Sammy Hagar & The Waboritas
(Cabo Wabo Birthday Bash Tour)
Performance 
Production
|
Sammy Hagar & The Waboritas
Performance |
|
You've got to give the old Red Rocker some credit - the guy knows how to throw one hellacious birthday party. I'm talkin' bottomless margaritas, fist-pumping live party-rock, and, most importantly, all those sexy Miss Cabo Wabo strippers...err..."contestants" strutting around the joint. This installment of the Cabo Wabo Birthday Bash takes place on November 18, 2000 at The Chicago Theatre, Chicago, Illinois, coming shortly after the official tour kick-off down at Hagar's own Cabo Wabo Cantina in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. By 1981, I was already somewhat familiar with Sammy Hagar, mostly from his work on the first Montrose album, which contained the rock radio staples "Rock Candy" and "Bad Motor Scooter". He really hasn't topped those two gems since. That year all hell broke loose for Hagar as the fantastic Heavy Metal movie soundtrack featured his ass-kicking anthem "Heavy Metal", which was also included on his breakthrough album from the same year Standing Hampton. Hagar went on to have great success with his next few albums, as each spawned one or two top-twenty hits such as "There's Only One Way To Rock", "I'll Fall In Love Again", "Your Love Is Driving Me Crazy", and "I Can't Drive 55". In 1985, Hagar struck rock & roll gold when we got that call from Eddie Van Halen asking if he'd be interested in replacing David Lee Roth in arguably the biggest rock band on the planet at the time Van Halen. As history will show, he accepted. Twice! The Cabo Wabo Birthday Bash tour takes place between Hagar's two stints in Van Halen when he was just starting to make a serious comeback of sorts with his solo career. Hagar already had a huge and obnoxiously dedicated fan base before Eddie came a knockin', and they were still eagerly waiting for him when he returned to the solo stage, as this show aptly demonstrates. The filming begins backstage as Hagar demonstrates how to create the perfect margarita using his very own Cabo Wabo Tequila. After indulging in a few gulps, Hagar and his band The Waboritas take the stage to the strains of "The Real Deal" from his new album, at the time, Ten 13. The Chicago Theater is one spectacular looking venue for a rock concert. There are two huge levels, with the second floor reserved for seating and the main floor for standing room only. There was even some standing room, for about 50 lucky fans, directly behind and along the sides of the stage. Hagar follows with a couple more Ten 13 songs, the title track, and "Shaka Doobie (The Limit)" after which he calls out for a "waitress" - prompting Miss Cabo Wabo to bring out a fresh margarita. Hagar then tells the crowd "I don't like to get drunk before the show, I like to get drunk DURING the show!" A true man of the people. Hagar seems to genuinely appreciate his fans as much as they appreciate him, which is rather refreshing these days. All throughout the show, he is either smacking hands, signing autographs, and even handing out drinks to fans in the front rows. The guy also never shuts up between songs - although his banter is usually pretty amusing. After a joint thrown up from the crowd hits him in the head, he picks it up saying "You can't smoke this thing when your singing". But after more prodding from the crowd, and another drink from the "waitress", he finally proclaims "my old lady is gonna kill me!'', and takes "one fucking hit" from the lit doobie. Profanity, excessive drinking, semi-nudity, and drug use! GASP! This DVD is not for the little ones. Thank God I'm a big one, because I enjoyed the hell out of this DVD - although it didn't hurt that I matched Sammy drink-for-drink during the show. Probably the most disappointing thing about the concert was the set list. Hagar covers an impressive 22 songs, but there were several poor choices, and some hit songs got left out. First of all, he played damn-near the entire new Ten 13 album, which is somewhat understandable for a Ten 13 tour, but this was a special event (birthday bash?, DVD recording?), so give the fans some frigging classics my man. He only played three Van Halen songs, unless you count the hugely disappointing spoken-word version of "Cabo Wabo" that ended the show very anticlimactically. The only good Van Hagar performance was "Finish What Ya Started", which starts off with a very light and funky acoustic makeover before they eventually crank up the volume and cut loose on the second half. Instead of the half-assed "Top Of The World", Hagar would have blown the place away with some "Poundcake" or "Right Now". To be fair, he did blow the crowd away with the next song, "Rock Candy". Although Hagar's vocals were sounding pretty shredded, Vic Johnson's guitar tone sounded monstrous in duplicating Ronnie Montrose's famous riffs. During the performance Hagar also found the time to pour some lucky guy in the front row a beer. After a few tepid ballads at the midway point, which nearly brought the show to a crawl, the band really kicked into gear to close out the final third of the concert. "Little White Lie" from 1998's Marching To Mars album featured some cool slide guitar and reminded me a lot of The Who's "Magic Bus". By the time "Mas Tequila" came around, I think Hagar had probably consumed a little too mas tequila because he was running around the front of the stage autographing everyone's shirts and tour books. The first set finished in a blaze of glory with the brilliant, road-rage anthem "I Can't Drive 55", which culminated with Hagar destroying a huge tequila bottle pinyata that was hanging from the middle of the stage. For the encore of "Marching To Mars", Hagar brings onstage all those fans who were watching the show from behind the stage to join him in a march to the cadence of the song. The production quality on this DVD was mixed. The video was superb and captured the dynamic light show almost flawlessly. The camera work was very professional and perfectly captured the electrifying atmosphere inside the theater. The audio was the only aspect that really fell short. The DTS and Dolby 5.1 surround tracks sounded very similar and were only mediocre at best. The bottom end was seriously deprived, and the instrument separation was not the best. The surround channels were often effectively utilized to provide crowd noise and reverberation from the back of the theater, which provided an authentic live concert ambience. There was an entire second disc worth of extras that included an hour long interview with Hagar, as well as some scenes from Cabo Wabo. If you are already a fan of the Red Rocker you are gonna love this DVD. If you are not a fan, I doubt it will win you over. I'd advise you to pour a tall glass of your favorite tequila (or soda for you party poopers), and kick back and enjoy this for what it is - a loud, obnoxious rockin' party. Reviewed by Paul M. Roy - April 2005 |
|
Technical Details |
|
|
Audio Transfer |
Video Transfer |
|
Set List |
Performers |
|
Running Time: 131 Minutes |
DVD Release Date - August 2001 |