one of the girls gave us all a flash of chest, while the other gave
us a very nice butt shot. OK…I ask you. Who had the better tickets?

Sammy also got a really nice baseball cap with his name on it given to him.
He wore it for a short while, but ended up giving it to Victor, because
Sammy was afraid that the fans on the side of the stage were being blinded
by the stage lights coming off Victor’s “shiny bald head” as Sammy put it.

The show concluded with the radio contest winners singing Marching To Mars
along with Sammy. There didn’t seem to be enough females on stage, so Sammy
fixed that by bringing up several more women to help out.

It was a great concert!! You know you have a great time when you come home
completely exhausted, but unable to sleep; and you want to talk about it
and tell people what a great time you had, but you can’t because your own
voice is gone from singing along…come back again, Sammy!!

Thanks to Bob Schukai for the review and set list.