FAN REVIEWS

I was fortunate enough to attend Sammy's free concert in Battery Park on Monday, May 19th to support the FDNY. I work in Times Square and had to be in at 4, so it worked out well.

I live in the great state of New Jersey and took the train in with a friend of mine who is a Trenton fireman. We arrived at 11:30 A.M. and were surprised to be able to stand only 20 feet or so from the stage. I have been a huge Van Halen fan since 1980 and believe that they were, are and hopefully always (Eddie and Alex- where are you?) will be the greatest rock band ever. I prefer the Dave era VH music to Sammy's, but I firmly believe that Sammy is a far better frontman than Dave is today. Dave was great back in the late 70's and early 80's, but he seems to have lost all touch with reality over the last 15 years or so. He still seems to think that it is 1978 and Van Halen 1 has just gone triple platinum. Dave needs to wake up! I still hold out hope that VH will at some point regroup with Sammy, because at this point in time, Sammy is the ONLY right guy for the job.

Anyway, the show that Sammy and the Waboritas put on was great. This was the 15th time I've seen Sammy (12 with VH and 3 solo) and the one thing that always rings true at his shows is that he truly loves to be on stage and has a great time playing rock and roll. To the best of my recollection, the setlist was as follows:

Not in Order:
THERE'S ONLY ONE WAY TO ROCK
THREE LOCK BOX
MAS TEQUILA
I CAN'T DRIVE 55 (65)
LITTLE WHITE LIES
HEAVY METAL
TOP OF THE WORLD
RIGHT NOW
GIVE TO LIVE
SHAKA DOOBIE
EVERYBODY MUST GET STONED

The show lasted about an hour and the band sounded awesome. Sammy signed autographs before, during (putting his mic in his pocket during an instrumental part of a song at one point to sign something) and after the show. He told the crowd that he would be in town for a week and hoped to play some other dates (please post these!!!).

All in all, a fantastic, once in a lifetime experience. Thank you Sammy!

Looking forward to the show in Holmdel, NJ with Skynyrd in July.

Sincerely,

Kelly Akin
Hamilton Square, NJ

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Monday 05/19/03 Sammy Hagar FREE lunchtime benefit show Battery Park, NYC

OK, Mayor Bloomberg is planning on cutting 11 million out of NYC's budget by closing down a few NYC firehouses, and this was a free concert to raise awareness for the fireman. Apparently, one of the fireman had direct connections to Sammy himself, and he set this concert up. (This fireman was on stage, and he introduced Sammy & the band to open the set)

First, I realize that many people may read this review from other parts of the country or even the world, so I'll give a little background on the location. Battery Park is at the tip of Manhattan, right in the Wall Street area, only a block or two from Ground Zero. From the stage area where Sammy set up, you could look over to the right, across the water, and see the Statue Of Liberty. A very scenic and significant place to put on a show, indeed.

Radio promos said the concert started at noon, so I arrived at like 11:50am. I found a metered parking spot, too...I'M THE MAN...who says you can never find parking in NYC?

This was obviously an outdoor set, and the weather was BEAUTIFUL!! Probably the first real spring day NY has had so far (it's been a real cold spring here) Media cameras were everywhere, and you could see fireman being interviewed, and several tables and petitions and banners were set up. Off duty FDNY made up most of the 150/200(?) people in the audience, and they were all proudly wearing their Engine's t-shirts. A few visiting sailors and serviceman were there, too, some tourists, and some financial people on lunch break, and maybe even a few just plain Sammy fans.

I'm unemployed, so I figured it would be cool to take in a free show. I grew up on David Lee Roth era VH, and I prefer that to Sammy's era, but I really have nothing against him. I have never seen VH or Sammy or anyone from these camps in concert, so this was a first for me.

Fireman made a few speeches from the stage, rallied everyone up, and then they started the show around 12:30pm or so. It lasted just under an hour, I believe, and they were done before 1:30pm.

I can't give an exact setlist, but, they definately opened with "There's Only One Way To Rock". Good song. The next song was the Bob Dylan cover Rainy Day Women (better known as EVERBOBY MUST GET STONED) Cool cover song, and browsing this web site, looks like
they've done it at other shows. Then, I think 3 Lock Box, and they went on to play Right Now, Mas Tequila, I Can't Drive 55, Give To Live(?). The last song they played was Heavy Metal.

I was impressed. The band was tight, sounded good, and I respect them for playing for a good cause. A fireman shirt was thrown to Sammy, and he changed into it on stage, discarding his Cabo Wabo shirt. Sammy said they just flew in from Cali, and they would be in NY for a week, to promote their new live album. He hinted they'd find some NYC clubs to play some more gigs this week.

Heavy Metal is a great song. I think that was my highlight of the show.

-Dave dengleman@yahoo.com