Sammy Hagar & The Circle Pull Out the Montrose, Van Halen & Tequila in Biloxi

What happens when you unleash Sammy Hagar in a Biloxi casino with a virtually sold out crowd? You get one hell of a show. With the energy of a six year old kid, Hagar bounced around the stage, cracked jokes, signed anything that was handed to him, played guitar and whipped the audience into an excitable frenzy through sixteen songs in Biloxi MS on November 13, 2015.

Hagar doesn’t pinch pennies when he’s in the spotlight. Everything he has in him he throws back out. He has done this through Montrose, Van Halen and Chickenfoot; not to mention various other projects he has started up here and there to keep his rock & roll tumbleweed energy moving in new directions. On this Saturday night on the Gulf Coast, he brought with him a band he has knighted The Circle. Consisting of bassist Michael Anthony, guitar player Vic Johnson and drummer Jason Bonham, these guys have been roaming around in 2015, playing some knock out shows featuring songs from Hagar’s past and Bonham’s lineage.

With a big, big sound, courtesy of Bonham’s charging lead, it was a rock show at its best. From “I Can’t Drive 55” to “Mas Tequila” to “Right Now,” even during the cool down rearrangement of “Dreams,” it was full-throttle straight ahead rock & roll. Getting together only last year, the Circle had a keen sense of what makes having a good time at a concert right from the get-go. As he told Rolling Stone, “We have the best setlist in the world” and he set out to prove it. Van Hagar fans were thrilled to get doses of “Poundcake,” “Cabo Wabo,” “Why Can’t This Be Love;” while Zeppelin worshippers were given a serenade Sammy-style on “When The Levee Breaks,” “Rock & Roll” and “Whole Lotta Love.” And sprinkled amidst all that we got a Montrose song (“Rock Candy”), a Chickenfoot song (“Big Foot”), a Wabos song (“Mas Tequila”) and some kick ass Sammy solo tunes: “Little White Lies,” “55,” “Heavy Metal” and “There’s Only One Way To Rock.”

There were two things that really stood out during the show, the first being how important Michael Anthony was to Van Halen. Anthony supporters have known this for years, that his backing harmonies were such an integral part of the Van Halen sound. Hearing his vocals highlighted here was the proof in the pudding. And two, that Hagar knows how to win over an audience, hold them securely in his hands and then kick them out the door feeling exhausted. No matter what you think of his singing, the man knows how to connect. He jokes all the time – “Am I allowed to cuss here?” and after a reference to Eddie Van Halen’s alcohol consumption, “It’s true. Didn’t you read my book!” – and he loves his fans to the point he signs and signs and signs while in the middle of songs, playing guitar, singing, doesn’t matter. He just does it with a big smile slapped across his face. He put on hats and shirts that were thrown to him and even fixed one audience member a drink, ice and all, during “Why Can’t This Be Love.”

Another big moment during the show was an acknowledgment from Jason Bonham: “I’ll keep doing it as long as people like Sammy keep wanting me to do it,“ he said in reference to his continual playing of songs his father, the late great Zeppelin drummer John Bonham, made famous. Despite having his own band at times and drumming behind such artists as Foreigner, Heart, California Breed, Paul Rodgers and the remaining members of Zeppelin on different projects, he still enjoys the thrill of those gargantuan beats.

And not to be left out, Vic Johnson pulled some incredible moves on the guitar. An unsung hero, he power-fingered through song after song that others had invented before him, playing a double-neck here and some slide there and helping Hagar realize the true meaning of “Dreams” and how it really should be played. If Hagar, who has his fingers in many different ventures aside from music – tequila, rum, restaurants, books and bars – kept this particular entity together for the long haul, it wouldn’t be a bad idea.