Date: Fri 01-Sep-1995

Publication: Bee

Author: SHANNO

Illustration: C

Location: A-11

Quick Words:

Van-Halen-Hagar-concert-rvw

Full Text:

Concert Review-

Van Halen Pumps A Year's Worth Of Rock Into Meadows

(with dropquote below, no photos)

By Shannon Hicks

`This time around, all of the electricity was being generated by the rock band

and its audience, rather than coming from the sky.'

HARTFORD - Sammy Hagar got so wrapped up with the banners being hurled onstage

Saturday night at the Meadows Music Theatre in Hartford, he missed a few cues.

Hagar was, with the rest of the rock band Van Halen, back in Connecticut for

the group's first appearance since its concert during the short-lived - but

still a good idea on paper - concert series at the sub base in Groton two

summers ago. At that concert, fierce thunder and lightning postponed the

band's appearance onstage by nearly an hour, but fans didn't wait around in a

downpour erroneously: when Sammy, Eddie, Alex and Michael did emerge from the

confines of backstage, the group followed its long-term habit of giving

ticket-holders their money's worth.

Last weekend in Hartford, on a brand-new stage, Van Halen put about a year's

worth of rock n' roll into the new venue, again turning on the juice and

performing a high-voltage show from start to finish. This time around, all of

the electricity was being generated by the rock band and its audience, rather

than coming from the sky. And again, fans were left far from disappointed.

With lights going every which way and a video screen showing images of the

band, Van Halen took the stage to the sounds of "Right Here, Right Now," a

single from the group's previous album, For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge . This

summer's tour is to support Balance , which entered the charts back in January

at No. 1.

The first image the audience had of the band Saturday night was of drummer

Alex Van Halen in a neck brace, which could have had a downside if everyone in

the band weren't such troopers. Yes, he looked pained from time to time during

the concert, but Van Halen's drum solo later rocked the house, earning the

veteran performer a standing ovation for his outstanding efforts.

The minute Sammy Hagar took the stage, fans started hurling homemade banners

at him. Hagar took them one by one, as he worked his way through songs - stuff

like "Why Can't This Be Love," "Top of the World" and even old stuff like

"Ain't Talking `Bout Love," sandwiched around the works off Balance : "The

Seventh Seal," "Amsterdam," "Big Fat Money," and the latest release, "Not

Enough" - and untied and unrolled each one, reading each to himself before

turning a banner around for the inevitable enthusiastic reply from the

audience.

A few times, Hagar would get so wrapped up with the banners - sometimes

literally, as he wound one around his waist, another over his shoulders

fashioned into a cape - that he'd miss a cue, coming in a word or two late.

But not many cared - Hagar is such a ball of fire that his antics are fun to

watch, as much as he's great to hear.

The Meadows can carry a capacity crowd of 30,000 people, and although official

gate receipts tagged Saturday's show at 15,000, it looked like a much larger

crowd. "Fifteen-thousand people milling around and spreading blankets [on the

lawn] always gives the impression of this place being fuller than it actually

is," reported a representative of the Meadows this week.

With the energy and enthusiasm being pumped out by Van Halen and returned just

as enthusiastically by the audience last weekend in Hartford, it certainly

sounded like a bigger crowd.