LAS VEGAS, NV (Hypebot) –
When the door opened at Sammy Hagar's Cabo Wabo Cantina in the Planet Hollywood Hotel and Casino on the Vegas Strip, the surprise on the Red Rocker's face was undeniable. Halfway through what would be his almost two hour set, Hagar was just reaching peak altitude – only to get a blast of real friendship that kicked things up yet another level, it was old friend, Kenny Chesney.
“I can't believe you're here,” laughed the man who can't drive 55. “You missed my birthday party, but you showed up for this… Alright!”
The two hugged and laughed, and then Hagar, dressed in long patch madras surfer baggies and red athletic shoes, instructed his jagged 4-piece into “I'll Fall In Love Again.” The buoyant rock star gave his friend and let him take the first verse – and it wasn't long until the pair was holding their microphones out to the crowd, so they could be part of them mayhem, too.
The response was so strong, Hagar actually asked for an acoustic guitar and nodded at the only man to have sold in excess of a million tickets each of the past eight years to again take the first verse. Then with a dignity only available to men of hard rock and metal, the Red Rocker began plucking out the intro to “When The Eagle Flies,” a song written for the birth of his child.
“When someone like Sammy decides to play a song like that – and looks at you to take the first verse,” Chesney said upon leaving the stage, “well, that's heavy. But then, that's Sammy, you know? He's the kind of guy who throws it down so hard, but never loses sight of why it matters… And it made me glad that in the middle of all this 3-D movie stuff, I was able to get free for a couple days to go to Morgan's premiere, then get over to Vegas to see my buddy for something as cool as him opening his new Cabo Wabo.”
In the thick of editing 3-d footage captured at several of this summer's NFL Stadium shows, Chesney took a little break to get out and spend some time with his friends: first attending Plan!t Now co-chairman/Oscar-wnning friend Morgan Freeman's “Invictus” premiere in Beverly Hills, then heading to Vegas for the opening of Hagar;'s Cabo Wabo Cantina.
“It's a crazy life,” he marveled. “You know, to be in Nashville looking at footage, then in California to see an amazing film with one of my favorite people, then off to Vegas to blow it up on a tiny little stage with one of the most intense rockers I know… How this happened I don't know? But I like the fact that I can take a few moments and share it with my friends.”
With “I'm Alive,” his Dave Matthews duet from both Lucky Old Sun and Gretatest Hits II, reaching its peak, Chesney's focusing on writing songs, listening to music, working on getting his April 2010 “Kenny Chesney: Summer in 3-D” movie in order and spending some time remembering how special his friendships are.
