Sammy Hagar Brings The Best of All Worlds To Charlotte

The Red Rocker Rocks PNC Music Pavilion

The Red Rocker himself, Sammy Hagar, is out on the road bringing a massive summer tour, The Best Of All Worlds Tour to sold-out crowds across the country. Hagar is a legend in the rock world first making his presence known in the 70s with hard rock band Montrose before launching a successful solo career of his own. Of course, he became a household name when he joined the legendary rock band Van Halen, replacing original frontman David Lee Roth. The Hagar era of Van Halen took the band in a slightly different direction, with Sammy on vocals and the addition of more keyboards.

The current tour is bringing all the best of Sammy’s career live and in person covering a retrospective of hits from his Van Halen years and his biggest solo hits too. To make things even sweeter, Hagar has brought along a band of musical icons including his Van Halen bandmate Michael Anthony on bass, the legendary guitar whiz Joe Satriani, and drummer extraordinaire Jason Bonham. Rounding out the lineup is Australian keyboardist Rai Thistlethwayte who although not a household is a true one of a kind talent.

The capacity crowd at PNC Music Pavilion was rocking early in the parking lots getting ready for the concert event of the season and more than a few bottles of tequila were spotted along with a plethora of Sammy Hagar, Van Halen, and Cabo Wabo tee shirts. The night was hot but the music would really bring the heat and fans were pumped up for what was about to go down.

Kicking off the night’s festivities was Canadian rock band Loverboy. During the early 1980s, it was practically impossible to turn on any rock radio station and not hear a little bit of Loverboy. The band churned out five albums during the wild decade with a host of hit songs including “Turn Me Loose” and the arena rock staple “Working for the Weekend.” Their sophomore album Get Lucky would also become one of the most iconic rock album covers whose artwork was plastered in poster form in millions of American and Canadian teenage bedrooms in 1983.

The band is still in fine form over 40 years later and took the stage at PNC to rock the proverbial masses. Lead vocalist Mike Reno is still sporting his signature bandana and led the band through a short but solid set of Loverboy classic hits. It’s hard not to get pumped up hearing these songs live and the fans were on their feet shouting and singing along. The band sounded great and Loverboy once again proved they can still turn it up and turn us loose. If you’re headed out to see the tour, be sure and get there early enough to catch this iconic band in action.

After a short break, it was time for Sammy to shine and he did not disappoint. The band came out in full force opening up with the Van Halen song “Good Enough” and it was on like Donkey Kong as they say. Hagar may be 76 years old, but you wouldn’t know it from his performance. He still sounds amazing and moves with style and ease across the stage, putting many younger frontmen to shame. His interactions with the band were on point as he came together with Michael Anthony to sing choruses and gave Satch a little squeeze on the head at one point. Hagar was also doing an amazing job revving up the crowd as he boogied around the stage, pointing and waving at the fans up front.

The band was on fire with Satriani showing the audience exactly why he is one of the best guitarists on the planet. It’s not easy to get up on that stage and play the guitar parts made famous by Eddie Van Halen, a true rock legend, but Satch does it with confidence and ease and even got his own moment to shine when they played one of his own tunes “Satch Boogie.”

Not to mention, the grooving basslines coming from the one and only Mad Michael Anthony. Anthony’s chemistry with Hagar is one of a kind from their days in Van Halen and Chickenfoot to this tour, the two have always had a special connection and it shows in every move they make. Helping keep the beat on this tour, is drummer Jason Bonham, son of late Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham who has become a legend in his own right over the years. His stick-handling skills are second to none and he drove the pace all night long making it look easy.

The fans were having the best time ever, singing, dancing, and pumping their fists in the air as they took it all in. The lights were flashing and changing color throughout the set and the band made it seem like we were in an intimate club instead of a huge, outdoor ampitheatre. It was also great to have live keyboards again with Rai really bringing that extra flourish to make the songs lush in the live environment.

As Sammy laughed and joked between songs, fans cheered him on and when Sammy brought out the alcohol, they absolutely roared. Hagar took a few moments to pour a drink for his bandmates as well as a few lucky fans up front before toasting us all and charging into “Mas Tequila.” It was a perfect segue into the song as we all held up our drink of choice and sang along.

The night featured all the songs we have grown to love along with a few surprises with Michael Anthony taking over the vocals for the pre-Hagar Van Halen tune “Ain’t Talkin’ bout Love” which was amazing and also happens to be my favorite Van Halen song of all time. Of course, the night couldn’t end without everyone’s best excuse for a speeding ticket with “I Can’t Drive 55” along with “Heavy Metal.” After a medley including the Van Halen hit “Jump,” Hagar capped things off with “When It’s Love” before bidding us adieu.

Wow is all I can say. Hagar still kicks ass. There really is only one way to rock and that’s with The Red Rocker, Sammy Hagar!

See the Full Gallery of the Night Here!

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Tour Dates:

August 2 Clarkston, MI Pine Knob Music Theatre

August 3 Tinley Park, IL Credit Union 1 Amphitheatre

August 9 Las Vegas, NV MGM Grand Garden Arena

August 11 Morrison, CO Red Rocks Amphitheatre

August 13 Spokane, WA Airway Heights, WA BECU Live at Northern Quest

August 14 Ridgefield, WA RV Inn Style Resort Amphitheater

August 16 Wheatland, CA Toyota Amphitheatre

August 17 Concord, CA Toyota Pavilion at Concord

August 19 Los Angeles, CA Kia Forum

August 20 Phoenix, AZ Talking Stick Resorts Amphitheatre

August 22 Dallas, TX Dos Equis Pavilion