Sammy Hagar brought his tremendous Van Halen tribute show to the Toyota Pavilion in Concord, California on August 17, 2024. They brought with them 80s icons, Loverboy to round out the Bill.
Loverboy started the set with “Notorious” and segwayed into the next song “Lucky Ones” and the energy just kept building. “Loving Every Minute Of It” set the crowd off with applause as they jammed out the song. From there, it was non-stop energy including “Take Me To the Top”. When they started “The Kid Is Hot Tonight”, it was clear that they were taking us on a trip through their 80s hits, and the audience couldn’t have been happier. The next song, “Hot Girls in Love”, was a highlight for the audience as they rocked out. The final two songs “Turn Me Loose” and “Working For the Weekend”, were the two stand-out hits of the set. It was a very solid opening set and well worth coming out early.
Follow Loverboy band members:
Paul Dean – guitar, backing vocals
Matt Frenette – drums, percussion
Doug Johnson – keyboards, synthesizers, piano, saxophone, harmonica, backing vocals
Mike Reno – lead vocals, occasional guitar
Ken “Spider” Sinnaeve – bass guitar, backing vocals
Setlist:
1). Notorious
2). Lucky Ones
3). Lovin’ Every Minute of It
4). Take Me to the Top
5). Queen of the Broken Hearts
6). The Kid Is Hot Tonite
7). Hot Girls in Love
8). Turn Me Loose
9). Working for the Weekend
When Sammy Hagar hit the stage with ‘Mad’ Michael Anthony, Smokin’ Joe Satriani, Jason Bonham, and Rai Thistlethwayte supporting him, the crowd went crazy. They started with “Good Enough” one of the Van Halen songs and they killed it. Next was “Poundcake” and Joe Satriani was keeping the pace playing his guitar. Following that was “Runaround” and “There’s Only One Way To Rock”. Before that last one, Sammy asked how everyone was doing and he had two things to say about the night. 1) he was having the most fun he has had in twenty years and 2) we have a long set so don’t burn yourself out. Good advice! There was a short break before “Judgement Day” for a beer. Then they played the song as if it were Van Halen on stage. “5150” and “Panama” were up next and the crowd just kept getting louder with each song and the band was feeding off that. Sammy explained that they were playing songs that they hadn’t played in a long time. That being said, “Summer Nights” was Joe Satriani’s favorite Van Halen song and he rocked it. Sammy said he would give him a shot every time he played it, but he said no, he can’t play the song drunk. So they rocked it and the whole venue was singing along with Sammy.
Sammy also told the story of the first time he was invited to 5150 (The recording studio) and Eddie Van Halen had this weird guitar that he played the song. He asked Joe, do you have one of those guitars? Joe said no, he doesn’t need one. For the next song, “Ain’t Talkin’ bout Love” Michael took the mic and slayed it. Oh, the memories to be had. “Top of the World” and “Best of Both Worlds” were up next and they killed them both and even threw a bit of “Celebration” in the middle of “Best of Both Worlds“.
From there, they made a slight deviation and played one of Joe’s songs, “Satch Boogie” before jumping back to the Van Halen songs. “The Seventh Seal” Began with an awesome drum solo and “Right Now” went into the second song with Rai playing a killer keyboard solo bringing us the the last of the Van Halen songs for now, “Why Can’t This Be Love”. Which started with the words, we’re gonna take you right side up, upside down, 5150 times, then they blasted into the song. The audience hung on the words and the music in the air as the fans sang all the words.
From there, they broke into a few of Sammy’s songs. He introduced the band to all the fans right before the song “Eagles Fly” which is a song about Sammy being born. The next song, “Mas Tequila” is a simple song about drinking Tequila, and what a great one. “Heavy Metal” from the movie Heavy Metal was released in 1981 and was a definite hit. From there they finished the set with “I Can’t Drive 55″ and that song is a stunner and a half. The art of driving fast is as important as rocking hard and Sammy has a way with both of them.
They then left the stage for a few minutes, then they came back out, they blasted into two encores which were a medley of “Space Station #5/ Big Foot/ Jump” which started as a Montrose song. The next part of the medley was a Chickenfoot song followed by the Van Halen. They finished the show with “When It’s Love“. The last song was as just as great as the first and not many bands can do that.
Follow Sammy Hagar’s band members:
Sammy Hagar – guitar, vocals
Michael Anthony – bass, vocals
Jason Bonham – drums
Joe Satriani– guitar
Rai Thistlethwayte – keyboards
Setlist:
1). Good Enough (Van Halen song)
2). Poundcake (Van Halen song)
3). Runaround (Van Halen song)
4). There’s Only One Way to Rock
5). Judgement Day (Van Halen song)
6). Panama (Van Halen song)
7). 5150 (Van Halen song)
8). Summer Nights (Van Halen song)
9). Ain’t Talkin’ ’bout Love (Van Halen song) (Michael Anthony on lead vocals)
10). Top of the World (Van Halen song) (snippet of Rush’s “The Spirit of Radio”)
11). Best of Both Worlds (Van Halen song) (with snippet of Kool and the Gang’s “Celebration” sang by Jason Bonham)
12). Satch Boogie (Joe Satriani cover)
13). The Seventh Seal (Van Halen song)
14). Right Now (Van Halen song)
15). Why Can’t This Be Love (Van Halen song)
16). Eagles Fly
17). Mas Tequila (Sammy Hagar and the Wabos song) (with “Third Stone From the Sun” snippet)
18). Heavy Metal
19). I Can’t Drive 55
Encore:
20). Space Station #5 / Big Foot / Jump
21). When It’s Love
Photographer of about 10 years, I have been shooting concerts for about 8 of those years. I started to get serious about concert photography about 6 or 7 years ago and now try to shoot as many as I can. I shoot mostly rock but, have done some country and big band stuff. I love music and since I am nowhere close to being a musician, this is a way I can be a small part of what, in the words of Henry Rollins, “gets me through the highs, the lows and everything in between”.
