Sammy Hagar’s All Star Band w/s/g Loverboy Steam Rolled SPAC! By Michael Bruce

I don’t even know where to start with this.  Let’s just say, it will be hard to sit down for a week because Sammy Hagar and crew kicked my ass!  WOW!  Saratoga Performing Arts Center is loved by many musical artists.  It seems like they always give just a little more there.  Last night was no exception.  Let’s start with the opener…Loverboy!

Loverboy came on to the nationally recognized music scene in 1980.  Loverboy, their self-titled debut album, took off fast and they never looked back.  The boys from Canada had a slew of big hit songs that made them an 80s staple.  44 years later I’m watching these men who look like super cool grandfathers, BUT sound fantastic!  The band musically sounded great with original members Paul Dean, Doug Johnson, Matt Frenette, and newer guy Ken Sinnaeve.  Mike Reno on lead vocals has totally still got it!  Loverboy ripped through their set with hit after hit.  Their songs are just so rockin’ radio fun!  Notorious, Lucky Ones, Queen of Broken Hearts, The Kid Is Hot Tonight, Loving Every Minute of It, Hot Girls in Love, Turn Me Lose, and Working for the Weekend were all on the menu.  The SPAC crowd was “Loving Every Minute of It”!

So after the fun of Loverboy, came this giant hammer called Sammy Hagar.  To help him swing the hammer, he brought along long time Van Halen, Chickenfoot, The Circle, bandmate bass player Michael Anthony.  Also from Chickenfoot, virtuoso guitarist bandmate Joe Satriani.  On the drums was Jason Bonham, son of the late great John Bonham. (Whose face appeared on Jason’s bass drums) And on keyboards, all the way from Australia, was Rai Thistlethwayte.

This all-star band, combined with the all-star power of lead singer Sammy Hagar was a true wrecking ball.  THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU.  Now, why did I write that?  I wrote that because they were so freaking great, that you could see and hear THE WORK that went into this show to give people the best possible Van Halen/Sammy Hagar experience you could possibly have.  None of these guys are young kids.  They take care of themselves, but youth is not on their side.  They got in musical and physical shape to do this tour, to create this experience, and I thank you for giving me two hours of excellence!  Joe Satriani is a beast guitar player.  However, he did not mail it in!  Even the great Joe Satriani had to practice his ass off, and figure out how to play Eddie Van Halen like Eddie Van Halen.  That is an impossible task, but you can come really close, and Joe really captured Eddie’s sound and feel.  I could easily tell Joe wanted to give the late great EVH all the respect he deserves, and really try to nail his playing.  A fat thank you to Jason Bonham for not mailing it in!  I could tell he studied Alex Van Halen, and gave him all the respect he deserves for his great drum parts.  People, to cover Alex and Eddie, and make it feel like Van Halen playing alongside Van Halen members Sammy Hagar and Michael Anthony, is a super tall task! They did it!  And thank you to Rai on those keys for nailing his parts.  You think songs like “Right Now” are easy?  

The whole night was not only great musicianship, but great personality.  Follow any of these guys on social media, and you will quickly find out how great their personalities are.  They are just fun loving people who want to have great time, and create a great time.  The stage is where they can let it all hang out.  Sammy Hagar is infectious.  There is not a negative bone in that guy’s body.  He is caring, loving, and loves to entertain.  He wants to bring smiles to faces.  He and longtime friend Michal Anthony said from the beginning that they want to deliver the best Van Halen/Sammy Hagar experience they can.  They also wanted to play deeper cuts for the true fans to go along with the big hits.  It was a great mix of David Lee Roth Van Halen (I could have used just a little more of) Sammy Van Halen, Sammy Hagar songs, and a splash of Montrose, and Chickenfoot.  It truly was the best of all worlds.  

Opening the show were the songs Good Enough, then Poundcake, then Runaround.  The show was off to fiery start, and Sammy was in great voice for a guy who is 76! Deeper cut Judgement Day was next, followed by Sammy’s There’s only One Way to Rock.  Panama rocked, but then came the song 5150.  How that song wasn’t a number one hit…I’ll never know.  It was amazing to hear them pull off that very difficult song.  Summer Nights was followed by Michael Anthony taking lead vocals on Ain’t Talkin’ bout Love.  Top of the World, Best of Both Worlds rocked the house.  (Rai came down from the keys stage to join Michael and Sammy in the “5150 Walk”…look it up if you don’t know what it is) Then having some fun, Sammy let the boys loose and took a break while they jammed the Joe Satriani hit “Satch Boogie”.  Another deep cut was next when they performed the powerful “The Seventh Seal” from the Van Halen Balance album.  Up next was the incredible Right Now, and Pat Monahan from the band Train came out to sing with Sammy.  It just kept going!  Why Can’t This Be Love, Eagles Fly, Mas Tequila, Heavy Metal, were all just crushing at this rock n’ roll party.  At one point Sammy acknowledged the electricity in the air when he told the huge crowd, “Look, I got goosebumps, yes I get them too”.  The atmosphere WAS electric!  Then Sammy explained that he got a speeding ticket on our very own I 87, A.K.A. “The Northway”, at 2AM while traveling at 62 miles per hour from Albany, to Lake George!  This inspired his huge hit I Can’t Drive 55.  Then he played Space Station #5.  This is off of the first Montrose Album which was of course his first national level band.  They performed half of that song, and then performed half of Big Foot by Chickenfoot.  Chickenfoot released a couple of records and featured Anthony, Hagar, Satriani, with Chad Smith on drums.  The last two songs of the night were Jump and When It’s Love.  Pat Monahan came back out to sing the “nah part”, but this time he was also joined by Reo Speedwagon’s lead singer Kevin Cronin.  Train with Reo are performing at SPAC tonight.  

Read Sammy’s book.  The guy came from nothing, and not the greatest childhood.  He, unlike so many others, did NOT use that as an excuse to be waste of space on the planet.  He used it to drive him to be a success.  He’s not only a successful musician, he’s a successful businessman.  Sammy is known for his great tequila among other business ventures.  He even passed some out to the crowd last night while singing his song “Mas Tequila”.    

I could go on and on about this show.  The bottom line is…exciting rock songs rocks were being performed by exciting people, and that equals 14,000 people going crazy!  Hey kids out there reading this…if you want to have a huge musical career, then write exciting fun songs.  Van Halen and Sammy Hagar sure as hell did, and that’s why in 2024 they are touring and filling up venues with crazy happy crowds.  Fittingly, after the band bows, Michael Anthony and Sammy Hagar were the last two on stage to say goodbye.  However, Sammy’s last words on the microphone were, “Thank you so much, you make me so happy. Mike and I will keep doing this thing as long as we can.” Thank YOU Sammy.  I just got goosebumps.