Saw Sammy Hagar and the Circle on Saturday night with George Thorogood and the Destroyers opening. It was the first concert for me this summer at my local shed and the evening started with the new high school staff directing traffic poorly and forcing us to park in the further away lot even though there were plenty of spots open up close. Not sure if that's a new traffic flow or just ignorance from the new staff, but it annoyed me as someone who's gone to wayyy too many shows here to count so I know the venue like the back of my hand.
Anyway, George Thorogood was the opening act. I will say, I was not a fan. I only know the couple hit songs, but I found his set fairly boring. I'm sure that style of rock music plays a role in me not being into it, but something about him made me not into it. He seemed like a gross old man. Let me put it that way. I loved the live sax player and George's guitar playing was good. Even when he did
Bad to the Bone, I was just not into it at all.
Sammy was next. It started wtih the full Summer Nights song being played on the PA before the band came out. I was kind of bummed that song wasn't being played live considering it was a summer night and all, and a song I really like, but regardless, it helped wake the crowd up. The set list was mostly Van Halen songs, with some Sammy songs sprinkled in. One Led Zepellin cover and one DLR era VH song that Mike Anthony sung lead on. I was a bit surprised to see no original Circle songs. I guess he figures it's best to go with what the crowd knows instead of trying to work over his newer original music? I can't complain though, I hadn't seen Sammy in 18 years. His set list was perfectly fine for me.
Sadly, it sounded like Sammy's voice was shot. Right out of the gate he struggled singing
There's Only One Way to Rock. It was kind of disappointing to hear him sound so bad. It was only night 2 of the tour. Maybe age has just caught up with him. I also thought the entire band kind of sounded like shit. Like, I've seen bands with no budget sound better than these rock stars. I think my video shows it too, George Thorogood didn't sound bad, but the mix for Sammy's band was pretty garbage. Sucks he also had to play to keyboard backing tracks for a few songs. Like they can't get a live player? I know Sammy had one in his Waboritas band.
Having said my negatives, I actually had a lot of fun. Just seeing Sammy and Michael Anthony on stage together might be worth the price of admission alone. Sammy showing off all the fan stuff being tossed on stage is always fun too (the Poundcake NJ license plate was great). His voice may be shot, but the guy still knows how to throw a party. He had plenty of drinks on stage to give out to people and drink himself. It was a very fun set and the crowd ate up the VH songs. As much as this post was complaints, I swear, I still had a good time and would go again.
Sammy Hagar & George Thorogood LIVE @ PNC Bank Arts Center NJ 6/11/2022
Topic: Concerts for 2022 (Read 37726 times)
