Show 7:00PM.

This show was part of the Heavyweight Champs of Rock 'N Roll Tour with David Lee Roth.

Sammy Hagar Opened

On June 18th I had the honor and pleasure of witnessing the ultimate battle between two of the greatest front men of my generation (and from the energy of both many more to come). This round in Albuquerque started off with Sammy throwing the first punch as he busted out with a great video of him past and present which highlighted his career solo and VH, then the huge Cabo curtains closed and you could feel the electricity in the air and the BAM!!! The Cabo drops and he rolls into 55. The sound was excellent, the air was hot and the Red Rocker was jammin!! Sammy still defines how to get a party started. If its slammin Cabo or rollin' fatties the man still shows "There is only one way to rock!!" Hell he even busted on our famous Gov. (Gary "roll'em" Johnson) to quit holding out on him... But the show rocked Sammy could have started off a better hot summer night....During the intermission I and the other sun baked New Mexicans hauled ass the nearest beer stand to drop our hard earned paychecks on 2 beers it covered. (Shit, venues need to help out and drop the prices to the affordable level!!) Anyhow, as the sun set and both men were in there corners the Diamond Vision hit and the crowd went nuts!! Its been a while since Dave has put on a show in the desert and he came out swinging!! To see Dave still sporting the "Elvis" glittering skin tight jump suit and jumping around on stage like a man who need to remind the world that there is one voice that cannot be duplicated. He hit on the classic VH tunes that made you feel like a giddy little high school lad who just had his first kiss with Running with the Devil in the background!! Now Sammy had a lot of interaction with the crowd and put on a fun, rocking, party going show that many will not have one bad thing to say. But Dave came out with a no nonsense "I am gonna kick your teeth in and you gonna like it attitude!" and stole the show. Not a whole lot of talking just a whole lot of fun and memories!!! My deepest congrats to the both and may they keep it going for many years to come!! You are both welcome and loved in NM!!! But the tale of the tape is that Dave is on a mission and tonight he proved he is the voice behind the band once known as Van Halen!!! Now I know Sammy don't back down from no one and will come out in the next town nutting up and kicking ass!!!!

Thanks to Paul for this review!

ADDITIONAL REVIEW

Hey I was at the show in Albuquerque on Tuesday June 18th, Sammy was first and he really rocked! With all the stuff he has done 90 minutes isn't enough time! I saw him in '97 in Oklahoma City and that show was 3 hours! He had the Cabo Wabo thing going on, and had people up on stage. One of those on stage was New Mexico govenor Gary Johnson, who got a big hand from the crowd, and got props from Sammy for his wanting to legalize marijuana. Quite a few people in the crowd were toking, so that got a big response as well. A couple of things different, I guess since 9/11 security is really strict so I didn't see any banners or T-shirts being thrown up on stage like when I saw Sammy before. Also I guess I expected a few more songs from the Waboritas albums, but the only one was "Mas Tequilla". Sammy did tell his story of how "Finish What You Started" was written, and he did have several bikini-clad waitresses bringing him drinks. During "Poundcake" the opening on the video screens showed a saw cutting a striped guitar in two, which was a shot at Eddie, and then the video screens showed outtakes from "Girls Gone Wild" so we got to see a lot of T and A. I guess I would've expected bikini clad girls and "Girls Gone Wild" from Dave more so than Sammy.

After a half hour set change Dave came out and he rocked as well. All but one of the songs he did were Van Halen songs. I was impressed with his band, they did every song note for note. I've read his guitar player is from a Van Halen tribute band, and Dave's shot at Eddie was his guitar player's near perfect rendition of "Eruption". Dave was even impressed, saying "Man you're inspired tonight" The biggest theatrics Dave did was spraying the crowd with Jack Daniels. The crowd seemed to be very happy with both and almost everyone stayed through both performances. The crow went crazy when he finished with "Jump" with many people dancing and singing along. This concert in general was very good and definitely woth the price of admission!!

Thanks to Matt T. for this review!

WHO WENT