What's that expression? You can't make chicken salad out of Van Halen, but you can make Chickenfoot.
Two Van Halen rejects, bassist Michael Anthony and singer Sammy Hagar, have combined with drummer Chad Smith of the Red Hot Chili Peppers and guitarist Joe Satriani to form Chickenfoot. While the quartet's just-released self-titled CD is pretty much chicken- you-know-what, its performance Monday at the Myth nightclub in Maplewood was surprisingly satisfying.
Take two parts 1980s hard rock, two parts Hagar tequila-fueled determination to party, and one part Satriani guitar heroics, and that's the recipe for a 110-minute Chickenfoot concert -- not bad for a group with only one 58-minute album.
However, the concert started out on the wrong foot. "Avenida Revolution" sounded like it would never get off the ground, "Sexy Little Thing" sounded like an ill-fated marriage of ZZ Top and Van Halen, and "Soap on a Rope" sounded like a dopey Hagar dud.
Then the frontman, always a gabby entertainer, went into a big speech about how the band had partied with 300 Best Buy employees because "Chickenfoot" is being released on the Twin Cities company's custom label, Redline. Those thoughts of sharing some of his own label Cabo Wabo tequila with his business partners put Hagar in the right mood.
Chickenfoot found its groove on "Down the Drain," a dirty, modern-sounding blues-rocker featuring Anthony on his signature Jack Daniels bass and Hagar wailing like Robert Plant.
Suddenly, it felt like 1986 all over again. Hagar, 61, was unstoppable, flexing his voice and muscles on "Turnin' Left" as Satriani, 53, showed off his flashy technique, playing more blues than he typically does with his own band.
The CD's final track, "Future's in the Past," may have been a bit dull for the last number in the main set, but the encore found Chickenfoot at its unbridled best, with Hagar's solo chestnut "Bad Motor Scooter" (featuring his own slide guitar) and Deep Purple's revved up "Highway Star."
