FAN REVIEWS

I used to recall fans of Sammy's back in his Van Halen days talk about how much better he was before he joined the band. Well, now that I've seen Sammy in concert with Van Halen, on his own, and back with Van Halen again, you're all absolutely correct!!!! I have to say that Sammy with the Waboritas is just a much better show. I understand that it's Eddie Van Halen on guitar and that's why we have to hear his guitar over everything else in the show. But all that does is completely drown out Sammy's vocals. I could almost accept this sacrifice if Eddie were at least sharp. But he wasn't. So instead of hearing my main man's voice hit the highs and lows of the tunes that I grew up loving, I'm forced to hear Eddie Van Halen fumble through the very basics of the songs. Victor Johnson played "Top of the World" on his last tour better than Eddie played it last night in Champaign. Don't get me wrong I loved Eddie's solos. And there's no doubt that he's one of the best ever on guitar.

Regardless of all of the things that I've said above though I'd still recommend the show. It was very good just not great.

Andy S

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Well my day started out at 3:30 am. Did my time at work then left for the concert at 2:30 pm. A four hour drive from Vandalia Ohio to Champaign Illinois for the Van Halen show. Left the concert and a short four hour drive back, got home at 4:30 am, just in time to hear my alarm going off to get me up for work!!! A 25 hour day, but it was well worth the trip and here’s why.

I could right my review and say that it was a great show and Sammy and the boy's kicked ass, which they did. But I need to tell what a special night Sammy made it for me. I've been to several shows this year and over the past several years as well, but this one topped them all. I was fortunate enough to get a Golden Ring ticket for the show, and right off the bat Sammy acknowledged my license plate, GOT CABO ?, later he autographed it, for the 5th time. He held up my banner, IT'S ABOUT TIME VAN HALEN KICKED ASS IN CHAMPAIGN ILLIOIS, he wore it around a while, autographed it and threw it back, but that's happened before too, and just kept getting better. After Michael did his think with Someone Get Me A Doctor, which was awesome, he yells "Someone get me a shot". Of course Sammy comes to the rescue with two cups of Cabo Wabo. Michael drinks all of his but Sammy saves a little bit. He brings it over and hands it to me to finish off and I did. But it didn't stop there, as I was watching Eddie's solo in amazement someone came from backstage and tapped me on the shoulder, I turned around and it looked like a bouncer, he handed me a cup. On the cup Sammy replied to my license plate, it said YES I DO - THANKS SAMMY. The cup was half filled with chilled CABO WABO! Now how can you top that? In an Arena that isn't selling alcohol, I'm in the Golden Ring watching Sammy put on one hell of a show sipping down some of the best damn tequila in the world!!!!!!!! A MEMORY OF A LIFETIME!!! At the end of the show Sammy came over and gave me one more high five and said Thank You. It's a night I'll never forget. There's no one on this planet that acknowledges and appreciates his fans more than Sammy Hagar. THANK YOU SAMMY!

If anyone got some pictures during the show I would appreciate if you could send me some. marc.zehnder@att.net

Note to Sammy: My wife and I spent the week of August 21 - 28 in Cabo celebrating our 25th Wedding Anniversary and my Birthday. The staff at the Cabo Wabo Cantina went out of there way to make the two occasion special for us. The food, Waboritas and the Cantina exceeded our expectations. "Lands End You Have To See It, Ain't No Picture Ever Said It Right" And yes I was walkin' the streets doin' the Old Cabo Wabo after my Birthday shots at the Cantina

Thank Again Sammy

Marc Zehnder

Vandalia, Ohio

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I was at the concert in Champaign last night and I must say that was AMAZING. The boys rocked hard and sounded fantastic. Great songs, awesome energy on stage, Sammy and Eddie were flying around, Sammy was signing autographs as usual, and Alex and Michael are the best. Alex's solo was freakin' inspiring...man, the crowd was just stunned and blown away. Sammy's vocals were on fire, he is a ultimate showman, and still rocks as hard as anyone. I wish he would play a couple more of his old stuff (I Can't Drive 55, High Hopes, Heavy Metal) since I've followed him for 20 years. And of course what can you say about Eddie's solo? I personally thought it was a bit long, but hey I can't complain, right? We had guitar god Eddie in the house, the best lead guitar player of all time, so the dude can play as long as he wants as far as I'm concerned.

What impressed me most about this concert was that they put 100% into it, even though the crowd was according to Sammy about 5,000. I saw VH at a mostly full United Center (18,000) in Chicago in July and they brought the same energy and effort last night even though it was a much smaller crowd. People who didn't go missed out in a big way! If you have a chance to see them, DO IT!

Thanks for giving me the honor of seeing you guys play. In my mind you are the best rock band ever, no question! PLEASE, make more albums and tour again!!! Thanks for making memories that will last a lifetime!!

Mark

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VH friends

You ain't gonna believe my night (last night) in Champaign IL with Sammy &
the Van Halen Boys, my third show of the tour. When I saw they were coming
back through within a 2 1/2 hour drive of hometown St. Louis I immediately
went for the 5 star package.... We are going all out this time, no holding
back. .... We leave St. Louis at 12:30, I'm in the eye of the hurricane...
calmly listening to the VH discs in chronological order........ we're just
into the Balance tracks when we arrive at the assembly hall around 3:45. I'm
wondering where to park for a quick exit (for the long drive home), I chose
a nice spot in the main drop off area at the front box office. I can see a
small group of folks waiting at the entry ( my other 5-star friends). All
is still calm.

4:05 we enter and meet our tour guide.. We sign in, get our passes and are
told because of the University of IL 's rules they won't be able to serve
beer at our pre-show party, but she's tried to get us some upgrades to make
up for it ( which I didn't care cause with a 2 1/2 hour trip back, I wasn't
drinking anyway)... the Upgrades include... FRONT ROW SEATS FOR ALL OF
US!!!!! (35 folks in the group). I thought it can't get any better... I
happened to look out at my car and saw they had barricaded the drive right
in front of my Lincoln ( I hope they don't tow my car, I thought... oh well,
I'll worry about that later).

Down we go to the VIP room where, with the Bof BW disk playing they fed us a
really great smorgasboard of all you can eat brisket, BBQ pork, pasta salad,
cheese, cookies ect... We sat around chatting with others around us, one
guy was there on his 4th show, following the band around the country a bit
on the 4th leg of the tour. In addition to a VH eagle shirt and hat, we
were told we could get 1 additional item from the gift stand under $40
(cause they don't have no booze for us). SWEET. We're told that will be
doing sound check pretty soon....

Enter the auditorium with Eddie's Wolfgang rumbling with the familiar sound
of Alex's drums and Mike's Bass, Ed says... " where the hell you guys
been...." and they start into Running with the Devil, with Mike singing...
all the way through, just the 3 of them.... and our little group (I'm parked
in the front between the monitors on Eddies side of the stage with my
friends, most of the group is front and center). It's about time is next
without vocals, awesome!!! Then Ed starts in asking for requests " I'm the
ONE" another & I shout"... then the keyboards for jump start booming....
"STOP, stop, stop, hold on " says Eddie. Silence ensues... THEN IT
STARTS.... that kick ASS swinging guitar which opens up I'm the one.. IT WAS
INCREDIBAL, COMPLETELY AND TOTALLY. That song just rocks, ED is right on
with the guitar, even better than VH 1... Mikey sings... we're rock' in...
Wap Badi, Shoo Be Do Wa.... we're singing along... The adrenaline rushed
through me like no other time in my life to hear them play that song with
Ed's amp not 15 feet away... They ended the sound check with JUMP. The
stage clears.... except Eddie and his bodyguard.

Ed sits on the side of the stage right in front, starts talking and lights
up a cig. Well the most obnoxious dickhead in the world starts blabbing
about NAMM shows, and "hey don't' you remember me from the guitar show 3
years ago... what about Charvel, says shit to piss Eddie off... " I got as
many guitars as you" and really stupid stuff. Ed says " Hey man, what the
fuck is wrong with you" and after about 5 minutes gets up and WALKS OVER,
SITS RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME & FRIEND LAURA!! He puts out his hand, gives me a
shake and says " How's it going?". I could feel all of his creative music
vibe running through my hand.. SO AWESOME. Laura and I (and a few others
around us) talk to Eddie for at least 15 minutes. I asked him about music,
his keyboards, musical inspiration, 5150. We talked about the fact that
Wolfgang just started listening to his stuff only last year, and that's all
he listens to now. He never plays his old stuff around the house, and he's
always creating new stuff.... I WAS ON CLOUD NINE. I met the man, shook
his hand, and had a 15-minute conversation with him face to face. I had
enough adrenaline to go around and last a week at that point. He was
talking to friend Laura about all kinds of cool stuff, he was digging her.
As he starts to get up, our tour guide is saying we gotta get moving (there
setting up for the opening band Rose Hill) and ED says..."hold on a minute "
looks at his tech, mumble a few things. He then comes back, hands Laura a
red plastic cup full of guitar picks to hand out to the group. I get a
couple, everyone gets some. Laura, in the end, has several left over and
splits them between her sister, herself, & me.

We get the backstage tour, behind the scenes with all the equipment,
dressing rooms, ect. Back to the party room. We do a raffle, which Laura
wins the Van Halen baseball shirt , which is discontinued, and is
immediately offered $150 for it by another fan. We get our extra stuff from
the souvenir stand. Eat a little more. 7:00 comes. We get dumped into
the hallway with the rest of the public. SKIP Rose Hill ( opening band who
was very loud), cause I'm thinking, nothing can come close to sound check
and I don't want to ruin my adrenaline rush for the boys. I check on my
car. it's still there but now surrounded by Limos.. cool

FRONT ROW a little left of center @ 8:00. I did have to inform a couple who
was standing in my spot on the front row that "I guarantee that both you and
your girlfriend will be moving over plenty cause there is no way I'm going
to stand behind them". . and they did. The boys enter the stage.. rocking
through the 22+ song setlist with the addition of a couple of other tunes
from 5150 (Best of Both Worlds) and sounds awesome. Sammy's high fiving,
signs all of our shirts. Mike does the bass thing, Alex the drum thing.
Sammy tells us that he & Mikey drank a little to much tequilla last night...
BUT HE'S STILL ROCK'IN sings a Eagles Fly & Tropic Of Capricorn during his
solo. Eddie and Alex start into Hot for Teacher up to the vocals then.. The
SOLO of ALL SOLOS.. 20 minutes long and it was INCREDIBLE!!!!!, All of Mean
Street, Cathedral, Eruption, beginning of Hang em' High, all kinds of new
stuff, the e minor harmonics, the horsy and elephant sounds. Every thing
was right on, a very thick guitar sound which just runs through your spine.
At one point he laid down in front of his amps and started pulling some of
the highest frequency harmonics out of his guitar that I have ever thought
possible. Every one was going crazy rockin' out on the front row. I was
picking up technique & guitar playing tips watching Ed play.. several times
he played his solos right in front of me, the guitar was 3-5 feet away, more
picks flying, people screaming, Mike's rocking.. THEN IT HAPPENED..

Ain't Talking about Love cranks up a few songs after Ed's solo, arms are
pumping, people singing, SAMMY WALKS AROUND THE RAMP, LOOKS RIGHT AT ME at
the interlude NODS HIS HEAD. HERE COMES THE MICROPHONE.. MY 4 YEAR OLD'S
FAVORITE VH SONG, AND I'M SINGING. "been to the edge.. And there I stood and
looked down.. You know I lost a lot of friends there baby, ain't got no time
to mess around.. So if you want it, got to bleed for it baby, gotta gotta
bleed baby.." I look up while I'm singing. there I am on the big screen
above the stage. IT WAS AN ABSOLUTE DREAM COME TRUE. I was singing with the
band. Sammy gave me a great big smile, high five, and even thanked me
twice.. WOW!!!!!!!! I'm in another state of mind from this point till the
end of the show. It was like a dream.

We walked out @ 11:00, jumped in the Mark VIII in the front with the rest of
the limos, and we're the first out. Arrived in St. Louis at 1:30 am. I'm
still back there in Champaign. I'll never forget it for as long as I live
for sure. THANK YOU SAMMY & ALL THE BOYS, IT WAS ABSOLUTELY AMAZING

Bob