Product Details

• Actors: Sammy Hagar, Waboritas
• Format: Explicit Lyrics, DVD, Limited Edition, Live, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Number of discs: 2
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Sanctuary Records
• DVD Release Date: September 23, 2003
• Run Time: 300 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0000C52G7
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #45,187 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

The Long Road to Cabo is a delightful documentary about rock & roll fellowship, featuring Sammy Hagar as the founder of a summer-long feast of heavy metal, Van Halen memories, and many bared female bosoms (in Hagar's audiences, that is). Looking more like a mellow, mid-life surfer than hairy rock icon from the 1980s, the ever-expansive Hagar leads the Waboritas through a long, hot 2002 tour, sharing a bill with David Lee Roth, Hagar's co-outcast from Van Halen. Despite their shared ignominy, Roth rebuffs Hagar's efforts at collaboration, or at least camaraderie, resulting in a competitive and entertainingly catty atmosphere.

One can't help but enjoy a vicarious high watching the demographically diverse Waboritas rumble and squawk through Hagar's classic repertoire, mixing it up onstage with old pals Ted Nugent and Michael Anthony, and even welcoming Gary Cherone, Hagar's replacement in Van Halen, into the fold. The feature-length "Long Road" offers plenty of strong, occasionally hypnotic performances, especially "Heavy Metal," "When It's Love," and a rehearsal fling with Dylan's "Rainy Day Women #12 & 35."

A second disc conveniently packs four hours of essential Hagar history and miscellany onto one disc, including batches of music videos (from the vintage "Little White Lies" to the recent, and quite agreeable, "Things've Changed") with and without Hagar's commentary and sing-along lyrics. Those versions featuring the loquacious Hagar's recollections are pretty entertaining and sometimes surprising. It turns out, for example, that his and Eddie Van Halen's neighboring houses in "Hands and Knees" (in which Hagar's shouts awake the sleeping guitarist) were not a fantasy backdrop but the real deal. Also on disc 2 is ancient performance footage, handwritten lyric sheets, a documentary about Hagar's career, a photo album, and, most importantly, a session in Sammy's kitchen making spaghetti sauce the way Granddad taught him. --Tom Keogh

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Setting his sights on being the hard rock Jimmy Buffett, March 10, 2004

By	George Dionne (Cape Cod, MA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

What's Good About It?

Long Road to Cabo:

There is so much material here; I don't know where to begin. Unlike Sammy's last DVD, this is not a live concert, per se. It's a documentary of the group's last outing on the Sam and Dave Tour. It follows the group's live performances on the road, hitting different towns, and throws in most of the behind the scenes action that went along with it. You do get 15+ live performances of Sammy's greatest hits from his time in Montrose, Van Halen, and his solo career. However, the performances are taken from various shows, and the music is dubbed from just one of the performances. Sometimes they break away from the song for interviews. This is a documentary, so it's not really about each song.

You'll learn that Sammy still loves to perform. The band is very close to one another. Most of the soundchecks are them goofing off. When it's time for the show, the stage is set to look like a party bar, much like Sammy's Club Cabo Wabo. Hagar even has a bleacher section on stage for his fans. Throughout the tour Sammy and company welcome special guests to the stage. In Detroit, The Nuge jams with `em, in New England Gary Charone (you read that right) sings the finale with Sam, and during most of the tour, Michael Anthony plays base on the Van Halen tracks. How cool is that? Some of the interview footage gives insight into Hagar's home life, childhood, and hobbies. I love the sports car collection.

The Extras:

Disc 2 is the holy grail of Sammy Hagar material, that grail being filled with Cabo Wabo Tequila of course. If Hagar put it on tape, it's here. The video section has 11 classic and current Sammy Hagar videos. Ten of them have an addition commentary track. Too see Sammy in that old yellow and red jumpsuit is really something. I'm sure he regrets it. Six of the music videos show up in a karaoke section. The words are displayed and highlighted at the bottom of the screen while the video plays. Some of the audio is cut out so it's just you singing along.

The best part of this disc hands down is the discography section. It covers Hagar's entire career (Montrose, solo, Van Halen, and side projects). You can view each era separately or start at the beginning and let it run through today. What's unique about it is that on the screen it shows the album cover and any and all artwork associated with it, and at the same time, a 20 second clip of each song on the album is played. Once the last track on the album is played, it's on to the next.

There's a trivia section that asks you various questions about the documentary on Disc 1. When you answer right, you continue on, when you answer wrong you get a reaction from the band or crew. Usually I skip stuff like this. DON'T SKIP IT! Answer every question right and you will be rewarded.

Sammy's Kitchen is kind of lame. It's a cooking segment where Hagar shows you his recipe for spaghetti surprise. It does look delicious though.

The Vault is loaded with everything else they couldn't categorize. There's a bootleg live performance of "My Baby's on Fire", complete with a red Trans-Am on stage. A Montrose video of "Bad Motor Scooter" is also included. If you flip through the rare photos section, you'll be treated to a rare B-side released in Europe only entitled "Don't Get Hooked". To round out the disc, you can view hand written lyrics for some of Hagar's hits.

Anything Bad?

We get it Sammy. You hate David Lee Roth.

Bottom Line

The Long Road to Cabo is a Sammy Hagar fans wildest dream. Hagar certainly had his loyal followers in mind when he put this collection together (act fast, the pressing is limited). Judging by the groups energetic and interactive stage performance (and actually being at one of them); Sammy Hagar is setting his sights on being the hard rock version of Jimmy Buffett.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Documentary with Heart, October 30, 2003

By	Music Man (Los Angeles) - See all my reviews

Ever wonder what it's like to be in "Sammy's World"? This DVD gives you that glimpse into what really goes on before, during, and after a national tour. It's got all the songs you would expect to see, but this DVD is more about the man and his life than just another concert video. It's obvious how much this DVD meant to Sammy. His whole family shows up half way through it discussing how Sammy got to where he is today. The additional undercurrent of the Sam and David Lee Roth tour, and all its pageantry, makes a great story for even the non-Sammy believer.
The bonus disc is a surprise. Recently many of the classic rockers have been releasing their old music videos as DVD's. Sammy could have done that with his library as a separate release, but he included it in this package as a bonus disc, as well as his entire discography, a trivia game, and old archival footage. Hours of extra viewing that adds up to a DVD that the true fan can't help but smile about. Buy Sammy's Birthday Bash DVD 2001 Tour to see Sammy's concert. Buy The Long Road to Cabo to see Sammy's heart.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very good video, September 24, 2003

By	J. Herman (Brownstown, MI United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Very entertaining and in depth coverage of the Sam and Dave tour. They interview everyone in the band, and they tell about how they auditioned. His mom, brother, sister and sons talk about his upbringing. His wife talks about how they met. Plenty of backstage footage, pre and post concert, including the group prayer. Airplane footage, off-day footage, pre- and post-MTV award presentation footage, they show his garage--full of sports cars, his house in Maui, etc. The politics of the tour are well documented, as are Sammy's feelings about a Van Halen reunion. The video portrays Sammy as someone who everyone close to him feels lucky to know. The band is very cohesive. His friends in the video--Ted Nugent, Randy Savage, Mikey, etc. all have great things to say about him. You can tell he enjoys performing, and this comes through loud and clear if you ever see him in person. Especially after seeing Dave's opening act.

If I have any criticism, (and it's a minor one)--I wish they would have left the songs uninterrupted, and maybe even had an option where you could play all of the concert footage in succession. Otherwise, it's a winner.

Live songs include: Red, Shaka Doobie (The Limit), Rock Candy, Heavy Metal, Eagles Fly, I Can't Drive 55, Rainy Day Woman, Wild Thing (w/ Ted Nugent at Pine Knob--I was there), Rock and Roll (with Gary Cherone), Poundcake (with Michael Anthony), Runaround (with Michael Anthony), , When It's Love (w/ Michael Anthony)Top of The World (backstage, pre-concert w/ Michael Anthony), Best of Both Worlds (with Michael Anthony).

The non-concert footage is peppered with snippets of songs spanning Sammy's 30 year career.

The second disc has a trivia game, several of his videos, along with commentary, a cooking demonstration (pasta recipe), a Waborita demonstration, discography, and some archive footage from Montrose era (Bad Motor Scooter), a list of side projects, and original lyrics to several of his post-Van Halen era songs.

By the way, his Cabo Wabo Birthday Bash is an excellent concert video--one of the best I've seen.

Sammy--if you can hear me out there--come back to Michigan without a co-headliner!