April 27, 2002: Planet Us Debuts

Oakland, CA
Henry J. Kaiser Auditorium

As a life long resident of the SF Bay Area, I remember when the Bammies were a BIG deal. Alas, the luster wore off some time in the early '90s, and they became the California Music Awards about 4-5 years ago, further dulling the shine. That said, the 25th Bammies show was an enjoyable show with an AWESOME closing act.

While the show was well short of a sell out (something which NEVER would have happened in their prime) the crowd in attendance got some fun performances by a wide variety of mostly Bay Area based acts. The hosts for the evening were Jack Blades, Robert Hayes (the guy from the movie "Airplane"), and a comic whose name I've forgotten.

The first thing you realize when you attend the Bammies is that this is definitely NOT the Grammys. The technical glitches and production snafus made it look, at times, like a very sincere high school production.

The highlights of the first half of the show had to be the performance by Smash Mouth (I'm more impressed with these guys every time I hear them) and the jam with Joe Satriani, Ronnie Montrose, and Dave Meneketi. Most of the awards were handed out during the first part of the show, and I've got to admit, I felt like I was 102 years old -- I'd barely heard of most of the nominees let alone the winners. Thank god for Train and major radio airplay!

An intermission came along about 2 1/2 hours into the show, and as we filed out, we were told that after the break we would be treated to performances by Sammy Hagar and "a new super group."

When we returned from intermission, I noticed many of the already sparsely filled seats were empty. Too bad for those who left, because the best part of the show was yet to come. Throughout the show, I stayed seated at my table towards the back of the floor, but the minute the MC started to introduce Sammy Hagar, I was on my feet and moving towards the front. I had expected that I'd just be able to stand on the side of the stage in the aisle to to take pictures, but I noticed people were walking straight up to the stage, so I joined them. Sammy and the Waboritas rocked the house with two numbers ("There's Only One Way to Rock" and "Mas Tequila".) The Waboritas left the stage, and Sammy introduced a few friends... Michael Anthony, Deen Castronovo, and Neal Schon!

Planet Us took the stage and proceeded to blow everyone away! They played two tunes -- "Vertigo" & "Through the Peephole" -- and they were phenomenal! All four guys looked to be having a great time on stage. The crowd at the front of the stage doubled in size, and I spent most of "Vertigo" trying not to get squished and stepped on (failing on the latter getting some woman's spiked heel in the middle of my foot... you should SEE the bruise!) Of all the acts through out the evening, this was the act that got the crowd the most involved. Not bad for a bunch of "dinosaurs."

Both songs were, as Neal said, "kick-ass songs that f-ing rock." High energy, high volume. I was particularly impressed with "Through the Peephole," which Sammy introduced as being a song about child abuse. Now I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that both these songs make the final cut for the broadcast of the show next weekend!