St Louis would like to thank The Red Rocker, Sammy Hagar, and the rest of his band (Michael Anthony, Vic Johnson and Jason Bonham) who played a GREAT free concert to about 50,000 people at the Fair St Louis over July 4th weekend!

Rock N Roll Royalty – Red Rocker Sammy Hagar Played Awesome St Louis July 4th Fair St Louis Concert For Free

The awesome concert included a set list featuring songs from his solo career, Van Halen, Montrose, Chickenfoot and even some Led Zeppelin songs, and blew away the fans in the crowd with a great rock n roll experience at Fair St. Louis.

Sammy was apparently so excited to play the Fair St Louis concert that he posted the details of the show to his website about 5 months before the line-up is usually released.. But that’s a good thing because Sammy was a huge draw for the fair and the city of St Louis over the 4th of July weekend!

No wonder why St Louis loves Sammy Hagar so much!

“Finally!” Sammy Hagar exclaimed just a couple songs into his concert Sunday night at Fair Saint Louis in reference to the annual July 4th celebration booking the Red Rocker for a free show in his adopted home town.

For the better part of a decade the former lead vocalist for Van Halen and Montrose has been actively trying to perform a free show at Fair Saint Louis, and on Sunday night it finally happened.

Hagar was so excited about performing at the fair that he actually let it slip back in January, four to five months ahead of the intended official announcement. Interest was so great that the Fair Saint Louis officials had no choice but to confirm the announcement on their site.

Saint Louis has always supported Hagar and local radio station KSHE 95 has played a key part in that support. Hagar told KMOV CH 4 why Saint Louis is special to him.

Hagar and his band (former Van Halen band mate Michael Anthony on bass, longtime band mate Vic Johnson on guitar and Jason Bonham on drums) played a spirited set that kept rotating between Hagar’s solo material (including “There’s Only One Way to Rock” and “Heavy Metal”) to his stint with Van Halen (including “Poundcake”, “Why Can’t This be Love” and “Right Now”) and Led Zeppelin, to honor Bonham’s father the late great John Bonham with songs like “Good Times Bad Times”, “Whole Lotta Love” and “Rock and Roll”.

Hagar even threw in a Montrose song, “Rock Candy” to finish out the circle. The fact that his band is called The Circle is no accident and portrays the circle of songs that encompasses Hagar’s career (For some shows they will throw in a Chickenfoot song as well).

The crowd was large, around 50,000 but many more probably stayed home because of the uncertainty in the weather, which had been wreaking havoc on the area all weekend and even caused the fair to delay their opening to 4:00 pm as opposed to the initial 1:00 pm start time. Small showers came through during Cowboy Mouth earlier in the day as well as during Eddie Money’s set. It seems Mother Nature, however, must be a Sammy Hagar fan as the rain ended shortly before Hagar’s set and stayed away throughout the rest of the evening.

While Hagar was probably expecting a larger crowd it was still a sizeable crowd and, according to him, the largest he has ever played in front of in Saint Louis. “Certainly the cheapest” Hagar mentioned.

The band sounded tight and the crowd sang along and rocked for the 105 minute set that saw Hagar run around with the energy that doesn’t normally translate to a 68 year old. The fact that Hagar has seemingly found the fountain of youth is how we all hope to get around when we get to that age.

With the energy high and Hagar rocking the Fair, Hagar and The Circle blasted through hit after hit sending concertgoers back in time to a favorite memory or experience. How can you not sing along to the iconic “I Can’t Drive 55” or “Finish What Ya Started”, or even “Whole Lotta Love”?

While Hagar chose a setlist of mainly rockers, he did tone it down for a couple of songs, namely a reworking of the classic Van Halen hit “Dreams” where Hagar was only accompanied by Johnson in a powerful and dynamic slow tempo version that could stand on its own.

Hagar even veered off the setlist and added “Finish What Ya Started” as a bonus for the Saint Louis faithful.

While Hagar would have loved to have played the Fair under the Gateway Arch, he had to settle for Forest Park due to the construction continuing on the Arch’s remodeling. Hagar openly stated he wanted to play a free show under the Arch and asked if he could come back next year when the Fair returns to its downtown home. The crowd roared with approval. Hopefully the Fair executives hear this request and have Hagar play under the Arch as the Fair returns downtown. I can’t think of a better way to rock the downtown area than a Sammy Hagar show headlining the Fair Saint Louis in it’s return.

Time will tell. Maybe Hagar will leak that this winter.

Sammy Hagar and The Circle Setlist:

• There’s Only One Way to Rock
• Rock Candy (Montrose cover)
• Good Times Bad Times (Led Zeppelin cover)
• Poundcake (Van Halen cover)
• I Can’t Drive 55
• Right Now (Van Halen cover)
• Whole Lotta Love (Led Zeppelin cover)
• Little White Lie
• When the Levee Breaks (Led Zeppelin cover)
• Why Can’t This be Love (Van Halen cover)
• Finish What Ya Started (Van Halen cover)
• Heavy Metal
• Mas Tequila

Encore:

• Dreams (Van Halen)
• Rock and Roll (Led Zeppelin cover)

 

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