Last weekend, Rex and Jason and I went down to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. Rex was the instigator of the trip and wanted to have a “boy’s weekend” to blow off some steam. The three of us play in a cover band together called Full Ratchet (bad VC humor, if you get the joke). Unbeknownst to Rex, Jason had spent weeks sending emails and making phone calls to the Cabo Wabo, one of the premier live-music venues down in Cabo, owned by Sammy Hagar. Through sheer persistence, Jason arranged for us to play a set down at the Cabo Wabo, and Jason and I managed to check our guitars at the airport without Rex noticing. When we arrived at the airport in Cabo, Jason let Rex in on the secret as our guitars came into the baggage claim area. Rex had told Jason once upon a time that he would love to play a show at the Cabo Wabo, so Rex was in a happy state of shock when we told him we had a gig to play in a few short hours.
We played a great set and had an enthusiastic (and very drunk) audience, including a bunch of Jason’s friends who happened to be in town for a wedding that weekend and got the crowd up and dancing. The three of us spent the whole set grinning at each other while we played. The club, stage, sound system and sound man were all top shelf, which is to be expected given that Sammy Hagar bought the club to have a fun place to go for his musician friends (including Van Halen) to play. It was definitely one of the most “legit” gigs I’ve played in terms of audience size and production quality — the only other one that comes close was a gig I played with my old band Where’s Julio? at the Fillmore in 1998 for an EFF benefit along with The Flying Other Brothers.
Our set list:
Jenny (867-5309) – Tommy Tutone
Hard to Handle – Black Crows
Honky Tonk Woman – Rolling Stones
Hungry Like the Wolf – Duran Duran
Cumbersome – Seven Mary Three
Superstition – Stevie Wonder
Play that Funky Music – Wild Cherry
Superstition – Stevie Wonder
Thanks to Rex and Jason for one of the most memorable weekends I’ve had!